Hello, and welcome to the second entry to our new “Confessions Of A DC Geek” series. This time we have another member from the DC World team, Steve J. Ray who, as you will see, has a great collection.
We hope you would like to get involved and, if like DC fan below, Steve, you want to share, then please email john@dcworld.org.uk, or a DM via my twitter account @DC_ComicsGeek or even through the DC World twitter account, @_DCWorld, and it will be passed on. I look forward to hearing from you. If you do contact us then I will get back to you, preferably via an email address and we will go through the necessary questions and, providing you all agree, ask for a few pictures; maybe one of yourself for the article as well as photos of the items from your collection.
Anyway, as I have stated, Batman fan Steve is next up for the grilling. Please enjoy and my thanks to Steve for wanting to take part and taking on the questions.
I hope you all enjoy, I certainly did and I am still in awe at part of his collection – see if you can figure out which part.
CONFESSIONS OF A DC GEEK #2 – STEVE J. RAY
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself – name, age (if willing), where you’re from and what you do for a living, anything else you wish to mention.
Hi. My name’s Steve J. Ray. I’m a husband/dad/writer/artist, and comics historian.
I’m 48. I’m a former store and area manager in the field of electronics retail, but am now concentrating on my art, and my passions. These include restoring old comics art, inking, writing, reporting, and spending quality time with my family.
I’m a comics, sci-fi, and wrestling fan. My main loves are Batman, DC and Marvel Comics, Doctor Who, Star Wars WWE and everything that’s full of yummy, geeky, goodness.
Anyone who’s known me for more than five minutes calls me Nerd Yoda, or Geekipedia.
What, or who, helped kickstart your DC Comics fandom and when?
That’s easy.
Watching the adventures of Adam West as Batman from the TV repeats of the early 70s, then believing a man can fly, thanks to Christopher Reeve’s Superman, in the late 70s/early 80s.
All this, supplemented with large, (un?)healthy doses of comics and Saturday morning cartoons, and I was hooked.
Then in 1989 Tim Burton did a thing with Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton… you may have heard of it? That changed my life forever.
Who is your favourite DC Superhero? – Not sure this needs asking, isn’t it obvious already?
I love almost all of them, but I am a self confessed Batman obsessive.
Who is your favourite DC Villain?
The Joker or Two-Face. One because he’s completely irredeemable, the other because I still hope against all all hope. I’m a real sucker for a redemption story, and love it when bad guys turn good.
Overall, who is your favourite DC character?
Batman, and Superman but Nightwing is actually grabbing at both their cloaks. Pulling, tugging… dragging himself up.
What is your favourite DC Movie?
Artistically? Or which one grabbed me, and never let go? I know this may be an unpopular opinion, but to me Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman are artistic powerhouses, and masterpieces of modern cinema. Flawed? Possibly… but masterpieces, nonetheless.
The original Superman movie blew my mind back when I was 9 years old, but Superman II in 1980 changed the game. For me this was the first, true superhero movie. Up until then screen superheroes only fought gangsters, thugs, and bank-robbers. Here was a movie with tanks, explosions, the hero fighting the villains in the air, wrecking skyscrapers, sending cars, and busses flying. I was in 11 year old geek heaven.
So, I guess I’d have to say Superman II… And maybe that Tim Burton thing from 1989. Have I mentioned that one?
TV shows – which is your favourite DC effort?
They’re all so good, so varied, and so different.
Gotham is hugely underrated. It’s a gothic, fantasy, horror, sci-fi cop show, set either now, 40 years ago, 15 years ago, or some time in the future… all at once. The cast is stellar, the settings grounded in reality, though shrouded in fantasy, and the direction/ production values are cinematic and voluptuous. A lot of its detractors call it whacky, and childish, but it’s actually one of the most deeply layered, thought provoking, grown-up and richly textured pieces of television out there. I actually believe that it’s too smart for some people.
Then there’s Legends Of Tomorrow, which can be a comedy one week, a sci-fi romp the next, a superhero story, a cowboy saga, a horror… it’s like a weekly, live-action comic-book.
Those are two favourites, I guess. But I have to say that Arrow is back on form, Supergirl is brilliantly entertaining, and this season of Flash is the best of its entire run.
New kid on the block, Black Lightning, is really impressing me too. I grew up reading Batman & The Outsiders and Black Lightning comics, so I’m loving this show. There’s nothing to complain about with any of them.
I am drooling… salivating… chomping at the bit, though, for the live action Titans series. I cannot wait!
The DC Universe has featured many, many actors on TV and in the movies, as well as animated movies/series’, so I ask you – who is your favourite actor, anyone who has made some sort of appearance within a DC creation?
Kevin Conroy. Read my Hall Of Fame article (You can read this here – John) . His voice, in my mind IS Batman.
Comics – do you read them? And if so what is your favourite comic/graphic novel to read?
Oh, yes.
I have a ridiculous comics collection. This includes a complete, and uninterrupted run of Batman and Detective Comics going back to 1986. (So impressive, I am in awe – John)
My favourite regular DC titles right now, are James Tynion IV’s Detective Comics and Peter Tomasi’s Superman.
As for mini series, Tom King and Mitch Gerads’ Miracleman is blowing my mind. Sean Murphy’s Batman: White Knight has turned Gotham City and the caped crusader’s world upside down. Scott Snyder’s Metal, and Geoff Johns’ Doomsday Clock are laying the foundations for the future, and reinventing DC Comics from the inside out.
Graphic novels? The old standards. Watchmen, Sandman, The Killing Joke. I still pull all of those out and re-read then regularly. Camelot 3000, Ronin… the list goes on.
Everyone still talks about Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Killing Joke, and V For Vendetta for DC Comics. There’s nothing wrong with that, they’re all masterpieces, for sure… but I think that more people need to pick up and read his run on Swamp Thing.
Do it. Trust me.
Now we have the necessities from Steve, on to the reasons for this feature, your DC collectables/memorabilia or whatever you wish to call them.
First up, do you collect large amounts of DC merchandise or is it just a select variety of items that appeal to you, which you like to pick up?
Select items. For me it’ll always be more about the comics, and graphic novels. I literally own THOUSANDS.
Do the items you collect relate to one specific character/movie/TV Show etc. or is it just all things DC Comics?
It’s all encompassing, but it’s mostly Batman/Robin/Nightwing/Superman/Justice League-centric.
Of the items you own, do you have a most prized possession? – I’m not asking for your favourite here, but the one/s you cherish most of all. Why does it/they mean so much to you?
So many. My signed comics for sure. Brian Bolland on The Killing Joke.
My rare Vengeance Of Bane, Sword Of Azrael, Knightfall, Knightquest, and Knightsend signed by Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Joe Quesada, Graham Nolan, and a whole lot more. JLA/Avengers signed by George Perez, the 70s Ra’s Al Ghul Batman stories signed by Neal Adams…
To have these pieces of art, signed by the talented people that wrote and drew them means the world to me.
If, by chance, this/these isn’t/aren’t your favourite items then please tell us what the favourite item is within your collection and why?
My complete Batman/Detective Comics collections, my Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans collection, my Byrne/Stern/Ordway/Jurgens Superman collections.
My Moore Swamp Thing/V/Watchmen complete sets/individual original issues, my Miller Year One/DKR originals, my complete Gaiman Sandman collection.
Priceless, irreplaceable treasures one and all.
Is there something in your collection that you would consider the strangest? If so, what made you buy it?
Actually, no not really. I LOVE traveling.
I like to pick up comics from every country I visit. Of course I own British, and American Batman comics… but I also have some from Spain, and Italy.
I would LOVE to have a Batman comic in every major language, and from as far and wide as possible.
India, China, Japan, Russia, Africa, Australia, South America… if anyone out there has copies of Batman comics from around the globe, I’d LOVE to see them.
Cheeky question, but most and least expensive collectible you own?
This is either funny, or terrifying.
I have no idea.
That’s one side of collecting where I’m totally, and completely clueless. I never bought, or buy for value. I genuinely LOVE these things.
I have been told hundreds of times over the years that I NEED to get my collection appraised. I have close to six thousand comics, even at just £1 each, that’s £6,000.00.
Friends of mine that ARE in the know have valued single issues in my collection at over £200 EACH.
My first print hardcover Dark Knight Returns, is one example.
So, for the first time in my life there’s a question that I DON’T have an answer for. Good job!
And so, there we have another entry in the Confessions Of A DC Geek series. I do hope that you have enjoyed reading this and learning more about fans of DC, as well as the team here at DC World. My huge thanks to Steve for agreeing to the questions and letting us know all about him. As with Claire before him, I am sure that you will all agree that Steve is a true DC Geek. You can find Steve on Twitter – @el_steevo, where he is always up for a chat.
You always know what someone is a fan of when you see the lock screens on their mobile phones, here is what I assume is Steve’s…
If you wish to make any comments on Steve’s interview, then please do so below or on any of our DC World Social Media pages, we are always willing to hear from the readers of the website.
If you would like to take part in “Confessions Of A DC Geek” (and we hope you do), then please contact myself, or the team, at the contact details below.
Email: john@dcworld.org.uk
John’s Twitter: @DC_ComicsGeek
Team Twitter: @_DCWorld
Cheers, John…
CONFESSIONS OF A DC GEEK WILL RETURN
