Wednesday, November 16, 2011

My Visit to BOOM! Studios


Some of you regular readers may have noticed I've been super light on the reviews these past few weeks. The main reason being I've been in Los Angeles, California for that past three weeks in preparation of the opening of the first-ever Pinkberry in Tucson, Arizona. While I have my laptop and a selection of films to review while I'm out here I found that 1. I hate watching films on my laptop and 2. I'm way busier than I expected to have been and find little time to watch and review films - so I apologize for that. In my life outside of this blog I have a career in food service in Tucson, AZ - yay food service. Anyway, today at the Pinkberry corporate headquarters we had what we call a Surprise and Delight sampling event outside the office space for all the inhabitants of office building we're located in, it was fun stuff let me tell you. Who doesn't want a little FREE Pinkberry fro-yo? No one, that's who. Anyway, I was out chatting the attendees when I noticed two gentleman in line with a few graphic novels tucked under arm. Being the nosey and naturally inquisitive guy that I am I get in close for a sneaky-peek and what do I see? A ZOMBIE TALES collection amidst the stack o' comics,  so I chat up the guys a bit cuz hey I like comics

Turns out one of 'em is none other than Ross Richie, one of the co-founders of BOOM! STUDIOS. We enjoyed a very brief conversation wherein we discussed THE WALKING DEAD comic and TV show and my love of Bill Sienwiewicz's run on THE NEW MUTANTS. Afterwards Ross, being a Hell of a nice guy, was nice enough to invite me to come visit his office which was located just around the corner from where we were at, which was just very cool of him.  

After finishing up at work that's exactly what I did with my mate RJ in tow. I didn't see Ross again at the office but I did meet the BOOM! PR gal who was a real pleasure to converse with. I wish I could recall her name but I don't (sorry). She was very kind and helpful while we browsed the titles - which were truly awesome by the way.

Here's where I tell you that '84-'89 were really my glory days of comic collecting - back when they were .65 cents an issue - not $4. I got bit by the comic bug in the 5th grade when I stole (yes, actually stole) a few issues of the Chris Claremont/Dave Cockrum THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA issues of THE UNCANNY X-MEN from my friend Josh - truly I was not a good friend, what can I say? Anyway, I was a total Marvel Boy who loved THE SECRET WARS, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, PETER PARKER THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, THE WEB OF SPIDER-MAN, THE UNCANNY X-MEN, Kurt Busiek's THE AVENGERS, Walter Simonson's THOR, CLASSIC X-MEN (those Arthur Adam's covers still thrill me) and THE NEW MUTANTS. But once I got laid in the early 90's I more or less lost touch with comicdom until '94-'99 when I was reading a ton of Frank Miller's SIN CITY, Mike Allred's MADMAN, Marvel's THUNDERBOLTS and Grant Morrison's JLA among a few others. Then from about 2005 on I've been reading mainly omnibus editions of Marvel and DC books from the local library. So, I'm not the most knowledgeable comic nerd on the block and would never claim I was, but I've always been an avid casual fan of the form in one way or the other.

Anyway, my visit to BOOM! Studios just tapped right back into my love of comics and the art form as a whole, it really just brought me back to the form in a way that I haven't felt for a really long time. So, what I picked-up at the office was PLANET OF THE APES: THE LONG WAR, ZOMBIE TALES OMNIBUS: OUTBREAK, CTHULHU TALES OMNIBUS: DELIRIUM and HELLRAISER VOL.1 - none of which I've read yet, not completely anyway. I've been flipping through the books just admiring the artwork - brilliant stuff. Like I say, I've been outta the loop for a while and not all the writers and artists names popped out at me but it's a mighty impressive roster of talent. I'm seeing a ton of great writers; Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, Steve Niles, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman and amazing artwork from Mike Mignola, Mark Chiarello and Andrew Richie among so many others.

While I was there I also saw a ton of great stuff I didn't pick-up (yet) including Philip K. Dick's DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, 28 DAYS LATER and even DIE HARD - there body of work is pretty intriguing. 

Well, I'm actually right proper drunk right now but before I blog myself into a stupor I want to extend a big THANK YOU to Ross Richie and the folks over at BOOM! Studios, my trip to BOOM! was definitely a highlight of the entire trip out here to L.A. so far and consider my a fan from here on in.

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