Deserter

I don't have a ton of time for this post, but I wanted to congratulate my friend Marc Mason for his 100th column for Movie Poop Shoot. This time, Marc looks at Desert Island Comics, a meme that he tossed out to some bloggers such as myself. I'll admit, this list is going to be pretty brief, but I wanted to get it out there. It's not that I'd really do a much better job with more time, honestly, as I just am not all that imaginative when it comes to these scenarios. I can only think about foraging for food, and toilet paper, and how will I drill the right size hole in my coconut to have sex with it? But, if I was able to get all that locked down, here's the five comics series or graphic novels I would like with me to kill the cursed daylight hours as I waited for rescue or death:

1. Amazing Spider-Man - See, Spider-Man is my favorite character, and while there are plenty of bad moments (and lots of crossovers to other Spidey books I wouldn't have with me here) in 40-plus years of publication, that's still a lot of good reading. And I can eat or burn anything Terry Kavanagh wrote if necessary. But I think I would mainly stick with the Lee/Ditko and Lee/Romita stuff.

2. Fantastic Four - Yeah, I was always a Marvel kid, and I can't see going without prime Kirby. I've been enjoying the FF Omnibus that just came out a month ago and reprints the first 30 issues and Annual #1, and one thing I realize is that as much of a huckster as Stan Lee is, he really added the heart to both Spidey and the F.F. My favorite issue so far, though, is perfect Lee/Kirby synthesis of nutty ideas, action and pathos--the one where Dr. Doom holds Sue hostage and sends the rest back in time to return with Blackbeard's treasure, which actually causes the existence of Blackbeard, who's just The Thing with a black beard they conveniently found on the pirate ship. If that's not enough for you, take a peek at Doom's pink, shark-faced helicopter. The later issues get much wilder, too. It's hard to think of superhero comics more satisfying than these two series.

3. BONE - Jeff Smith's epic is wonderful, funny, suspenseful, scary and timeless--AND I'VE NEVER FINISHED IT. I dropped out a few years ago, in fact, intending to just continue in trade paperback format and then getting sidetracked into whatever else I've read since then.

4. ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY - Maybe seeing the beauty that Chris Ware finds in isolation would give me perspective on my own island exile.

5. THE INVISIBLES - My practical side wins out again, as I choose this head trip series of which I've only read the first year. I probably wasn't ready for it then, but I've got all the time in the world to ponder it now.

Gotta go swim, but I'll just note that John Boorman's POINT BLANK rocks my world and I've seen it three times since last week (thanks ADD!), and I wrote 6 1/2 pages of IRREGULAR JOE #5 yesterday, which felt good.