Classic Comic Readers Club

[WheresRICHARD]

The Classic Comic Readers Club

I've discussed this concept with the admin and plan to launch this if there's enough support for it. There is online a free library of more than 100,000 old comic books that can be read on their website. We're talking 50s, 60s 70s and 80s books...It's legal because they have made it so you can't easily save the comics to your hard drive; you have to read it there, and they make no money off of it. So it's a true library.

I want to start a Classic Comics Readers Club. The idea is this: Each day there would be a suggested classic comic book to read. There would be a few questions posted each day about the book, to get some conversation started about that day's issue. All club-related discussion-starters would have the prefix: CCRC to indicate it's a club-related discussion starter. For instance:
CCRC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #6
Before we launch full-barrel into this, I need to know: A) Who would be interested in participating in this, and B) What suggestions you have for starter books to discuss?
If you want to check out the comic-book library I referenced, it's at http://www.htmlcomics.com
--Richard
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[ctc]

Hmmmm....

It's an interesting idea; but I think you'd get pretty much the same sort of discussions you get now. Folks aren't going to bother with stuff too far afield from what they already like.

Don C.

[garagesale]

Richard:

Thanks for the link to this amazing site. I would be very interested in taking part in this venture!

JamesD

[samurainoir]

Cool! Can we make suggestions?

Here are mine...

Animal Man #5
http://www.htmlComics.com/Book/html....lpha=A&Lookup=

Mad #4
http://www.htmlComics.com/Book/html....lpha=M&Lookup=

2001 #8
http://www.htmlComics.com/Book/html....lpha=0&Lookup=

[WheresRICHARD]

Yep, Samurai, suggestions are welcome....and I also love the 2001 series.

[kryptosmaster]

Sounds interesting but I'm not a huge fan of reading comics online. You just lose something that way. Of course there are probably books I'd never, ever get to read (or even SEE) otherwise, so that would be a plus.
The other problem I have is time. I just don't have the time to fit ANOTHER task in my day so I wouldn't be current with the group.
I might give it a try though.
Rich

[LadyZod]

Sounds like the start of something interesting.

I suggest:

One comic a week. Thread for discussion open for 1 week, then closed when the next comic is listed.

To make things more interesting, narrow reading selections to themes. Like say, Feburary is black history month and features Valentine's day, so the comics chosen can be those that either feature romance or romance gone bad on the week of Valentine's day, or those that feature black characters or themes of civil rights.

Or pick a random theme for a month like say Comics listed in Seduction of the Innocent and lead the discussion in terms of censorship.

This can be shared with member's children as a learning experience.

Of course you can take breaks with just plain fun and silly comics.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

That is a neat link, but I'm pretty sure the copyright legality part is a little murky. I would be up for it, but even at once a week, I may not do everyone.

[samurainoir]

Or pick a random theme for a month like say Comics listed in Seduction of the Innocent and lead the discussion in terms of censorship.

I think this is a great idea, particularly since it was recently such a stimulating topic of discussion here.

We might not want to initially start off with something that has such controversy designed in, but it's always great to have a variety of things we can discuss over time.

I'd say we should start off with something fun that has a mass appeal for the folks around here. Silver Age and Superheroes seems like a safe bet.

[WheresRICHARD]

CCRC: Rules for the Classic Comic Readers Club

Hey gang, I'm excited about the response we've gotten to the idea of an going discussion (or "club") here that discusses nothing but classic comic books. After talking with several of you, both via email. and in the threads here, we've come up with these simple rules:
1) "Classic" for us will refer to comics published up through 1979 (Basically because the 70s are also when the Mego action figures were created).
2) I make no claim to being leader of any group, just the guy who organized the concept and I suppose "facilitator" of many discussions.
3) Anyone obviously can start a thread pertaining to classic comics. But I'd ask that you preface it with CCRC: and the title of the thread if you want to open it to club discussion.
4) We discussed having a book a day and then a book a week....but then an idea was suggested that I like best of all: a monthly theme. This is good because it does not put me in the position of telling you what to read. It does not make you read more than you're capable or slow down those who want to read. For instance, maybe one month we have a theme of monster comic books. So that month, there would be many threads opened asking different opinions on these monster comic books.
5) Of course, the key to making this work is that , there is a free library of over 100,000 old comic books online. So this will make it easy for anyone who wants to join the conversation to do so. For instance, if someone says "Marvel's most poignant monster was Man Thing," he should back up his point by pointing to a specific issue of a comic book so the rest of us could read and see if we agree.
6) And finally, everyone is naturally bound by all rules that Mego Museum sets for their forums.

In the next thread, I'll announce the theme for the rest of April....

[WheresRICHARD]

Please note I've started a new thread entitled:
CCRB: April is JACK KIRBY MONTH

[thunderbolt]

I dunno, the theme thing seems a bit vague, and I'm not going to computer read a bunch of books to find one to back up my points. Just pick a book a week. Like to cover this theme, maybe a Fantastic Four issue, OMAC, and a Devil Dinosaur?

[boynightwing]

I'd take part in this. Sounds fun!

[VintageMike]

Awesome site!

[boynightwing]

I guess it was too good to be true. The site is already down. I only had a few days to look at it too. I was like a kid in a candy store and I didn't know where to start.