50 Things I Love About Comics!

My contribution, complete with correction.

1 Kirby figures leaning/reaching right out at the viewer
2 Xeric grants
3 no-prizes
4 capes
5 snappy patter in the middle of a fistfight
6 stylized panel borders
7 panels without borders
8 lettering styles specific to a particular character
9 black hair and clothing with blue highlights
10 brushed inking
11 pet sidekicks whose speech is only intelligible by their owners
12 fake place names transparently based on real places
13 patriotic color-themed costumes
14 purple as signifier for 'incompetnet bad guy'
15 crazy writers from the UK who pretend to believe they're wizards
16 double page spreads
17 cutaway views of secret headquarters and the like
18 retcons (as long as they aren't too torturous)
19 shattered logos
20 animal-themed superheroes/villains
21 ludicrous 'name as destiny' secret identities
22 crosshatching
23 characters who are genial drunks 1 - Captain Haddock
24 characters who are genial drunks 2 - Drinky Crow
25 characters who are genial drunks 3 - Cerebus (sometimes)
26 getting away with really macabre stuff 1 Gahan Wilson
27 getting away with really macabre stuff 2 Edward Gorey
28 getting away with really macabre stuff 3 Chas Addams
29 getting away with really macabre stuff and not only that achieving enormous mainstream success as a result 4 Gary Larson
30 neuroses in ink 1 Jules Feiffer
31 neuroses in ink 2 Lynda Barry
32 neuroses in ink 3 Chris Ware
33 neuroses in ink 4 Charles Schulz
34 way past neurotic in ink 1 R. Crumb
35 way past neurotic in ink 2 Justin Green
36 Jim Woodring's wiggly parallel line shading
37 the incredible way that Tintin books are broken down so each line is its own little unit and so is each page
38 Steranko effects
39 pulling away street clothes to reveal the costume underneath
40 changing clothes in a phone booth
41 surfing or skiing through the infinite void of space
42 utility belts
43 domino masks
44 flying!
45 bristol board
46 injury to the eye motif
47 mishmashed worlds full of aliens, figures from dozens of mythologies, time travellers, living robots, etc.
48 stretchiness powers
49 Awards with funny names like Ruben and Ignatz
50 domino masks

edit - Sorry for doubling up on domino masks. Let's make #50...um...

The "WE WILL BUY YOUR DREAMS! (See details inside.)" banner at the bottom of the "The Strange World of Your Dreams" cover in the recent Kirby book by Mark Evanier.

http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=4051

Yeah!

Oo, this looks fun. I have to go to bed now, but I'll sleep on it.

I don't have time for this right now. But it would make an excellent substitution for an actual column.

A few to get on with:

1. The squiggle Herge uses to draw aeroplane propellers

2. Double size Doom Patrol 57 -- BEST CLIFFHANGER EVER

3. The unique combination of pride and embarrassment at having one of your letters printed in a lettercol

4. Darwyn Cooke's foreheads

5. The final "shit hits the fan" page at the end of every Groo comic

6. That dream sequence where Captain Haddock tries to open Tintin's head with a corkscrew

7. Triangle-era Superman

8. John Workman sound effects

9. Spy vs. Spy body horror

10. "Stephen Hawking!"

I get to read them.

Herriman's moon in Krazy Kat

#51!

http://benzilla.com/beckett_bushmiller_sm.pdf (8.15 mb)

The hoax by A.S. Hamrah and R. Sikoryak, wherein Samuel Beckett requests to collaborate on "Nancy" with Ernie Bushmiller