Holy moley! I've just uploaded a bunch of photos of our first ever Heroes Discussion Group, which was pretty great. I'll leave most of the description to our Flickr photo report, but here are a few highlights, for those of you on a time budget:1) Andy Mansell is the perfect guy to run this kind of thing. He's even more knowledgeable than he is friendly, and that's saying a lot. The depth with which he explored League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (our discussion topic) was all anyone could talk about afterward. Super educational.
2) It is hard to talk about one Alan Moore book and not continually bring up all the other ones. Which is okay, but we kept sliding into discussion of From Hell, which not everyone had read.
3) POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: Could the Captain Nemo we see in the book actually be Sherlock Holmes in disguise? This idea, posed by Andy at the very end of things, prompted a lot of passing back and forth of copies of the book, accompanied by "Look, he's right!" or "I don't see it."
The meeting ended with everyone nominating two books they'd like to discuss next. The top vote-getters were From Hell, Sandman Vol 4., and All-Star Superman. All-Star Superman barely won, so our next discussion group will focus on the first collection of the series, reprinting issues 1-6! And what's more, we've decided to offer 10% off whatever book is our next topic of discussion all month long! That means that until next month's meeting, tentatively scheduled for Monday, April 28th, just mention the Heroes Discussion Group to get 10% off of All-Star Superman, Vol 1! This discount will not apply to single issues--just the hardcover.
If you were at the discussion group last night, we'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas on how it went. Feel free to comment below--and if you couldn't make it last night, but still want to talk League of Gents, we can keep the discussion going! Thanks again to Andy Mansell!
8 comments:
Being able to listen to the discussion last night was great, although I was entirely unprepared for the depth of the discussion. How about tossing up a couple of ideas or questions to think about for All Star Superman so that more of us will be ready to contribute to the discussion next time?
I'm glad to hear this went well. I always like to sit out the first round of these sort of things to make sure no one gets hurt. Since it looks pretty safe I'll try to make the next one.
Actually I just didn't feel like re-reading LOEG this weekend.
I think Vee's idea is right on the money. We could list a short list of "topics" without getting too specific.
After Vy agreed with me so must I now agree with her, a short list of talking points!
Also, if subsequent discussions are as good, would it be possible to record these conversations for podcasting?
I would defer to Andy, but as far as I'm concerned I think recording is fine AS LONG AS all involved parties are fine with it. You never know when someone from the Witness Protection Program might be in the house.
I DEFINITELY think that some pre discussion blog discussion is a great idea. Better than great. It also allows people who might not be able to (or not want to) come join in a little bit, or just try it on to see if they like it. I'm thinking here specifically of Rich.
Haven't read LOEG, but now wish I had! I HAVE read All-Star Superman, so I'll be there! (And on my night off too!) But Andy is THE MAN! Any discussion lead by him is sure to be IN DEPTH! The man's knowledge of all things comics/strips astounds!
Well, the obvious "talking point" is going to be the whole "12 Labors of Hercules" thing, which I presume will lead inevitably into Greek mythology as a kind of ancient Marvel Universe. Which will be cool.
I really wish I could have made it. If you ever have another one which isn't on a Monday or Wednesday night, I will totally be there. Glad to hear it went well though.
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