Do you ever read comic books just for fun? (Not have you... do you?) There was a time, I think, I only used to read them for fun. There was a guy, used to be a regular on this board, who frequently said he read them for "Escape." (Escape from what, I don't know... reality, I guess...?) But that has never been the case with me. Sometimes (not very often, but sometimes) I read them for Education, sometimes for Enlightenment, but what I read them for mostly is Entertainment. I think the switch from "fun" to "entertainment" probably began during the "grim 'n' gritty" '80s. There were many comics I found entertaining at the time, but I couldn't really call them fun. So what's the difference between "fun" and "entertaining"? I don't know, but I think when I read something for entertainment and I am not entertained, that's not fun, either.
One of my first ever comic books was Spider-Man #73, which occurred smack dab in the middle of the "Stone Tablet" saga. I don't remember the last time I read that issue out of the context of #68-77 (conveniently collected in MMW v67). Similarly, an early backissue I acquired was Avengers #93, a middle chapter of the "Kree/Skrull War." These days, I always read issues #89-100 (or MMW v137) if I read it at all. Another example of a comic book I read "out of context" was Fantastic Four #62 (as reprinted in Marvel's Greatest Comics #45). The last time I read that I was working my way through the entire run of Lee/Kirby FF.
So my question to you is this: What comics do you read just for fun? If you, like me, no longer read comics for fun, what are some you have read for fun in the past?
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I selldom read them for any reason other than fun. There are a few manga that I read because they were "significant" in my mind - say, for example, I read Sailor Moon more because it was the first combination of the "magical girl" genre with the "super-sentai " genre than because it was my preferred type of story.. Also, there are some comics that I've read for "educational" purposes, like a manga I read that was a history of type fonts, which I found interesting. , This is also true of something like Maus, which could never be called "fun", but which I'm glad I read.
But by and large, if I don't find a super-hero comic to be "fun" on some level, I'll almost always drop it.
I would cateogrize the things I read into:
1)Things I read for fun.
2)Things I read to learn from.
Maus is a great example of a comic that is both educational and enlightening without being "fun" per se.
I think "fun" is a somewhat lower bar than "entertaining." In order to be entertained, I need a story with a beginning, middle and end, as well as other literary devices such as foreshadowing, characterization, theme, etc. A fun story needs only plot.
An example of a recent comic I read for fun: Avengers: War Across Time.
An example of a recent comic I read for fun but found to be quite entertaining as well: Superman: Space Age.
The Baron said:
Have you ever read Illusions by Richard Bach? In once scene, Donald asks Richard why people go to the movies.
"Well, it's entertainment," I said.
"Fun. That's right. One."
"Could be educational."
"Good. It is always that. Learning. Two."
"Fantasy, escape."
"That's fun, too. One."
"Technical reasons. To see how a film is made."
""Learning. two."
"Escape from boredom..."
"Escape. You said that."
"Social. To be with friends," I said.
"Reason for going, but not for seeing the film. That's fun, anyway. One."
Whatever I came up with fir his two fingers; people see films for fun or for learning or for both together.
Today I took particular notice of "escape from boredom." Yesterday I couldn't figure out what those who read comic books as an "escape" are escaping from (because I very seldom ever allow myself to become bored), but I guess that's as good a reason as any.
I could also see not just escape from boredom, but also escape from a distressing reality. One can - at least temporarily - set aside their personal problems and immerse themselves in a fictional reality that distracts them from their day-to-day concerns, A person who hasn't had many "victories" in their real lives can vicariously share in the triumphs of their make-believe heroes. I think that this is similar to the way that sports fans celebrate when their favorite team wins a chamionship, even though they (the fans) haven't actually "won" anything.
I do read the comics section last as a sort of "palate cleanser" after reading the rest of the newspaper.
For the past week or so, I've been concentrating on comics that are fun to read. Last month, I put up Fantastic Four #57 as a possible contender, so I decided to read it. True to form, however, I didn't read just that issue; I read #57-60. After that, I read some key Galactus stories, specifically Thor #160-162, 167-169. To make it even more fun, I read the Fantastic Four issues in "Omnibus" format, and the Thor ones in "Monster" format. If "Omibus" is equivalent to Widescreen Technicolor, then "Monster" is IMAX. The typical omnibus weighs about six lbs., but the Kirby is... MIGHTY Monster edition weighs nearly twice that, at 11.8 lbs. All Lee/Kirby comics are fun, but in "Monster" format they are positively boisterous!
You know what else is fun? Jack Kirby solo comics of the seventies. I'm talking titles such as The Demon and OMAC and Kamandi from DC, and Captain America, Black Panther and Machine Man from Marvel. You may not like 'em, but if you do, they don't offer much except fun. I'm mean, they're not very deep. Everything is right there on the surface. Turn off your mind and surrender to the wackiness.
One thing about the continued stories of yesteryear, such as the "Stone Tablet" saga or the "Kree/Skrull War" (or any continued story of that era, really) is that any chapter of that story, first last or middle, is structured in such a way as to draw a reader in to entice him to read more. Some stories even "faked" an in medias res feel so as to give the splash page a feeling of urgency. That is no longer the case (and hasn't been for some time) in the "write-for-the-trade" mentality. But I'll tell you one set of comics that did a pretty good job of "faking" the feel of continued adventures...
AMALGAM COMICS: Set the WABAC machine for 1997, when Marvel and DC could get along on a corporate level. "Amalgam" was an intercompany crossover event in which the MU and DCU were sort of "smooshed together" with a shared history as well as a fictional publishing history. I didn't like all of the Amalgam comics, but the ones I did like I really liked. Just for fun, I decided to reread one of my favorites: Spider-Boy Team Up #1.
Doesn't that look like fun?
Rereading it, I came to realize that many of the jokes and situations were predicated on a knowledge of the publishing history of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but I daresay a new reader unfamiliar with Spider-Man, Superboy or the LSH could appreciate this on a visceral level.
TANGENT COMICS: In the same box as Amalgam is Tangent. When Julius Schwartz launched DC's Silver Age, he reinvented several Golden Age characters by keeping their names and chucking everything else. Tangent Comics was a "fifth week" event in which DC again "reinvented" their comics by keeping the names only and creating a new universe around them. They ran this trick a couple of times, then crossed it over into the main DCU at least once. Although the Tangent universe did have its own version of "Superman", it's main hero (arguably) was The Atom.
Whereas I was either enthusiastic about or indifferent to the Amalgam titles, I felt pretty much the same about most of the Tangent comics across-the-board: somewhere in the middle. The Atom was written and penciled by Superman scribe Dan Jurgens, and I am really impressed by the amount of backstory he put into what is essentially a one-off character. Jurgens' Atom is a generational character himself, being the grandson of the first and the son of the second. When I read these comics for the first time (in 1997) I was focused on the gimmick, but I should have been focused on the FUN.
SILVER SURFER/SUPERMAN:
I bought this one back in '96 (same box as the two above) for the intercompany crossover, read it, filed it and forgot it. Looks like fun, though. Despite it being a square-bound book, it took me only about half as long to read as the Tangent Atom, and I didn't enjoy it as much. What I had forgotten was that this story features Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Impossible Man, and I don't think I've ever enjoyed a story featuring either of those two characters.
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