OPINION - Last Minute Gifts for your Comic Book Fan
The holiday season is here! For all of those buying last-minute gifts, what do you get for your loved ones who love comics? Don’t worry, the Twisted Cape has you covered. We’ve walked stores, scoured the internet, and Assembled (pun intended) a list of suggestions that should go over with the comic book fan that you know and love. Hopefully we can get some ideas rolling in your head. We have 5 categories: Casual, Movie Fans, Trade Collector, Hardcore Collector, DC or Marvel Fanboy.
Here are our quick ground rules
They are always DC or Marvel ideas
We’ll try to keep things under $40
Most items can be found in your local comic book shop or on Amazon
Casual
This is someone who may like comics and the characters, but they don’t live in the comic book store. This requires a little legwork and finding out what character(s) they may like.
Start with a Funko Pop figure of their favorite character. They often are under $10
To encourage them to read more of their favorite comics, a gift card to their local comic book store is nice
A T-shirt with a character (or character’s emblem) that they like
Movie Fans
If you’ve been to the movies with someone often, but that is the extent of their comic book knowledge and they don’t want to do a lot of reading, here are some options.
Grab the special edition of their all time favorite comic book movie (CBM) if they don’t own it already. Extras are often fun to dive into for cinephiles.
Try the movie from 2017 that they liked the most (Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man) if they don’t already have it.
A trade adaptation or a novel of the movie, which often adds more depth and scenes that the movie may omit
Trade Collector
This one should be easy. Trades are popular and they are easily accessible.
Any trades that involve single characters or stories that may be interesting.
Find something with multiple parts that is handy like the 52 saga, or Runaways
Give something iconic that they may not own, such as Watchmen, The Death of Superman, or the Eternals Saga
Hardcore Collector
Not very much you can do for this person. They know their collection inside and out, and rather than try to figure it out, there’s only one real solution:
Give money or a gift card to their comic book store. There is no way to attempt to figure it out something unique for them.
DC or Marvel Fanboy
We all know someone who is on one side of the line or the other. It’s a little sad to see, so we should take this opportunity to diversify their comic book worldview. Pick a popular character or storyline from the company opposite of the one they love and give them the opportunity to love all comics equally. So many exceptional stories exist in both universes, the best case scenario is to have the recipient learn to become a fan of these iconic characters
Marvel: Try a story like the Batman epic, Court of Owls, anything from the New 52 Wonder Woman run, the Batman/Flash story called “The Button”, or any big Justice League arc.
DC: Introduce your friends to stories like Spider-Man’s Spider-Island or Big Time, Avengers Dissassembled, Civil War, or Infinity War.
If neither of these work, try the DC/Marvel Crossover Classics. They are a good way to get used to seeing some of your favorite characters interact and introduce yourself to both of sets of universes.