Comic Books

[Tigerwarrior]

I've been reading comics since 2018. Anyone else like reading or collecting? I look for martial arts related one specifically. Like right now I'm reading one called the deadly hands of kung fu. It's a shang chi story if you ever heard of him. There used to be another book by that name in the 70s featuring bruce lee and other greats in the arts. The 70s one was part martial arts magazine part comic. I've tried to get my hands on some of those 70s ones but haven't found any yet in my area. I saw some on ebay, but they were either rated so good that they were out of my budget or they were rated so low it almost makes no sense getting them. If you guys read or collect, or even are or were a past fan what type of books were you into?

 

[_Simon_]

The only one I really got into was the Street Fighter 2 comics, read them over so many times haha, but nothing else!

I think it was these:

 

[Tigerwarrior]

The only one I really got into was the Street Fighter 2 comics, read them over so many times haha, but nothing else!

I think it was these:

View attachment 30688

Those look awesome! I never got to read those but now that you pointed them out to me I'm gonna try to track some copies of those down. But yeah anything martial arts or street fighting related I love most of the time. I started out reading the punisher. Then I tried new stuff out like ghost rider, daredevil etc. I'm still a huge punisher fan, but I'm trying out stuff new to me too.

 

[Buka]

I was lucky enough to grow up during the golden age of comics. So cool, so much fun, it was so enjoyable, it totally f’n rocked.

Doesn’t do me any good now as an old man, though, does it?

I’m just finishing up a novel, crime fiction, good guys and bad guys. One of the characters is a violent, drug crazed comic book freak.

So much fun. It drives the story forward in such a cool way.

Comic books rock if you let them.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Do these count?

 

[Hot Lunch]

Eh... I remember when I was a kid, you could get comics at the nearest mom & pop convenience store down the street. For about the same price as a Snickers. Same went for a pack of baseball cards, where you got 15 cards and a stick of gum.

Now you actually have to go to comic book stores. $3 to $4 an issue. And if you want baseball cards, same price. Only they come in packs of 5 and no gum (IMO, adults ruined both for children by turning them into get rich quick schemes back in the 80's, when the Mickey Mantle card was hot).

 

[Gyakuto]

I’ve really tried hard to get into them because I felt like I was missing out, but I just find them…childish.

Sean Michael Wilson’s graphic novels of Musashi, Hagakure, Bushido etc are OK but…

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Now you actually have to go to comic book stores. $3 to $4 an issue. And if you want baseball cards, same price. Only they come in packs of 5 and no gum (IMO, adults ruined both for children by turning them into get rich quick schemes back in the 80's, when the Mickey Mantle card was hot).

True, it ruins things for the kids, I've been saying that for years, which is why I'm more into political cartoons and the occasional adult title like the sandman series.

 

[O'Malley]

I grew up in the capital of Belgian comics so they're a huge part of my culture. We actually have statues of comic characters throughout the city:

Big fan of manga as well, if that counts, although I'm still surprised that there are not more good martial arts-related ones. Among those, personal favourites include:

- Hajime no Ippo (boxing, and the best sports manga I've ever read);
- Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru (full contact karate/kickboxing, with great drawings and cool fights);
- Holyland (amazing manga about a bullied kid who shuts himself off from the world for a year and starts practicing a one-two combo thousands of times a day as a way to drive off self-destructive thoughts. When he comes back to regular life, he gets bullied again but this time he accidentally punches back, which leads him into a life of street fighting where he'll meet foes and friends in his quest to find peace and his place in the world);
- Strongest Disciple Kenichi (a funny shonen manga with charismatic characters and crazy fights, which depicts a lot of martial arts, although in a very exaggerated way, including more obscure styles such as Penchak Silat or Kalarippayattu).

Outside the strictly martial arts-related ones, I have many favourites including Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

Do these count?

They definitely do! Graphic novels count as comics. They are the same format. I even count Manga, even though the layout is a bit different.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

I grew up in the capital of Belgian comics so they're a huge part of my culture. We actually have statues of comic characters throughout the city:

View attachment 31382

Big fan of manga as well, if that counts, although I'm still surprised that there are not more good martial arts-related ones. Among those, personal favourites include:

- Hajime no Ippo (boxing, and the best sports manga I've ever read);
- Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru (full contact karate/kickboxing, with great drawings and cool fights);
- Holyland (amazing manga about a bullied kid who shuts himself off from the world for a year and starts practicing a one-two combo thousands of times a day as a way to drive off self-destructive thoughts. When he comes back to regular life, he gets bullied again but this time he accidentally punches back, which leads him into a life of street fighting where he'll meet foes and friends in his quest to find peace and his place in the world);
- Strongest Disciple Kenichi (a funny shonen manga with charismatic characters and crazy fights, which depicts a lot of martial arts, although in a very exaggerated way, including more obscure styles such as Penchak Silat or Kalarippayattu).

Outside the strictly martial arts-related ones, I have many favourites including Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto.

Thanks for that list. I've been wanting to get into Manga but didn't know where to start. I will look into those titles.

 

[Stuarto]

I was into the old Sonic the Hedgehog comics from the 90's. I still have quite a few of them, including Issue #1 from 1993.

 

[Steve]

I used to read all kinds of comics as a kid. My favorites were Spiderman, Daredevil, and the Green Lantern. I stopped reading them when I enlisted, and never really picked them back up.

Interesting that this popped up. Just last week I was going through some old things and ran across probably the only real collectible comic I own (or ever owned). It's called Albedo Anthropomorphic, and is the second printing of the prototype issue, autographed by the author. What makes this interesting is that this artist (Steve Gallacci) and this comic in particular, is credited with starting the entire furry comic subgenre.

I don't recall where I got this comic, but I'm pretty sure it was at some kind of an event at Golden Age Collectables in the belly of Pike Place Market. That's where all the cool kids went in Seattle in the 80s.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

I was into the old Sonic the Hedgehog comics from the 90's. I still have quite a few of them, including Issue #1 from 1993.

I read most of those. But I was so young I barely remember much other than that I loved the art. At that time I also read Spiderman for the first time and was mindblown at how cool it was. A couple years went by, started reading them again but could actually read this time before I could read words but not full sentences I was so young so mostly into the art. Then I was 8 and got into detective batman and also wolverine and fantastic 4. Then I stopped reading them completely. The next time I would read a comic was when I was 25. I've been reading seriously since 25 and I'm now 33. Man I missed out on so much. I was more into football and videogames growing up, and of course martial arts. But yeah the late 80s to early 90s is my favorite era of comics. I basically read a bunch of stuff from that era today, but still new stuff too. I personally haven't read more than 2 or 3 golden age comics, I've read a few bronze, maybe a silver one or two. I found a 1st printing first issue of green hornet, it wasn't in good condition but still cool to me.