My Current Favorite Cartoon Books

This is a comic from my collection, one I recently sold. If you sell on eBay, you have to be prepared to only get about 10 to 20% of their listed value. And be prepared for a myriad of opinions about condition. It would almost be worthwhile to give the ones I don't want to keep to a worthy cause.

At 55, I'm still an avid collector and reader. These are some of my current favorites -

I really like Terry Moore's Echo, about the woman with living metallic armor attached to her. It is a well-crafted gem from the creator of Strangers In Paradise. Alison loves it, too.

We also read Jeff Smith's RASL. I love it's alternate universe travel and it's riff off Tesla. It is published very infrequently and there is a long wait between issues. Jeff Smith and his wife Vijaya are one of the few celebrities Alison have ever met. We helped assist them when they were honored at Pogo Fest, and ate with them, partied with them and other artists, and showed them around the Okefenokee Swamp Park.

I Like two Stephen King mini-series, The Dark Tower and The Stand. I think The Stand is one of the best comics out right now, and certainly one of the best adaptions I've ever seen.

I like the main Batman title, but not much else. I also like Jonah Hex, although the quality varies from issue to issue. And I'm a huge Legion of super-Heroes fan, going back to some of the earliest comics I bought.

In Marvel, I'm primarily into the old mainstays, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. I really don't like the retro-elimination of Peter and Mary Jane's marriage, but I'm enjoying the thrice-monthly publication, and I have to admit the stories are well written with a great use of supporting cast. I also get The Uncanny X-Men, and am primarily a Shadowcat fan - a smart Jewish girl who's not drawn like an uber-busted bombshell - gotta love it!

I love The Justice Society of America. It is what I call the Thread, with elements of continuity reaching back to the Golden Age. And with Bill Willingham as the writer - hot! hot! hot!

I mostly collect Vertigo comics as graphic novels, although I like to regularly get Fables and Jack of Fables...that darn Willingham again!

But first and foremost I am a Superman fan...Superman, Action comics, Adventure comics, Supergirl, I can't get enough of the never ending battle! I love his sense of decency and sticking up for everyone who needs it. And I'm thrilled with the new storyline of J. Michael Straycynzki called Grounded, where Superman meets and deals with regular, everyday people.

And that's what I'm reading at present. In the future, I hope to discuss the terrible price increases and circulation problems there are plaguing the comics industry.