Get to Know Our Staff: Part IV

Time to end the staff questions with a bang! Last but definitely not the least since his was the longest, is Leo. Because of this, you lucky readers are getting two blog posts about him. Just a quick tip: you're going to want to get your pens out or open a tab because he has a lot of recommendations you're going to want to take note of.

1. Are you reading anything right now? If not, what are you watching? 

I’ve finally started making my way through an older Neil Gaiman short story collection, Fragile Things, likely in preparation for his latest collection, Trigger Warning. Oh what the hell, I’ll tell you what I’m watching, too: I recently got my hands on 18 seasons’ worth of South Park, so I’m going through those a bit at a time. 

Cover for Fragile Things

2. What do you like/dislike most about it? 

Anything Neil Gaiman writes is gold. Solid gold. Fanboy gushing aside, I’d say that it’s (obviously) his imagination that I admire, but what strikes me about his work is the same quality I found when I studied Shakespeare: he makes language dance on the page. Words flutter and intertwine, equally terrifying and dazzling. Warren Ellis has a similar quality, but he’s much grittier and nastier. Also quite brilliant and mad, in his own way. They both are. 

As for South Park, that’s a little simpler. It’s hilarious, as long as you don’t mind gross and/or offensive humour. But the other thing is the social satire. They’re not as refined or as clever as, say, The Simpsons in its prime, but South Park is quite sharp. It’s a way better show than most people give it credit for, I think. 

3. What is the first comic you remember reading?  

Archie comics, Grade 2, 1983 (sweet merciful crap, I’m old). A new kid entered the classroom around November that year. I made friends with him and he lent me some Archie comics. (That kid, by the way, turned out to be my best friend of 31 years and counting.) After that, it was a Marvel comic about seven years later: Amazing Spider-Man #333, which I bought it at the local Hasty Market.  

Archie comics logo

A note on this: it’s interesting how the influence of family and friends plays a role in the things you get into. It’s an obvious thing to say, I suppose, but it’s also easy to forget how you stumble into these things. One of my cousins was big into Marvel in the ’60s when he was a kid. (He also got me into Star Trek: The Next Generation.) My mom read Archies. My dad loved Diabolik and Kriminal (Italian comics, the latter of which is getting a revival this year by Marvel artist Giuseppe Camuncoli). My best friend subsequently showed me Arkham Asylum, The Sandman, The Tick, and Scud the Disposable Assassin, and he bought me “Kraven’s Last Hunt”—still my favourite Spider-Man story ever. (By the way, if anyone reading this feels inspired to check out The Tick, just get the first 12 Ben Edlund issues. Those are the best ones. And yes, they’re all collected into one trade.)