This month’s MKE Comicbook at Anodyne Coffee had a great triple-feature – a presentation from local creator, Guy Thomas of Sprial King Comics, a discussion about our favorite stories featuring time-travel, and then a fun trivia contest from Don!
Guy started reading comics as a kid, while in the hospital, and his Dad brought him some comics. He enjoyed those reads, but it didn’t hook him, and eventually he became a fan of manga/anime, but still didn’t think “standard” American comics were as engaging as the manga. When he started attending UW-Milwaukee, he founded the “Bam Pow Comicbook Club”. He was founder and president (for four years, one month) (as he mentioned humorously, “ya know, four years and one – why, that’s longer than an American President, so…yeah!” 😉
While at UWM, he read Mignoal’s Hellboy, JMS’ Thor, Fraction’s IronMan and he thought “Mainstream/Marvel Comics >can< be alright…” During this time he also started The Two-Page Spread and did the “24-hour comicbook” challenge at the UWM Geek Week, in 2015. The “24-hour” challenge tasks creators with trying to finish 24 pages of artwork in 24 hours. Guy said, “It’s reeeeeeally hard!”
Most of Guy’s work is “journal comics” – personal narratives – not your average superhero-in-tights type stories. “Making comics is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, and also the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and I hope I can keep on doing it for a long, long time. …I draw comics because I have to.” You can find Guy at The Two-Page Spread and Spiral King Comics.
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As for Time-Travel stories, a lot of great books were brought for sharing!
Shawn had some fun recs,…
All-Star Western Vol. 4. has Jonah Hex in the world of Dark Knight Returns.
Time-Masters (featuring Rip Hunter) – is an 8-issue limited series from 1990. Shawn particularly liked it because the story supposed certain limits to Rip’s ability to jump through time.
Doctor Who: Dave Gibbons Omnibus – featured stories with great hooks like “a planet full of Tom Baker Doctor Whos” and “Doctor Who becomes a Space-Werewolf”.
Time-Bandits, of course.
Emilio also brought some Time Lord material with his Doctor Who No. 1, from 1980 – “What if the Roman Empire never fell?”
He also mentioned the historic Avengers #8, which had the first appearance of Kang the Conqueror, “making Avengers stories confusing ever since!”
Like “Time Bandits”, the night would not have been complete if someone hadn’t brought “Crisis on Infinite Earths“.
Don mentioned Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, time-travel-through-death-and-time limited-series by Grant Morrison and a different artist on each issue. A very interesting concept, but Don suggested, “I don’t know if I’d buy it, but it’s worth going to the library.”
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The most challenging book of the night was Silver-Surfer #11, an issue that messes with the construction of the story in its plot and in how the story’s artwork is presented.
Don shared a story that plays with “alternative history”, in Vertigo’s “Time Warp” anthology, which has a story featuring…Hitler’s sister…
Ryan brought a well-known X-men story – the LegionQuest/Age of Apocalypse storyline. This was a significant 90s cross-over that introduced a few long-lasting characters – villains like Dark Beast and the Sugarman, and heroes like Nate Grey!
“The Future Shark Trilogy“, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, featured one of the best visuals of the night – a shark inside a gigantic battle-tech armor!
Kate kept her descriptions succinct and at the same time very descriptive:
“If we’re gonna talk about time-travel, let’s talk about >this< asshole (Booster Gold) (said endearingly, I think).” 🙂
“What if you grew up, took over the role of your mentor, and kinda became a jerk? That is basically “Teen Titans: The Future Is Now“.
Troy
Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl – is currently in the middle of a time-travel story to the 1960s, where she’s dealing with Doctor Doom.
Red Wolf – is a new Marvel series, and I’m pretty interested in it. It’s about a Cheyenne sheriff from the 1800s who’s mysteriously is transported to the present.
All-New X-men – is another new Marvel series that deals with “out of time” characters – this time, the original five X-men being brought from the 1960s to the present.
Shade the Changing Man/Hellblazer – forgot to bring this to the meetup, but it is a CLASSIC 80s Vertigo cross-over wherein Shade, Constantine and three other characters get transported back to the Salem Witch Trials. Go look it up.
See you all next month for Women In Comics at Binary Games, Food, and Spirits!
