Confessions of a Comic Book Geek

       Normally I post the occasional review, custom, or movie news on here but today starts editorials. Why out of the blue? Well recently I was asked a question that I honestly didn't know how to answer with anything other than "I don't know. I just do.". Recently I was asked "I've always wondered, what drew you into the world of comic books and comic related media?" I figured I could answer in seconds, but I couldn't think of any concrete reasons right then and there. What was it? The writing that seemed simple but made you think beyond your imagination? The art that seemed to leap off the page? The way that reading a simple 24-50 page book could let you escape your daily life for hours on end? Sure that's part of it, but it transcends the simple comic book nowadays. Now there's figures, movies, TV shows, video games, conventions, and more. The trend that once caused you to get laughed at and that you would sit in your room reading by yourself has now become a crux in society that will, in my opinion, be around for years. So why am I into comics so much?  
      Well I sat down and made a list of the reasons, and while there weren't necessarily many, they were important. The first reason was the escape. People go to the movies to escape for an hour and a half, two hours, then you come out and the movie's over. With a comic, sure you can read them in record time, but they aren't going anywhere. You have them for as long as you want and that world that you just immersed yourself in for the past half hour, it's ready to welcome you back whenever you want to or need to escape. Let's talk about one in particular that I found by sheer luck this year.
Superman: Secret Identity. Without going into a long segment about it, this book was downright spellbinding. In short it's about a boy who is growing up in the real world and one day wakes up hovering over the ground in the woods in his sleeping bag. He has to contend with reporters trying to get a story on him, dealing with the military who want to take him down and experiment on him, and as he gets older, still dealing with the military, he has to protect the woman he loves. Now what I love is that it's made clear that this is the real world. The main character named Clark Kent (it's a long story, his family is made up of Superman fans, his last name is Kent, go figure) grew up hating Superman comics due to the massive amount of teasing from his relatives, and constantly being bullied in school and once he develops powers, he doesn't have them all, at least not that I've noticed. He isn't invincible to everything as their is no Kryptonite in the real world, there's no scheming villain, there's just raw human emotion flowing through the pages and it's just such a satisfying read. It's made up of four chapters that chronicle his life from teenager to old man. I remember getting that book, bringing it home, and reading it in about 45 minutes. An hour later I started again. The story was just so fresh and intoxicating that when I read that book. I forgot everything. My friends didn't get texts back until hours later, time was non existent. I was in that world, caring about those relationships, interested in the events taking place and rooting for the hero to get home safe to his love. I was in the world of Secret Identity.


A two page spread of Clark having just discovered he can fly, to me it conveys that sense of joy that I think we would all feel if one day we discovered we could take to the skies.

        Another reason that I loved comic books, is that they could tackle anything. One of the things that I loved to see in comics, was that break from the normal "He beat the bad guy! Let's all cheer despite the hero having issues afterwards!!" stories and focus on the smaller one issue stories regarding problems in the real world. They deal with life, and death, they deal with bullying, child abuse, suicide, drugs, seeing the heroes take on these small problems, to me, makes them seem much more grounded, and sometimes, if you are facing those problems in reality, reading about them can help. You see the problem from a different perspective than your own, and you see the hero help that person but the best part, to me, is that they didn't use powers, or gadgets. They just talked, or sometimes, just listened, and anybody can do that. Even reading about it can help a person to help a friend or family dealing with the same issue. Now obviously I am a die hard Superman fan, but I'm truly not being biased when I say that a great story to see this in effect is the "Grounded" story by J. Michael Straczynski. There are issues throughout that story that deal with some of the issues listed above. Any superhero title, if you dig deep enough is bound to have some issues dedicated to the problems above. In Green Arrow there was a time when his sidekick Speedy was a drug addict, as was Harry Osborn in Spider-Man. Comics aren't just about the spectacle anymore, now nothing is off limits, and I still remember despite how little I was that after one of the worst days in New York City, September 11th, comic book talent all across the board came together and put out stories, real stories. Some involving the actual heroes such as the very moving Amazing Spider-Man #36 and some showing the real heroes that can be seen in the two 9-11 trade paperbacks.  The industry didn't seek to solve people's problems, they just created stories to help people deal with them and to help them work through the problems. That is yet another reason I have a special place in my heart for comics.

                                          



     

   There's not much more to it than that. Comics have more of an impact than people realize. Whether it be a figure of the person you look up to on your shelf, reminding you of what you strive for, a movie that transports you to new worlds, a topic of discussion amongst you and your family and friends that brings laughs and a good time for a few hours, comics can do a lot. They can cement a friendship, they can let you escape your problems and possibly even find the solution, they can help bring peace to the little kid who is bullied and show that kid how to stand up for himself and mold that kid from a young child into the man or woman that will contribute great things, big or small, to the world. Comics aren't just some trend that will die out in a year or two. For many they are a way of life, for some, an escape, but for all, they are something special, sometimes, you just can't put it into words.