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‘Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue.’
At first glance it may seem rather strange to open this post (all about the joy of sharing comics) with a Victorian matrimonial good luck saying but please bare with me a moment. Introducing the world of sequential storytelling to a classroom of sugar-addled children, a well-meaning friend, a tolerant family member, or a bemused stranger on the street, has always been a pleasure. But now, thanks to a myriad of recent movie adaptations, there’s a growing interest in this material among the general public. As such I’ve had many more conversations recently that feature the question ‘well, okay, so, like ... what would you recommend I read?’
And thus my original and FUN reading list technique (the first to incorporate a popular bridal idiom) was born!
Something old – is a recommendation of a comic book/series that you read a long while ago. Perhaps something from your childhood but only if it’s been handily collected into a single volume. Nothing says ‘this person should be avoided’ like a huge pile of dog-eared single issues from the 80’s.
Something new – seems pretty self-explanatory but I choose to interpret this as a new find, rather than a recent publication. I’m always more enthusiastic when I’m lending a good book that I’ve only just discovered myself, regardless of when it was released. Seriously, you should hear my praise for Garfield.
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Something borrowed – ah, yes, bit of a guilty one. Over the years I’ve borrowed a number of great comics from friends which I’ve, er, forgotten to return. But this just proves how good they are, right? Yeah, well, spread the love and lend them to a new reader.
Something blue – I’m certainly not inferring that you recommend an overtly adult comic book, or even a particularly depressing tale. I just like the colour blue. Any titles with blue logos, covers or character costumes work here. And before you scoff, Watchman fits this bill rather nicely. So do the smurfs.
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Oh, and for the purists out there, I know there’s a third line to the original phrase, but I couldn’t make it work! If anyone can apply ‘And a silver sixpence in her shoe’ to my theory, I’m all ears.