365 T-shirts - the reasoning

This blog should be sub-titled: a journal of my life in geek.

I get my geek on with things about which I am geeky: comic books, Baseball, Ultimate, science fiction, my favorite bands, books I have read and loved, and Jungian psychology to name some of the most frequently traversed subjects.

I began this project simply as a way to count my T-shirts. I own a lot of T-shirts. But how many do I have? Do I have 365? We shall find out.

When I started this blog, I thought about how each T-shirt means something to me. I bought it for a reason, after all. I set myself the task to post an entry about a new T-shirt every day as a way to simply write something every day, a warm up for writing fiction, which is my passion. Writing is like exercise. Warm ups are good for exercise. But after completing a month of blogging about T-shirts, I have learned that this blog serves as a journal; it documents my life in geek, sort of a tour of my interests in pop culture. The blog serves as a tool for self-inventory, for assessment and analysis of self and the origins of self, for stepping through the process of individuation in catalogues, lists, and ranks.

The blog also made me aware that I have some serious gaps in my T-shirt ownership, and I am in the process of collecting some new T-shirts for several of the great popular culture icons that I truly love. Stay tuned.

I was also a bit surprised that people checked out my blog and continue to check it, read it, and even comment on it. I am very appreciative of this readership. Please feel free to share your thoughts in my comments section. I will respond.

Also, please note that I have moved the original introductory text to the side bar. And now, I present to you the most recent entry of 365 T-shirts: a journal of my life in geek. Thank you for reading.
(Second Update - 1310.24. First Update - 1306.05 Originally Posted - 1304.25.)

Sunday, March 31, 2013

T-shirt #10: The Walking Dead

T-Shirt #10: I LOVE THE WALKING DEAD

I did not start reading The Walking Dead comic from the beginning. Contrary to popular belief, I do not buy and read every comic book published. I do not even manage to obtain all the comics by the major companies each month. I struggle just to read what I do buy, which is arguably much too many comic books.

Image Comics never impressed me all that much. I read early issues of things like Savage Dragon and WildC.A.T.s. I must confess to even buying Youngblood #1. (Hey, Rob Liefeld was in a fanzine APA club I was part of!) But I was not inspired enough to keep up with too many of the titles. Comics like Astro City, Godland, and The Darkness caught my attention. I liked many of those plus Wanted and anything by the Luna Brothers. But generally speaking, I steered clear of Image Comics.

Then one day on the Ultimate field, as often happens, I started talking comics with someone, in this case Darrough West (who has since moved to Chicago; miss you, brother!), and he recommended very highly a comic I had seen in the Previews solicitation catalogue but had resisted buying any issues, as I had to resist so many comics that looked interesting simply to keep the titles I bought each month under 50. (Not succeeding at this goal. I ordered 77 titles for May 2013. Damn Marvel Ultron event!)

At Darrough's urging, I bought the first trade of The Walking Dead, and gave it a try. Within days, I was hitting the comic store for the other (at that time) seven trade paperbacks and buying other not yet collected individual issues to catch up.

By the time the TV series hit the cable airwaves, The Walking Dead  comic would grace the top of my stack each week (meaning it was the first comic I read, usually the same day I bought it). The stories have continued to remain fresh, original, and engaging. I like that Kirkman is in it for the long haul. What does the world look like ten years after a zombie apocalypse? What about twenty years?

As for the TV series, I thought the first season was a little weak at the end (though I liked the first few episodes very much), but the second and third seasons have been excellent.

We have a dilemma in the Tower household tonight, March 31st, appropriately, Easter Sunday. The Walking Dead hosts its season three finale, HBO's Game of Thrones premieres its season three debut, and Liesel and I have discovered a new show, Top of the Lake, which also conflicts with the times of the other two.

For those only watching the TV show for The Walking Dead, you are missing out on some of the best comics published since the turn of the century and millenium. For those not even catching the TV show, if you like to think you are a discerning geek, then, for shame. (If you're not geeky, or cannot stomach flesh eating zombies, then never mind).

- chris tower
1303.31 14:56