The Comic Book Bin's Christmas gift list

Spotlight
The Comic Book Bin's Christmas gift list
By Patrick Bérubé
December 7, 2009 - 04:00

This year again, some of the Comic Book Bin writers share with you what they think would make great gift ideas for the comic book enthusiast.

Andy F.: What could be more perfect for the comic book enthusiast than waking up early Christmas Morning (or opening on Christmas Eve, as the custom has been in my family over the years) than a gift of a selection of his or her favorite item, comic books! Comic books can be pricey these days, with many special collected editions running upwards of $100.00 or so. While a pricey collected edition might just be what Santa is able to afford, there are also plenty of economical collected editions available this season. Here's a quick buyer's overview of one of each (Hope you're reading Santa! I've been a good boy this year!)

DC Comics Chronicles Volumes: Batman, Superman, The Green Lantern, The Flash! All collected chronologically from their first appearance! These collected chronicles serve as a window into the early adventures and development of some of the most influential superheroes of all time. At $14.99 an edition (with many on sale at Local Comic Shops around the country), these editions are a perfect gift for the superhero comics enthusiast.

Absolute Sandman Volumes I-IV: Neil Gaiman's classic, engaging, and all around just darn good series The Sandman stands as one of the absolute greatest comic books series ever produced. Chocked full of mythological, literary, and classical allusions, Gaiman's exercise in telling a story about storytelling and how stories and dreams influence our brief lives, are collected in grand style. Printed on oversized paper, enclosed in a protective slipcase, with an attached book mark, these editions are not only great reads, but full of great extras. They're pricey (about $100.00 a pop), but are a gift fans of Gaiman and great comic books would treasure for a lifetime.

Philip: What I have found makes a great gift for both comic book readers and non-comic book readers are the Tintin books. The adventures of Tintin have a universal appeal, ranging from treasure hunts to mysteries to international intrigue, but are told on a fun all-ages level (and I do mean ALL) that have entertained young and old alike for decades.

Perhaps because the creation of new Tintin stories ended with the death of his creator, Hergé, in 1983, many of today's comic book tend to overlook Tintin in favor of more mainstream comic books. Younger readers and older non-comic book readers who find the sequential panel format hard to follow, will appreciate the simple line drawings that are easy on the eye.

If you want to spend a few extra dollars for that comic book reader in your life, there are many artists with their own Web site, through which they offer commissions, and that often includes pages of original art from the books they’ve illustrated.

Imagine an original art page, mounted and framed with a colored, printed page from the actual comic book. And if you care to go the extra mile, there are many online art dealers who carry original art from silver and bronze age comics. This art pre-dates the era when publishers gave the artwork back to the artists, and much of it ended up in dumpsters and incinerators. As a result, one of Gil Kane’s original Green Lantern pages, or an early 1970s DC cover by Nick Cardy, is extremely rare, an coveted by many comic book fans.

Patrick B.: Zombies might be the surest bet right now but you can't go wrong with Vikings killing each other either. Brian Wood's Northlanders is not only well written but it also offer great art by David Gianfelice. The first volume collects the first 8 issues of the series and is about Sven, a viking chieftain's son coming back home after traveling around the known world. The fact that I can relate more to a 11th century viking than to any of the current superheroes is just one of the element showing Wood's ability to craft an universally appealing story. At 9.99$ it's one of the best value you can find on the market right now.

For those with a higher budget, why limit yourself to a single trade paperback when you can buy a whole series? Many series are now finite and have an end so your loved one will now be able to spend the rest of the Christmas vacation tucked in a warm blanket reading a complete story. Some suggestions: Y: the last man (Vertigo, 10 volumes), 100 bullets (Vertigo, 13 volumes) and Planetary (Wildstorm, 4 volumes)

Patrick O.: Absolute Sandman Vol.1 would make for an excellent present under anyone’s Christmas tree. Neil Gaiman at the height of his powers shows his love of words, evocative writing, dazzling ideas and diverse influences with a brilliant concept taking center stage. Healthy doses of mythology, pop culture, humour, magic, love, philosophy, existential angst and danger serve up a veritable feast for the reader. Issues 1-20 of The Sandman are collected in this first of three volumes. They boast leather like covers and are also larger (8" by 12") than the library edition and better quality too. This is perfect for showing off some very cool artwork. Once somebody started to read this, they would hard-pressed to put it down!

You can get Powers Vol 1: Who Killed Retro girl for under a tenner. When you consider it is by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming you know straight away that is a fantastic bargain. Great writing and great artwork all in one package. The story center on a detective and his new partner who are called to investigate the killing of a popular super heroine and have to gather clues to her death from within the super hero community. Tricky. Powers Vol 1: Who Killed Retro girl is a fantastic take on a police procedural tale. It is smart, funny, thought-provoking and fun.

Hervé: District 9 is my pick for the holidays as a gift. I know it's not a comic book, but it's the closest a "blockbuster" film has gone to capture the complexity in science fiction that we read every month in a comic book. I really enjoyed District 9 because the "prawns" acted in character if there is such a thing. It was really believable that people in South Africa would react the way they did. The film itself explores so much of that culture that the part about the aliens prawns is icing on the cake. I really liked that the prawns were not scheming aliens out to get the human race for once. They were just stuck on Earth. If you haven't seen this film yet, now's the time to get it on DVD.

Green Lantern Blackest Night series 1 action figures just came out, making them easy to find and will surely please most super hero action figure collectors. You can buy them as a full set or individually. If you buy them individually but are not sure which to buy, don't worry. They can easily exchange them with other collectors online. At least three more series are scheduled to ship in 2010 many of them revisiting older DCDirect action figures collectors might have missed in the past. They also look good with older Green Lantern action figures so there's no worries there. Each action figure comes with a few props like coloured power rings and small lanterns. The first series includes Alpha (Green) Lantern Boodikka, Blue Lantern Saint Walker, Red Lantern Atrocitus and Black Lantern Superman of Earth Two.