"Pick of the Week" - What's Yours?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Every week, one item or another in my pull and hold stands out for me above the rest in one way or another. Sometimes it’s a periodical, sometimes a graphic novel, sometimes a collection. Does that happen to you? If so, let’s hear about it here. It can be an item you’ve long anticipated or something you bought on a whim. If it’s something you were really looking forward to but ended up being a big disappointment, let’s hear about that here, too. I’ve been meaning to start this topic for a long time now, but chose today to post about something I’ve been waiting for a long time, long before it was even solicited.

SILVER SURFER EPIC COLLECTION BY STEVE ENGLEHART AND MARSHAL ROGERS

This is a favorite run of mine, but I’ve read it only twice: once as it was released, and I re-read it once after that. It came out as an “ESSENTIAL” a few years ago, but for this I held out for color.

EDIT: Most weeks I make my picks before I have read them, but feel free to choose either the books you anticipate most before you read or enjoy the most after you have read them.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

You're probably right!

[Captain Comics]

I was born in 1958, and only heard about hope chests on old TV shows and in old comics. I figured out what they were from context, but neither of my sisters (older than me) had hope chests. I doubt my mother did, and she was born in the '30s (to dirt-poor Arkansans).

It might be that region, religion or class might have more to do with it than age. I bet debutantes have hope chests, but I've never met one. The only ones I ever saw in Memphis were in old photos in the newspaper's "Bygone Days," although they might have existed among the upper crust. I went to public school, and didn't know any rich people, who might have had debutante daughters, who might have had hope chests, but I sure wouldn't know about them.

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

In Back To the Future, Marty McFly's mom mentions her hope chest while he's in 1955. I remember asking my mom back when the movie came out, "What's a hope chest?"

My mom, who was born in 1952, said, "You don't know what a hope chest is? God, I feel old now."

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I broached this topic last night with my wife and she said, "I was born in 1973 and I have a hope chest." I hadn't previously realized that, but it's in the guest room. I don't think it has anything to do with the upper crust. Tracy said when young girls start to embroidery or crotchet or whatever, those are the types of items that might be put in a hope chest for a girl's future married life.

If the target readership of Archie is, let's say 25, then Waid might have said, "Of course you don't know about hope chests because you were born after 1995." I maintain that would have been more accurate, but it would have sounded really condescending. 1970's safe.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Well I took an informal poll at work today, and asked 10 of my female co-workers.  4 did know, and 6 did not. Ages ranged from early 20s to late 30s

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Interesting.

[Peter Wrexham]

Captain Comics said:

It might be that region, religion or class might have more to do with it than age.

Nationality, too.  I'm a Brit, and I doubt that anyone this side of the Atlantic has ever encountered the phrase, except in a US context.

In fact, I've just looked up "hope chest" in my copy of the OED (do I need to explain that that's the Oxford English Dictionary?), and it marks the term with an asterisk, meaning "chiefly US", and says that it's equivalent to the British "bottom drawer".

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I'm not sure what my pick of the week is yet -- there are a lot of good books (Prez, Harley Quinn's Black Book) that I haven't read yet. But I *did* read Paper Girls #3, and each issue gets more intriguing than the last. 

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Aagh! I missed Paper Girls, which I also find intriguing--much to my surprise.

My early pick (and the only one I've actually read...but still) is The Sheriff of Babylon #1. Great start to the series.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Yeah, that was really good. Loved that first Sofia sequence. Masterful.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

 

The only thing that keeps Nexus from being my favorite comic is that it isn't published regularly anymore. Most of this stuff is new to me. It originally appeared in the anthology Dark Horse Presents, but I decided to tradewait. I've been waiting a loooong time.

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Wow, I had no idea this was even out. Nexus is one of my all-time favorite series, and yet, sadly, it has fallen so far by the wayside that it's not even on my radar.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

 

The only thing that keeps Nexus from being my favorite comic is that it isn't published regularly anymore. Most of this stuff is new to me. It originally appeared in the anthology Dark Horse Presents, but I decided to tradewait. I've been waiting a loooong time.