Why I love comics
Good day, people of Comicland. Today I have decided to write a personal piece. I have decided to share a little bit about why I love comics so much.
I have been fascinated with pop culture my entire life for as long as I can remember. As characters, I can remember Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and the Hulk for as long as I have memory. I had Batman Underroos, I watched Super-Friends (and there is a photo of me when I as 3 wearing a Super-Friends t-shirt.) I was born in 1971. This, of course was hen pop culture marketing was truly beginning. My father watched Doctor Who (the curly haired one that everybody seems to be familiar with) and Star Trek. The cartoon version was on TV as I was growing up. Saturday morning cartoons. The summer of 1977, Star Wars. TV shos like the Dukes of Hazzard (I really got a kick out of the Smallville episode where Tom Wopat guest-starred), Six Million Dollar Man and the Hulk. I remember them all. And I think you all do too, if you are reading this. Maybe not as a first run, but as someone who has seen these on reruns or on Netflix or Blu-Ray/DVD collections.
(The picture above is of Wonder Woman (v1) 245, issued during the waning stages of the TV show starring Lynda Carter, and a book I remember reading at the time). I have mentioned before my uncle's big stack of Silver Age, but there was also a large copy of a Sensation Comics 1 reprint at my house when I was young. This was important, because it was from reading this issue that I got the grasp that comics had been around since the 1930s. I knew who the Flash and Green Lantern was, but this book showed me different versions of the characters that I did not know existed at the time. It made me want to read and learn more about superheroes (mostly DC, because that was what I was mostly exposed to, but to a smaller extent (as a neighbour I had had a lot of Marvel), I was able to read Spider-Man, the Avengers and Fantastic Four.)
So I read everything I got my hands on, and as my father was also buying DC Digests shortly thereafter I was exposed to a lot of different characters and eras (mostly Bronze and Silver, but the odd Golden Age story would be printed, like the Batman Christmas story (Batman (v1) #9). I even read a lot of those Whitman comics that were sold in the bags in the early 1980s. Then I began to get friends that were also into a lot of the same things I was; and that's ho I managed to learn even more. I got my first Overstreet in 1984 (which I don't have anymore but was well-thumbed.) Apart from being able to see the prices of back issues, I was able to read the stories and learn even more about creators and the different eras of comicdom. It was actually through Overstreet that I learned that Mad Magazine had started as a comic, and that the company had issued all of the famous horror titles (Gaines was still alive at the time and still did interviews.)
I loved it. I loved reading the books, and I loved learning about them. I have always been interested in science, history and mythology, and comics combined all of these interests into a little book that cost 40 cents (the average price hen I started buying on my own.) Being able to tell the difference visually between a Curt Swan and a Wayne Boring or a Kurt Schaffenberger and a Nick Cardy or a John Romita Jr and George Perez as a huge accomplishment for me. And I remember most of the stories, if not the books they were in. (One story drove me nuts forever because I thought it was a World's Finest story and it turned out to be in an issue of Action...thank you internets.)
And it wasn't just the stories; it was the characters. I genuinely felt for my favourites. I always hated when the Thing felt self-pity, or when Superman had self-doubt about an action he was contemplating, such as his relationships with Lois Lane and Lana Lang. Or when Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman would have martial strife (my parents fought a lot; I saw that in the way the Richards acted toward each other in the years just before they joined the Avengers.) People who get attached to TV characters would say the same. Even though it is a fantasy world, it feels real to us. The years of stories make it a universe with a history, and that it is what made me fall in love. The truest best part of comics. It's static. You can leave it for years, and you can pick up again as if the events depicted are just happening again.
But what I truly hope to do, is to pass this love on to my kids. My son already likes Spider-man and Superman. He can name almost every character from the first Star Wars movies already, and the best part is that I haven't had to force it on hi,m. He picked up this love on his own. He also has his own interests, like Shopkins, Hot Wheels, Lego and the Paw Patrol.
Anyway, that's why I love comics. I'm sure you have your own reasons, or you wouldn't take the time to share with me. Feel free to comment on your reasons below.
Next time, I will have another edition of Random books my son picks. Until then...enjoy.
Ottawa News and Notes - I have no Ottawa notes today. I will have more soon.
I have been fascinated with pop culture my entire life for as long as I can remember. As characters, I can remember Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and the Hulk for as long as I have memory. I had Batman Underroos, I watched Super-Friends (and there is a photo of me when I as 3 wearing a Super-Friends t-shirt.) I was born in 1971. This, of course was hen pop culture marketing was truly beginning. My father watched Doctor Who (the curly haired one that everybody seems to be familiar with) and Star Trek. The cartoon version was on TV as I was growing up. Saturday morning cartoons. The summer of 1977, Star Wars. TV shos like the Dukes of Hazzard (I really got a kick out of the Smallville episode where Tom Wopat guest-starred), Six Million Dollar Man and the Hulk. I remember them all. And I think you all do too, if you are reading this. Maybe not as a first run, but as someone who has seen these on reruns or on Netflix or Blu-Ray/DVD collections.
(The picture above is of Wonder Woman (v1) 245, issued during the waning stages of the TV show starring Lynda Carter, and a book I remember reading at the time). I have mentioned before my uncle's big stack of Silver Age, but there was also a large copy of a Sensation Comics 1 reprint at my house when I was young. This was important, because it was from reading this issue that I got the grasp that comics had been around since the 1930s. I knew who the Flash and Green Lantern was, but this book showed me different versions of the characters that I did not know existed at the time. It made me want to read and learn more about superheroes (mostly DC, because that was what I was mostly exposed to, but to a smaller extent (as a neighbour I had had a lot of Marvel), I was able to read Spider-Man, the Avengers and Fantastic Four.)
So I read everything I got my hands on, and as my father was also buying DC Digests shortly thereafter I was exposed to a lot of different characters and eras (mostly Bronze and Silver, but the odd Golden Age story would be printed, like the Batman Christmas story (Batman (v1) #9). I even read a lot of those Whitman comics that were sold in the bags in the early 1980s. Then I began to get friends that were also into a lot of the same things I was; and that's ho I managed to learn even more. I got my first Overstreet in 1984 (which I don't have anymore but was well-thumbed.) Apart from being able to see the prices of back issues, I was able to read the stories and learn even more about creators and the different eras of comicdom. It was actually through Overstreet that I learned that Mad Magazine had started as a comic, and that the company had issued all of the famous horror titles (Gaines was still alive at the time and still did interviews.)
I loved it. I loved reading the books, and I loved learning about them. I have always been interested in science, history and mythology, and comics combined all of these interests into a little book that cost 40 cents (the average price hen I started buying on my own.) Being able to tell the difference visually between a Curt Swan and a Wayne Boring or a Kurt Schaffenberger and a Nick Cardy or a John Romita Jr and George Perez as a huge accomplishment for me. And I remember most of the stories, if not the books they were in. (One story drove me nuts forever because I thought it was a World's Finest story and it turned out to be in an issue of Action...thank you internets.)
And it wasn't just the stories; it was the characters. I genuinely felt for my favourites. I always hated when the Thing felt self-pity, or when Superman had self-doubt about an action he was contemplating, such as his relationships with Lois Lane and Lana Lang. Or when Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman would have martial strife (my parents fought a lot; I saw that in the way the Richards acted toward each other in the years just before they joined the Avengers.) People who get attached to TV characters would say the same. Even though it is a fantasy world, it feels real to us. The years of stories make it a universe with a history, and that it is what made me fall in love. The truest best part of comics. It's static. You can leave it for years, and you can pick up again as if the events depicted are just happening again.
But what I truly hope to do, is to pass this love on to my kids. My son already likes Spider-man and Superman. He can name almost every character from the first Star Wars movies already, and the best part is that I haven't had to force it on hi,m. He picked up this love on his own. He also has his own interests, like Shopkins, Hot Wheels, Lego and the Paw Patrol.
Anyway, that's why I love comics. I'm sure you have your own reasons, or you wouldn't take the time to share with me. Feel free to comment on your reasons below.
Next time, I will have another edition of Random books my son picks. Until then...enjoy.
Ottawa News and Notes - I have no Ottawa notes today. I will have more soon.
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