Getting Into Comics: 10 Tips for Readers

Hi, this is Dr. Andrea Latamendi. And Brian Ward

from the Arkham Sessions. And you are listening

to... The Geekcast Radio Network. You've just

jumped inside the pull bag. Join TFG1 Mike and

the rest of the comic crew here at the GCRN as

they make their great escape into comics. From

DC, Marvel and Image to IDW, Bloom Studios and

Xenoscope, we have everything right here. We

cover things like Transformers, He -Man, Super

Heroes, TMNT and Radiant Black. Yeah, we have

all that and so much more. It's all inside the

pull bag here on the Geekcast Radio Network.

So without further ado, it's time to talk about

the comics we're reading right now here inside

the pull bag. I'm going to show you something

beautiful. Hello and welcome to the pull bag.

This is episode 411. That's right, folks. It's

411 and we're here to give you some. comic book

information. I'm, of course, TF2manMike. Joining

me is the comic concierge, Mr. Dan Clark. Hello,

sir. Hello. How are you? I am as well as can

be expected, I guess. I don't know how I am anymore.

No clue. 411 episodes of this show, I never thought

we would get to any point in any of the Pullbag's

eight -year history. And this episode... actually

started as a joke. Now, first of all, I want

to get one thing out of the way. We are not here

to tell anyone who is listening to this how they

should go about reading comics. That's not what

this is about. This is about basically a joke,

essentially, and I wanted to turn it into a topic.

So the joke is, if anyone has seen 10 Things

I Hate About You, the 1999 classic in there,

The father played by the brilliant and hilarious

larry miller mr stratford. I'm down i got the

four one one didn't raise no food i always love

that line because i just thought it was so hilarious

and i'm sure you find folks will have heard it

somewhere here in the beginning of the episode

but just like when we did episode four oh four

with edward and kendra hail where we. Started

talking about comics and then for the next hour

hour and a half two hours We talked about anything

other than comics on this podcast and then we

somehow found a way to tie it back in It's a

special numbering episode thing. I figure four

one one Everybody used to dial four one one where

they they charged you or not because they used

to charge you I think they still charge For four

one one if you use it. Does anyone even have

a home phone anymore? I mean, seriously, we're

in the future, folks. We're waiting on the hover

cars at this point. Do you still have a home

phone? Because I don't. I haven't had a home

phone in over a decade. Seriously, folks, anyone

listening to this, please write in, send us email,

feedback at GeekCastRio .com. TPB411, do you

still have a home phone? Yes or no? And what

this is, is Dan and I have come up with 10 tips,

tricks, just informational bits on the best way

to get into reading comics. We're not here to

tell you how to do it as far, like, we're not

here to boss you around and say, ugh, you should

read Marvel, you need to start at 1962 when they

start, you know, when Spider -Man started or

what, we're not here to do that. We're here to

give you our opinions on what we each feel is

the best way to introduce yourself or someone

you know into the world of comic books. That's

all this is. So without any further ado, what

is your number five, sir? It may seem like an

obvious one, but it's one I think it's always

good to point out. And it's use the advantage

of a local comic shop if you have one, if you

can. because I feel like, and we'll all talk

about other methods regarding getting into comics,

but local comic shops can be a really helpful

tool if you have a good one. Some are better

than others because they can often be a guide

if you have a good shop. You can give them recommendations

of what you like. A good shop owner will be able

to try to take those and recommend maybe books

that are outside the norm. You have like if you

have multiple shops you can kind of see like

who has the best deals like who has really good

dollar bands I think somebody the way I first

got into really getting comics like owning comics

in the physical sense any any level was really

just going to the dollar bands and just picking

out comics so it's like I get you know I just

random things just because you know I like x

-men so I'd pick up a bunch of x -men books and

you know I get issued like fourteen twenty eight

fifty four wouldn't always be. Within the order

but occasionally you find some but you just pick

it up and then read them and i feel like you

wouldn't like a good comic that even if it's

in the middle of a run or something like that

you can you can often still get something out

of that experience if you don't have the entire

story even from our perspective just to see kind

of what what what gets your fancy and sometimes

you might find a lot of jams in the dollar band

and also you know what what. Different local

shops have better deals, like some will give

you deals if you get a pull list and a lot of

percentages off or something of that nature.

And you don't necessarily, you know, getting

in the comics have to get everything. You can

kind of find, you know, pick up a new number

one that came out that week that strikes your

fancy and then maybe go from there. And I think

the lifeblood of the comic book industry still

is in large part the comic book shop, at least

for when it comes to like Marvel and DC. I feel

like sometimes they can be intimidating to go

into. Look at reviews online. There's a lot of

tools now that exist. There's the comic book

finder. If you Google it, you'll just put in

your zip code and it will show you all the comic

book shops in your area and see which ones have

good reviews. Check it out. I've been to a lot

of comic book shops. I would say about 80 % of

them tend to be welcoming places. That will that

are that are you know, not like a comic book.

I've been simpsons Won't be yelling at you for

what selection you have But if you have one like

that, then you know, I'll have a message maybe

other ways of getting in the comics if that's

not working Yeah, you want to find a shop that

will Be open and friendly and someone who if

you say hey The IDW second run of Transformers

the universe that just ended a couple years ago

Not the current universe, but the one the one

that ran from 2005 to 2019 you guys should really

stock this a good comic shop owner Will look

at that and say hmm. Yeah, we should now there

are some comic book shops out there And I don't

know any names. I'm not blaming anybody, but

I've heard horror stories of people who have

told me about certain comic shops that the owners

or the staff people are like, if it isn't Marvel

or DC, it ain't gonna sell in this shop. And

I'm like, seriously, really? Whatever. But yeah,

I know, I agree with you. Your local comic shop

is absolutely... a number one resource and a

number one way to not only get into comics, but

to find other comic fans that you can have. I

can't tell you how many conversations I used

to have at The Great Escape just standing in

line on free comic book day. Obviously, I didn't

just go to the shop on free comic book day. We

also, you know, obviously every Wednesday is

new comic book day kind of thing. For me, number

five, and this kind of... I don't know. This

might kind of go in hand -in -hand with your

number three. Actually, my number three is probably,

uh... Number five for me, it doesn't matter what

types of comics you read as long as you are enjoying

what you're reading. So, like I said before,

don't listen to that shop owner that says only

Marvel and DC matter. You can read from any publisher.

From, um... IDW, Dark Horse, Valiant... Image

comics it doesn't mean even Marvel and DC have

stuff in there that is not just Batman Superman

Wonder Woman and Event series they have plenty

of other things and DC has a number of imprints.

I cannot recommend harleen just fast and hard

enough because that three issues for the DC black

label series that was Probably one of if not

the single handed best harley story we've ever

got. No i have not read jimmy and a man jimmy

pamiatis and amanda connor's run on on harley

yet. What from what i've read in certain batman

books that i've read that one is great so find

a don't just limit yourself into one corner of

the comic book world is basically where my number

five comes in. Yeah, and I think that's kind

of similar to my number four instance of Expanding

your taste in the sense of I know I read a lot

I read a lot of reviews watch a lot of reviews

and listen to a lot of years when it comes to

comics and You can definitely tell when reviewers

have gone burned out. I think often it's because

They tend to get stuck in this same type of comics,

the same type of, they're just reading and getting

the same thing. And like, and you hear them always

say like, oh, everything, nothing ever changes.

And I'm like, well, it's because you're kind

of not looking for it. Change isn't going to

find you. And I think it's also when you say

expand your horizons, not just the type of comics,

but the way you read them in a sense of, you

know, comics, I think are more flexible than

any other medium. Maybe outside of literature

or poems or something like that, in the sense

of, you know, you have digital comics, you have

like webtoons, for example, which has Which is

probably the most popular place when it comes

to reading comics because they get millions of

views a day but that's a very different type

of audience and perhaps your your wednesday warrior

audience that goes to local comic book store

and then you have digital comics you have digital

first comics that you know things like panel

syndicate for example which is run by brian kvon

but also has a slew of other really well -known

creators from edward baker for example and marcus

martin That's all it's all digitally a lot of

people saying right i can't read it all i have

to read it physically i mean i can understand

that people are hesitant to change but i think

there's so much out there there's even instagram

has become a great tool for comics has been a

lot of comics like woman's world for example

that the great instagram comic that was put on

put into physical farming was sold that way as

well and then you like when you try to learn

about comics. trying to expand the places you

go. I watch YouTube videos. Goodreads, for example,

is a good place to go. And that's a very different

type of market than a lot of the YouTube videos

tend to be. League of Comic Geeks is a website

I use a great deal. It's more of just a general

database site, but it's very helpful just to

know what's out there, to expand your horizons

that way. Just because I feel like you can burn

yourself out in like when you get when you just

try to look for one one certain thing and i used

to be that way. I used to just read marvel for

the longest time and only by marvel and i really

i mean i get these here and there maybe batman

story but i would not expand my her since that

much and that eventually just let me let me let

me to stop collecting comics in large part cuz

like i had a bad luck comic book stories like.

They kept shutting down yeah so i guess i'm bad

luck but but also just. Um, now now I read everything

and I mean everything like I read as much as

I can and I feel like I just I I learn more about

the common with the world and I and Especially

when it comes to things like art styles People

like usually you get people that it's like, oh

it doesn't look like Jim Lee. It's not good Like

it it's you know, there's a lot of different

indie styles be open to other art styles Don't

just reject something because the aesthetics

aren't what you're used to Um, give things a

chance. I used to hate my always art for example

I just couldn't stand it. It just didn't work

for me because it was different. I'm like, this

is not what I'm used to. But the more I was able

to learn about the medium, understand what works

about it, understand what actually makes good

art, what makes good storytelling, now he's one

of my favorite artists. So to me, that's just

about expanding your horizons, being willing

to try new things and acquire that acquired taste.

Yeah, absolutely. I look at the pullback schedule

in the last eight years. Yes we have our series

that we stick to like Transformers or Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles or because I'm the type

of person that if I start something I want to

be able to finish it no matter whether that title

ends at volume seven or if it continues on to

volume 14. It doesn't matter what it is but just

looking at the pull bags 2021 schedule since

we are back here in 2021. First two things we

did was Batwing Volume 4 and 5 from the New 52,

which was the Luke Fox arc of Batwing. We did

Batman Beyond. We've done Transformers stuff.

We've done Turtles stuff. Actually, we have a

whole month full of Turtles stuff coming up.

You know, so I mean, that's the thing. You know,

you have to be as open as you possibly can be

to other things. Alright, where are we? Number

four, number three. I don't know where the heck

we are anymore. We're at number three. We just

did we all did Yeah, I did my five and four Okay.

Yeah my number four basically and we can move

on to number three because I pretty much already

said it whether you're DC Marvel or any other

publisher find characters you want to read about

so That I think kind of goes in Somewhat contention

to your number three, but it's a good opening

part of the conversation where I'm telling you

to follow characters And you're going to tell

the people what your number three is. My number

three is follow creators, not characters. That's

been my personal experience. I used to be follow

character. Cable was my favorite character, and

I would read Cable comics. I loved Captain America

and Captain America comics. I never really paid

attention to the names on the covers. But then

eventually those books, no matter what series

it is, maybe outside of Daredevil, but even Daredevil

had bad runs here and there. You just end up

not being good at times just know the law of

averages. And you see it with people like i can't

give up this character i've been collecting it

for so long or whatever i feel like that just

leaves the burnout and that leads to people not

liking the medium that much because they're just

like i see it a lot right now with the expenses

run on spiderman. I know there's tons of spiderman

fans and i just like i'm gonna keep reading it

i don't like it i do like it but there's a lot

of people. you know, that that don't and it's

like, just stop reading it and move on. It's

OK. It'll be OK. The character's not going anywhere.

And if you're not liking it, it's OK not to read

it. It's, you know, just because you've been

with the character, I guess maybe because I've

never been a person that's collected something

for a long period of time. That's set a few years.

I can stop collecting things really quickly.

Captain America is my favorite character. 20

C. Coaches run wasn't necessarily working for

me, but it just kind of fell off of it and I

was able to stop. stop it. But now actually I'm

picking him up again because I feel like it's

now starting to click with me. And I can kind

of do that. And I wasn't able to do that before,

but being able to get that one will save me money

because I'm not spending money on stuff I don't

like to read. And two, it makes it, I think,

much more pleasant experience and doesn't miss

in the sense of realizing that there's so much

more out there. And instead of reading a book

I don't want to read just because I feel obligated,

any time a hobby becomes an obligation, I think

it... It ends up being less fun and I agree with

that with the exception of this podcast because

I Say every single time in almost every episode

at least once an episode I say this I Am reading

comics and I am enjoying them. However, I am

reading them so I can remember what to talk about

on this show when we do Transformers reviews

or turtles reviews or whatever comic we're reviewing

I don't read it until the day we record because

I want my reaction on the record to be as fresh

like if I just sat here and read Shredder in

Hell from IDW and I've started reading it but

I haven't gotten so I'm like a page in and this

is gonna come up later in August when we when

we release episode 424 I think is when Shredder

in Hell is gonna be so Like if I'm gonna read

that now cuz Joe and I are gonna record it next

week I want to wait until the day that Joe and

I record that way if some shocking moment happens

in that book I Can immediately go into the record

and have that raw? Holy crap reaction like how

long have you I know you started reading the

IDW TMNT thing. Where did you start? I started

on issue one. I fell off around, I don't know,

issue 40 or so. It wasn't because of it. I stopped

reading it when my son was born because I stopped

reading all comics. Yeah, you got busy, obviously.

My point is, and I'm not trying to spoil this

for you, and you probably already are spoiled

on it because it was huge news. The whole Jenica

storyline. Did you ever see those? Yeah, I was

aware. Okay, so you know the... You know the

truth. Okay, so I knew about it and I knew she

got injured. I didn't know how. So when we recorded

the episodes that you'll hear in a few months,

folks, you'll hear my instant shock reaction

to when Karai stabs Jenneke in the park. Like

when I read that, I was like, holy shit, she

stabbed her. Like now I know what all those bloody

comic covers were for and her turning green and

everything, you know So again, it's that sharp

fresh reaction and that's why I always wait to

do that kind of thing and I do agree with you

and I do also disagree with you about following

creators and not characters because Like you

said a creator might be on a character and you

might not like that creators run The character

is gonna get somebody else at some point. Yeah,

I mean, I'm fine with coming. I just, I find

like I have more, there's certain creators that

I will, like, Edward Brooker is on a comic, I'm

reading it. He's my favorite writer. Um, and

there'll be maybe books that I'll hold to that

I'll drop off on, but like, I tend to, like,

what gets me excited about a book. Is the creative

team not necessarily the character and i hear

that a lot to with people like i don't care about

this character why would i care about the series

and i'm like because storytelling is about making

you care about something like it's not like when

i watch a movie i know the characters beforehand

i the movie makes me care about those characters

and i feel and i feel like that could like for

example that they did the taskmaster series earlier

this year And people like who cares about Taskmaster?

I'm like, first of all, he is one of the best

costumes ever. So that that's why you should

care about. That ended up being a great series

because it was well told. Guardians of the Galaxy,

when that when that comic came out, those are

characters no one really cared about. Rocket,

Raccoon, Groot, they were around forever, but

you know, they were never anything in special.

That comic was great. And then it led to, you

know, the movies, you know, a decade later. I

just don't dismiss a comic because there's a

character that you don't necessarily care about.

because a good creative team can make you care.

A good storytelling is about making you care.

And if the only reason that I care about a comic,

I care about this Superman comic because it's

Superman and not because of the story it's being

told, that tells me that it's probably not a

good comic. But I'm not saying like you can't

go back to it. I find it, being willing to let

go and also being willing to take chances, it

tends to lead to a better experience in my experience.

Right and this is why and this might be controversial

to most old -school comic book fans most fans

that are like You the new 52 You know those people

that are like, you know My biggest problem and

people have heard me say this for the last eight

years my biggest problem with always trying to

get into comics Before they started rebooting

the universe every three years was before new

52 You had and I'm gonna switch over to Marvel

for a second Before Marvel did what back then

what was called Marvel now? 2014 I think they

obviously had their whole universe kind of thing

and you had spider -man 700 My biggest thing

is you mean to tell me I need to read the other

699 issues in order to get the 700th issue now.

I know that's not true basically spider island

so it was like 691 to 700 I think is the whole

arc for that I don't remember but the point is

is that you can find your own starting like turtles

for example again I'm gonna go back to what I

know you can read the first hundred issues and

you can like or dislike or whatever criticize

whatever you want to do in all of those arcs

issue 101 instead of going back and doing a new

number one for the overall TMNT series they just

titled the main issue 101 but it's a new starting

point because it's new writer new artist it's

actually Sophie Campbell doing both and she's

done the stuff for turtles before but it's a

whole new era of turtles whereas in transformers

They went to a certain point, they brought Unicron

in to destroy the universe. That didn't happen.

Spoiler. And then they rebooted with a new number

one. So you can do it one of two ways. You can

do a continuation of a series. And the fact that

TMNT has... I think at this point it's 115, 116

issues? I don't remember where exactly they are

currently. Like, that's... Like I said, in a

couple of months, you guys are going to hear

me and Joe Reed talk about the final road to

100. And not a lot of comics get 100 issues.

They either get cancelled or, hell, some comics

don't even get 10 issues depending on sales and

things like that. So yeah, no. Creators, characters,

follow them both. Follow either or. It doesn't

really, it matters, but it doesn't really matter.

I guess from my number three. I'm actually taking

a page out of Hopefully I can get these fine

people on the podcast at some point Brad and

Lisa Gullickson who run comic book couples counseling

podcast go check them out Brad has a saying that

I've heard him say for a while since I've been

marathoning their podcast basically hashtag nty

CBD New to you comic book day so basically my

number three is like you said earlier try something

new to you and If it sticks great if it doesn't

stick you know It doesn't stick. It's not gonna

kill you to try it and You know sometimes like

I hate fairyland. I think you had suggested that

to me or something Here we are X number of years

later and we finished the series on the podcast.

And that was a damn good series. And I wish Scottie

would go back to it. I know he's not doing that

right now, but you know, but that was new to

me. And I didn't know what the heck it was. And

then I saw the art style and I saw the writing

and I'm like, Oh, this is going to be good. Number

two for you, sir. So along those lines, you're

talking about like, taking chances, like how,

you know, it's easy to say that, but then you're

like, well, All that cost money, I don't want

to spend all that money on comic books and I

end up not liking something and I get that. So

someone's like, I want to read comics. Perhaps

you watch Invincible and you like that show.

You watch Winter Soldier and you like that show

and you're like, I want to get into comics. I

want to read these stories in a local comic book

story. It's going to be my money site, but what's

my best option? And that's why I think online

subscriptions have been a remarkable tool. i'm

for opening the doors for people that want want

to be comics and maybe you don't have a room

for the physical form or don't want to spend

spend the money. And there are a lot of different

online subscriptions you have marvel limited

you have to know dc's new new system that just

recently changed i have and then you have comes

all the unlimited. And if you're gonna ask me

which one to choose out of all those i think

your best bet is comics all all the unlimited

something like five bucks a month plus you get

discounts on other comics you buy them digitally.

And it has everything. And if you're a huge Marvel

fan, then get Marvel Unlimited, because it has

so many Marvel books, same thing with DC. But

the thing about Comixology Unlimited, not a sponsor,

is that they have Marvel books, they have DC

books, they have independent books, they have

fan of graphics books, they have IDW books, they

have Valiant, they have a huge amount, they have

Comixology originals as well. It's in often what

will happen is to if i can tools are right now

for example there's a lot of volumes available

i'm coming so i can limit it in your image doesn't

have their own. Their own system so that's where

that comes in so i find it to be a great tool

to like what the appetite on the downside is.

Is that really can you find a complete run especially

if it's like a long run that's all available

on unlimited that's you know like you know it

has like maybe the first eight volumes of invincible

but it stops there so you have to go and get

more same thing with like marble you know if

you want to read a marble run it's like I want

to read all of Captain America can't do it you'd

want to utilize marble unlimited for that instead

but if you just want to be able to get a good

taste of it plus all these have you know your.

different types of trial periods and things like

that so you can you know give it a trial period

see if you like it and the cool thing too is

if you buy marvel comics all the marvel comics

come with digital codes they expire in a year

so as long as it's less than a year you can you

can i so i i i personally put in all my codes

and i cash them in because to me it makes like

it's me much more of a chance that i never read

a book because it gets put into comicsology unlimited

which is another reason I'm coming so i'll be

my library comes all you which is not a reason

to use comes out to because. Marble like for

me they don't have their own system it goes into

mark goes into comics all the unlimited or comes

all day which is kind of funny but yeah i just

on those online subscriptions it's just like

netflix but for comics there's tons of them and

even if you don't want to do that comes all to

you. I will often have a lot of number ones for

free a lot of what a lot of free comics so. It's

another good tool where you don't have to spend

anything. You can just go on their site, check

out their free comic section, and then, you know,

it's a good way just to try something out if

you don't want to pay for it. Or legally. Legally.

And, you know, it's funny you say, Comixology.

Not a sponsor. I've been, actually, for about

three years now, I've been wanting to reach out

to them and ask them, hey, how can we get sponsored

by you? Like, I'll make an ad for them, because

seriously? I use, ever since I went from print

to digital, it was one book that made me decide

the very next day to go to digital. This is back

when we were doing the Punisher Month, I think

in 2013 or 2014. I was sitting in my chair at

the time, back in my apartment, back in Louisville,

and I was holding Welcome Back, Frank. Those

that don't know welcome back Frank is about 10

pounds of comic book It's 12 issues it's Basically

the Punisher max series version whatever it was

this giant ass book essentially and I'm reading

it and I'm reading it in Punisher body count

hosts Jake Jake Williams Jake Williams and Dane

Lamont. We were gonna do this recording after

I finished reading it well It wasn't because

of the comic that I fell asleep But my hand fell

asleep holding it the book fell out of my hand

onto that I've told this story before in the

show Fell onto the floor and I'm like, what was

that? Oh shit. I fell asleep reading this comic.

Damn it. It's too heavy the next week I went

out to comics ology because I had heard about

comics ology for the longest time from longtime

contributor lady wreck aka Amy and Will always

say people for digital need to go to comics ology

for two or three reasons like you just said the

comics ology unlimited where you can pay just

under five or six bucks a month for the unlimited

stuff or You can actually do series like right

now. I have two series subscriptions activated

I have radiant black and I have transformers

beast wars so those are both gonna be released

on the 19th of this month I've got my payment

plan set up. I actually have a lovely gift card

from one of our die -hard fans here at the pullback.

So I have a Comixology gift balance that I don't

even have to worry about. The books are $4 each.

It'll charge the gift card thing and it'll just

show up. So Comixology has two ways for subscriptions.

The unlimited, which is great. And the series,

I have 57 deactivated subscription series in

my Comixology because either the series ended

or I deactivated it or whatever. In Comixology,

I love Comixology because of the third thing.

Guided View. Now I know that DC Infinite or Infinite

Universe or Infinite Front or whatever the hell

they're calling the app now. I know they have

a form of Guided View and it's okay. A friend

of the show, a long time listener of GCRN, Jesus

aka Scanner51, he actually let me use his DC

Universe Infinite, and I've tried their Guided

View. It's okay. It's no Comixology Guided View.

But I can only read it in the Guided View. Comixology

still has single page. They even have a double

page option where you can look at two pages at

once. I need that guided view because I need

that panel to panel and zoom ins and the zoom

outs and It's that storyboard kind of reading

where you don't know what's going to happen next

My number two kind of goes in line with your

and folks. We did see each other's lists I planned

it that way, but I did not plan I did not look

at like Dan didn't make his list and then I copied

off of him We each made our list individually

in the same document and I seriously did not

plan this it's Dies into year number two just

as well. Save your money for the trades. Getting

the whole story all at once is how I love reading

comics. And most of the time I get my, obviously,

stuff on comicsology. I just find it better.

And sometimes the trades will have stuff that...

The single issues don't so perfect example once

again something you guys are gonna hear or maybe

you won't hear it because I might have edited

it out There's a point in one of the turtles

trades where a different part of the story is

collected But Joe didn't have it in the single

issues They always put extra stuff in the trades

most of the time depending on the publisher depending

on the on the series Kind of thing so yeah save

your money for trades folks I'm the opposite

of that. I get that because I mean there's some

benefits, but I do love the issue that experience

because I think it I love the anticipation to

be able the and Reading something in an issue

format and the craftsmanship of like writing

an issue I I love that experience being able

to read it from beginning to end see how well

you can tell a story in a 20 or 30 page Amount

and then being able to stop and wait for the

next issue I think it's kind of like, you know,

when people love WandaVision because they, you

know, you just got a week, you watched it one

weekend, had to wait until the next week to get

the next episode. And I kind of like that about

comments, being able to kind of get, get that

anticipation, read it in that way. I mean, obviously

financially it is easier to read things in trade,

but I know I do it always, but I think if I can,

I try to read things in issues. I mean, it can

be not. More expensive that way, of course, but

it is a different experience. It really just

depends on the way you like doing it. All right.

Drum roll, please. I will insert a drum roll

somewhere around here. What is your number one

piece of advice for our listeners and other people

who may find this show in order for them to start

reading comics? What do you got? To me the biggest

thing and we talked about money and things like

that. And that's usually the biggest barrier

when it comes to reading comics. Number one being

time. Unfortunately, flux capacitors don't exist,

so we can't necessarily do anything there. But

when it comes to the money piece, you can read

so many comics for free legally. And that's utilizing

your local library. Now for GeekCast 3D, I do

my top 100 comics each year. And the only way

I can do that list is because of the library.

And it's because of the library, I've been able

to really expand my taste when it comes to comic

books, especially when it comes to things like

fanographics or drawing quarterly when you're

getting those huge graphic novels that can be,

you know, $50 or $60. And it can be like, well,

I want to read that, but I want to spend that

amount of money. You know, utilize your library.

Libraries, not all communities have them, unfortunately,

but I think you'd be amazed about the amount

of comics your library has. Especially if most

libraries are county -based and just because

your local library that's next to you doesn't

have this, I mean there's not something in the

system that they can get you. I utilize my local

library a lot. I literally just search for comics

and it'll search for anything within the system.

I add it to my list. They'll ship it to the store.

Right now I literally have 76 comic books from

the library sitting in my drawer and that's not

outside the norm. You know this this is only

for you specifically because obviously It's your

library that I'm gonna ask you this question

about you just said you have 76 comics sitting

there from your library Yes, when are they due

back? You so I can renew things three times and

I think you get them for about four or six weeks

So you get about you know eight to twelve weeks

for comics and the thing is I'll have a lot of

those books, but the thing about getting it from

the library, I might start reading something

and find out very quickly that I don't like it,

and I'll stop reading it. And I won't feel bad

about that because I didn't spend any money on

it. But in order for me to feel like I was doing

that top 100 list justice, I wanted to try everything

I could. And literally, I do. I try everything

that they have for each given year. And it's

opened the doors to so many books I wouldn't

have otherwise read. I love blind reading things,

like just picking something up and reading it,

know nothing about it. All I know is that it

exists. I read it and then it led to some of

my favorite comics over the last year. The Hunting

Accident, for example, is a book I always go

to because that's a book I knew nothing about,

just pulled it all off the shelf and read it.

And I love that book. It's one of my favorite

books over the last decade. And if you don't

want to read things physically, we talked about

digital comics. There are digital platforms like

Hulu, OneDrive, Libby. These are all platforms

that local libraries use. If you don't know what

your library has, just ask them and they will

tell you and they'll give you a lot of guidance

of what they use and how to use it. My library

uses Liberty. I don't love the service. It's

not the greatest experience in the sense of,

on mycomicsology, there's no guided view really,

but it's surfaceful. It'll get the job done if

you want to read something on that format. And

a lot of times too, they will Have even weekly

like monthly issues. Sometimes they don't even

just wait for the trades Depending upon your

library and if they don't have something and

you really want it Ask them and they will often

we'll see if they can get it for you I had that

happen where I wanted to reach scout because

I heard a lot of great things about it that one

of Jason Aaron's first books Um verdict and uh,

they didn't have it. So, you know I'm like, hey,

can you can use any other library had it they

ended up ordering it and getting it digitally

and I was able to read it that way. I just find

it, to me, the library is literally the key to

making other people don't take advantage of it.

Like, I get video games from the library. I get

movies from the library. I go to the library

at least twice a week because of the amount of

stuff we get from them. And it's all free. And

it lets you, it's the best way to get in the

comics. Like, that's always what I say. Go to

your library. Pick things up. Pick whatever strikes

your fancy. Take it home and see what happens.

Absolutely. Come here. My number one is kind

of what I already talked about, but I'm gonna

put it in a way here where it's not exactly what

I said a second ago about the guided view for

comixology. And I believe I've told... my history

on this podcast before. Ladies and gentlemen,

this is nothing new, and I'm not here to get

sympathy or empathy or anything. I was born basically

damaged, essentially. I have brain damage. I

have a mild case of cerebral palsy. I also was

born with optic atrophy with nystigmatism, which

basically means I have nerve damage in basically

my eye nerve on both both of my optic nerves

are damaged. So I have a hard time reading even

with glasses, even with getting corrective lenses.

I've had glasses in the past and it just doesn't

work for me. So when I was falling asleep with

Welcome Back Frank in my hand, literally how

I used to read comics physically and how I watch

TV, how I look at my monitor, like... My monitor,

I'm not currently two inches away from it, but

I remember as a kid, I used to, you know, they

always say, ah, TV will rot your brains. You

know, well, my brain was already damaged, so

that didn't matter to me. But literally, as a

kid, I would sit like two inches in front of

the TV because my vision was so bad. Point of

me saying all of this is, comicsology guided

view. If I look at, I'm looking at volume 23

of TMNT, only because that's what Joe and I are

recording for the future, I'm looking at the

single page. And my face is at least, I don't

know, at least 10 inches away from my screen.

I can see that there are words on this full page.

I can see that. I can't read any of them. I see

that there's text in the bubbles, but I can't

actually read any of them. If I go to the Guided

View, I can sit here and read page one of issue

number 100 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from

IDW. My name is Samato Yoshi, also called Splinter

and Master. Without Comixology's Guided View,

this podcast would not exist because once I decided

to stop doing print comics, you know, it just...

wouldn't have worked so thankfully because of

comxology's guided review you guys have had eight

years of this show and it allows me with the

panel to panel and the zoom ins it allows me

to read these things and get the full story on

a much more i don't want to say intimate scale

but it's more of a immersive kind of Read for

me visually because without it. I wouldn't be

I wouldn't even have digital comics without comics.

I'll just kind of view. I wouldn't have spent

the god knows how much I've spent in the last

eight years in comics. I mean seriously and god

knows how much as many of us are our good friends

and listeners have donated to me like. The best

way for people to help me out or to make me smile

that are listening to this podcast And I'm only

doing this because this is the easiest way for

me to say this Send me a comics ology gift card.

I don't care what the denomination is I think

the minimum you can send is is $10 Send it to

me tf2 and Mike at gmail .com Whatever I end

up whoever sends it to me whatever I end up buying

I will dedicate that episode to that person that

donated it kind of thing because it's one of

those things where I need that guided view in

order to even read comics. Like, I'm sure I can

pick up a physical... Do I even have a physical

comic book around here somewhere? Let's see here,

folks. Don't you just love this impromptu moving

around and away from the microphone thing? Alright,

perfect example. This is coming up here inside

the pull bag. It's gonna take me a good minute

to do this properly, but... I recently, I don't

do a lot of kickstarters, folks, just because,

hello, funds are tight, but our good buddy Ryan

Throsk from Star Joe's, he did a kickstarter

for his creator -owned comic called Stealth Hammer.

I was able to contribute to this, and I have

the first issue of Stealth Hammer, so this is

me actually going through a physical comic book,

and quite literally, in order to read this text,

I have to have this book. at least three and

a half inches away from my face. And I wish this

was a video podcast, but nobody wants to see

me on camera. You know, it's one of those things

where I have to really, like, zoom in with, like,

I basically have to put it up to my nose to read

some of this stuff. It's not the comic book's

fault. It's not physical comic's fault at all.

It's my vision. It's just the way it is. And

that's why my number one is the guided view for

comixology, because for me, visually, it's the

only way I can actually read what the hell is

written in the comic books. Yeah, I mean, I think

that's certainly, I mean, it's not necessarily

the reason they did it, but certainly it's a

good benefit of it. Well, no, I know. I mean,

hello, the world doesn't revolve around me and

my broken vision, but I'm just... I'm sure there's

a lot of people in similar situations that have

sight issues or anything like that. being able

to focus. Especially, I think, if you're new

to comics, and one of the biggest things are

learning the language of comics. It can be difficult.

It's one thing if it's just a six panel, nine

panel grid, where your eyes should go. But having

that data view can be helpful just to learn where

it should go. And you're also going to get back

to learning about good artists, bad artists,

good artists. good letterers, good colorers will

be able to help guide your eye. But a lot of

times if you're having difficulty reading a comic

book outside of just the guided view pieces,

maybe because the art's not very good on the

storytelling perspective. But yeah, I don't use

the guided view that much. I tend to only use

it if I'm reading like a really old book. And

sometimes it can be overwhelming, especially

like a Stan Lee written book where he loves his

sign of his own dialogue. I do like I love like

one of the things I love is just looking at a

page layout and how people put those that together

and that's the back side of the side of you we

don't so I get that but in the sense of like

being able to get see one panel it's also great

for screenshots and stuff like that but it's

certainly a great tool and like you mentioned

comicsologies is so much better than anyone else's

like marvel unlimited has one but it's it's very

sometimes I find it to be actually bad and how

it's split up and like it will go the wrong direction

or cut things off and you don't get the entire

page. Comixology is very cinematic in the way

it is. It's like as close to getting them to

a motion comic without it being a motion comic.

Right, yeah. And like I said, if you're somebody

that likes the two page view, the two page view

in Comixology is great for getting the full thing

of the art. Like I like I said before I'm to

read shredder in hell for a future episode of

the podcast and Instead of just having the opening

title book cover it has on two page view it has

that on the left and it has the first page of

the comic on the right and that's just a really

really cool thing to see and you're right with

guided view it is great for screenshots because

When it zooms in on certain things like the very

very first pay one of the one of the reverse

pages in shredder and how No, you're better and

shredder is is talking to Leonardo here. It's

a nice Square zoom in on the characters. Whereas

When we first see it, it isn't zoomed in kind

of thing. So yeah, I mean Well, like I said at

the beginning of this podcast folks We are not

here to instruct you on how we feel every everyone

is gonna be different on how they get into comics

i am hoping that our ten items that we have here

are just helpful things that are going to maybe.

Guide you to the path that works for you with

comics whether that's. Print whether it's digital

whether it's guided view whether it's single

page double page whatever it is there's no one

way or the wrong way there's the right place.

Yeah absolutely that that's the key point here

is there is no wrong right or wrong way to read

comics and some people might tell you that there

is just gonna say it right now they're fucking

wrong. Because seriously. What works for me might

not work for you. What works for you and I might

not work for somebody else. Yeah. You know, so

I mean, you know, we're, we're all different.

We're all made up differently. We all have our

little quirks and things and whatever. And, you

know, my way might not be the best way and hell

your way, you know, our way might, the ways that

we took might, you know, maybe there's, I'll,

I'll pose this question to the audience. What

are your, tips and tricks for getting into reading

comics. Are they different from what we've talked

about? Let us know in the comments, send us email,

feedback at GeekCastRadio .com. You have anything

else you would like to say or bring up or anything

like that before I get the heck out of here with

this thing? The only other thing is if you want

to hear more of my thoughts, you can check out

my YouTube channel or also GeekCastRadio, the

Comic Concierge, where If you're looking to get

in the comics, you can check out every Monday

morning. I start at 9 a .m. I put out starting

points for each week where I look at all the

new comics that are coming out. And I pick out

ongoing series starting new arcs, new number

ones, graphic novels and traits coming out. But

then, you know, a bunch of other. On Wednesdays,

I do graphic thoughts, which is all about graphic

novels. And I do other things like this through

comics where I take a comic book and link it

to actual historical events and other things.

So you can check that out on YouTube or Geocast

Radio. Absolutely. Where can people find you

online, sir? I'm on Twitter on Comic Concierge,

or Concierge Comics on Twitter, and then on Instagram

also at Comic Concierge. Thank you for joining

us here inside the pull bag. There are several

ways to interact with the show and us. You can

hear all of that information in the outro. Make

your great escape into comics, and we will catch

you next time here inside the pull bag. Episode

412 will be Radiant Black issues number three

and four from Image Comics and Kyle Higgins along

with Marcelo Costa and Becca Carey. So Radiant

Black issues number three and four in episode

412 here inside the pull bag that'll close out

the month of May and June we begin with episode

413 Batman TMNT 3 the final arc in the DC Comics

IDW Batman TMNT crossover Joe Reed and I did

that so that's coming up and we will catch you

next time as I said earlier You've just heard

the latest episode of the pullback the GCR ends

first comic review and discussion podcast There

are several ways to get in touch with us and

leave feedback for the show You can visit the

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You can rate and leave a review for the show

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at Geekcast Radio. So until next time, make your

great escape into comics and unleash the geek

in you.