I read a lot of comics as a kid and early teen. In the earliest days, I didn’t even care what it was that I was reading. Continuity didn’t matter. Characters didn’t even matter that much. As long as it was a comic book, I enjoyed it.
Over time, I refined my tastes. Not to say that I had good taste in comics – I LOVED Marvel’s 2099 books, for example – but it was my taste. Early on in the refining stage, I got into Thor in a big way. I can’t say what it was, exactly, that drew me in, but it was probably some combination of the rock star look and the faux-Shakespearean language and the stories that ranged from the streets of New York one issue to the farthest reaches of space the next.
I was hooked, and Marvel was smart. Thor didn’t just appear in his own book. He was in the Avengers, too. And in crossovers. And in miniseries. If I saw Thor on the cover of a comic, I bought it. Occasionally, he wasn’t even in the book, but that’s how I got introduced to Captain America, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, and a host of other characters that led to me buying more titles on a regular basis.
Then, something changed. Suddenly, I wouldn’t admit publicly that I read comic books. I mean, they’re great for kids, but teenagers who want to get laid (in other words, teenagers) definitely shouldn’t be reading them. I actually quit buying comics as a teenager for that reason. I quit watching wrestling, too, come to think of it. Money and time spent on “uncool” pursuits was money and time not spent trying to get laid.
It was a lot of years (13 or so) before I read another comic. I honestly can’t remember anymore which one it was or why I bought it. I just missed reading them, so I picked one up. I do know that I told myself I’d only buy a book or two a month. I wouldn’t get back into it full-time. Well, I’m currently buying 12 monthly (or twice-monthly, in one case) books and another 3-5 limited series in a given month. There goes that idea.
Things changed a lot in the time I wasn’t reading comics. Stories got a lot more serious. Guns got a lot smaller (most of them are actually realistic-looking now). Deaths got a lot more frequent. Rebirths/“undeaths” got just as frequent. Now, those aren’t necessarily complaints. I think that at some point, the industry as a whole realized that its readership was growing up, and it needed to keep their attention. So, more violence, more sex, and hey, remember that awesome guy we killed off a decade ago? The one you loved as a kid? Well, he’s back! And this guy! And this guy too!
But the silly stuff like that aside, the industry growing up allows creators to tell better stories, plain and simple. You just can’t have the kind of depth that these books have if they’re aimed at an eight-year-old. And man, are they telling some great stories. (I’m not going to get into recommendations here except to say that if you haven’t read the full 25-issue run of Immortal Iron Fist, you’ve done yourself a great disservice.)
Another thing that’s changed comics for me is Twitter. That I could read, say, a Hercules comic (sadly, it’s been cancelled. Another great read), then go on Twitter and tell the writers (@fredvanlente and @gregpak) that I dug it is fun to me. That I often get responses from these guys and other creators is awesome. I’m sure they have better things to be doing with their time than interacting with people they don’t know on the Internet, but they do it anyway, and I appreciate it. And then I go out and buy more books with their names on them. Not to say that I’m a total sucker for basic marketing tricks, but, well, I still buy any book I see with Thor on the cover.
And you know what? I really don’t care anymore if they’re uncool. Comics are fun as hell, and anyone who discredits them or refuses to read them just because of the format is missing out in a big way. I plan on reading them into the foreseeable future, and I plan on getting my kids into them when they’re old enough. Like 17 or 18.
(As a caveat, I wrote this based on a vague suggestion by Solly. I'm still interested the Blog On Demand concept, so if you've got something you want me to blather on about, just let me know.)
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