the KWOK TALK podcast – pop culture guaranteed to kill your popularity

 A response to questions on Kevin’s Tumblr

1. What was the first comic you remember reading?

My first comic was an issue of The Avengers that I randomly asked my dad to buy for me while we were shopping for groceries.  I was probably in late elementary school at the time, and have no idea why I was spurred to ask for it then.  That particular issue had Gilgamesh on the cover flying towards the reader after being hit by some rock monster (I think).  Bonus points if someone can actually find a picture of that cover.

2. What was the first comic that made you realize that you might be in this for the long haul?

In college, our radio station had copies of Wizard sitting in the lounge. I would pick them up occasionally to read the articles.  Somehow I got introduced to Daredevil when Joe Q was doing the Echo arc and then right after that Brian Michael Bendis took over. It had such a different vibe than the comics I read earlier as a kid, especially when I picked up a few issues of Powers.  I grew up on Jim Lee (still love his art), so Maleev was a huge change, but I ended up loving it.  The David Mack arc art just blew my mind that comic art could look like that.

Around the same time, Grant Morrison was starting his run on New X-Men.  The feel and tone of the book was a complete 180 from the X-books I had grown up on.  These were no longer the X-Men I knew, but I was hooked.  Quitely’s art was an adjustment, as I wondered why all the X-Men were so pudgy looking now, but looking back, his art is easily eons beyond the other artists pulled in for Morrison’s run. (And yes, I liked Xorn.)

3. If you had to make a snap decision to take one comic or one comic run to a desert island, what would it be? Don’t think too hard!

Bone.  The complete one-volume. It’s huge, so it would last long.  As well, it’s so big I could crush any creepy-crawlies that I came across on the desert island.