How did you first get into comics?

[DecafSilicon]

What type of comics did you read first?

[Greg Stephens]

You left out newspaper comics.

[DecafSilicon]

Editorials, maybe, but pretty much every newspaper comic falls under "humor." If you just read Prince Valiant and Brenda Starr, then check "other."

[losttoy]

You also left out those old Whitman/Western Publishing comics that printed cartoon comics like Donald Duck, Bug Bunny and Popeye.

[Greg Stephens]

I suspect those would fall under "humor" as well.

I had already voted for "other," though maybe it should have been humor.

As far as newspaper comics go, I wasn't even thinking about political comics, and that's a good point, but there are plenty of non-political newspaper comics that aren't humor-based. I suppose they're out of fashion and grossly outnumbered by humor comics.

I think there are a lot of ways to break down this informal survey other than you've done, but at a certain point, it becomes needlessly complex.

[losttoy]

Well Decaf describer humor as Doonesbury or MAD Magazine. Which I see as newspaper or satire magazine. Neither one of those were printed in comic book form (well MAD did when it started, but that was way early for me).

[CleverUserName01]

I picked super-hero, because that's what I first read on a regular basis. The first comic book I ever read was probably an Uncle Scrooge reprint (or something from the Disney line).

I might have gone for "a mix," though, because at about the same time as I started in on the X-Men, I also discovered Mad Magazine, which I also spent my hard-earned allowance on for many, many years.

[ragtag]

What about stuff like Spiro and Tintin and other European comics. I started with those, then stopped reading comics for a while, and got back into comics with Heavy Metal (though on average I liked less than half of the stories in each magazine).

Cheers,

Ragnar

p.s. Do you get much of those 48/64 page full color (painted) French/Belgian/Spanish style comics in the comic shops in the states?

[Rip Tanion]

You left out the harmless kiddy comics. When I was a pre-schooler, my parents used to buy me Richie Rich comics. Damn, that kid had the life...even if his mother dressed him funny.

When I got to the first or second grade, my pal Richie was laughed off of the schoolyard. Spiderman and Batman were now "where it was at." Now, that I was old enough to go to the candy store with my pittance-of-an-allowance money (I was no Richie Rich ...but my mother still dressed me funny), I started buying Superhoroes and nothing but Superheroes.

Oh, and when puberty hit, there was Betty and Veronica, strutting around Riverdale High, their C-Cup bussoms swaying back and forth, hypnotically....

Ahem...

[William G]

Cartoons on TV

[Eric F Myers]

I really can't recall. I'm trying so hard to think, but comics have always been around. The Super Heroes, Mad, Cracked, Sunday morning funnies, Graphic Novels, Web comics, etc.. There hasn't been a day in my life (since I could read) that I've not read some sort of comic. It was in high school that I realized not everyone read comics.

[DecafSilicon]

I'm definitely taking the "comics as art form" approach for the poll. MAD Magazine runs great comics and always has. I named them as an example to show that I was referring to all instances of comics.

Yeah, if anyone wants to build a better poll, please do. This is just a quickie in response to recent threads. I'm trying to get a feel for some of our comics origins.

I'd like to see a poll of people's favorite genres. Of course, again, it'll be flawed as all art-discussion multiple-choice polls are.

I still can't believe that people don't read the comics first when they get the paper. I hope I never read the front page first.

[losttoy]

I still can't believe that people don't read the comics first when they get the paper. I hope I never read the front page first.

My wife and I agree with you!

[kaos_de_moria]

What about stuff like Spiro and Tintin and other European comics. I started with those, then stopped reading comics for a while, and got back into comics with Heavy Metal (though on average I liked less than half of the stories in each magazine).

Cheers,

Ragnar

p.s. Do you get much of those 48/64 page full color (painted) French/Belgian/Spanish style comics in the comic shops in the states?

yes true, this is a completely us centered poll. i got into comics over european comics and up to today i basically read european comics. i'm not a great fan of the american style. just through the webcomic scene i get closer contact to more independent american work, which i like. (of course their is exceptions)

kaos

[Rip Tanion]

and got back into comics with Heavy Metal (though on average I liked less than half of the stories in each magazine).

Heavy Metal was always hit or miss. The artwork is often much better than the stories themselves. Of course, I got into Heavy Metal in high school because I was a horny teenager who loved all the sex and nudity inside.

this is a completely [U.S.] centered poll

Not exactly. Japaneses Manga is mentioned.

The Humor category: I don't think Donald Duck, Richie Richie, etc. fall in the same Humor category as MAD or Cracked. The former are aimed at a younger audience than the latter. I'd categories the former as Kiddie Comics. I read Richie Rich and Woody Woodpecker when I was a little pisher. I didn't start reading MAD until about the forth grade.

I notice nobody has picked Underground Comix. Make sense, actually. Most people get into comic books when they are children, and Underground Comix ain't exactly for kids. I didn't discover them until I was 17, or 18.