I never touched a comic as a kid. I rented the movies, got up early for the cartoons, played the games, but never bothered with the books.
It’s not that I wasn’t interested. Growing up, most of my close friends read them, and I was genuinely curious (AKA: felt left out) when they talked about it. Some were more invested than others, but they all talked about superheroes and crossovers and variant covers and stuff I had no real understanding of. A lot of this, looking back, had to do with practicality: The closest comic book shop (still open today, somehow, out here in Nowhere, WI) was closer to my friends’ houses than mine. Video games and movies were easy enough to obtain and were much more easily enjoyed as a group activity for the whole family. Even if I was able to convince my folks to pick me up a comic, I would have been bothered by the age-old question of where the hell do I start? I was young, but knew enough to know that there were large, overarching continuities binding these massive universes together. Most of my friends had older relatives to help them get into comics, older fans who could give them the background info when they needed it. I didn’t know anyone like that.
Fast-forward to 2009. I’m fifteen, still trying to cope with a world in which I had to pull my dad off my mom as he beat her. Life sucks. At school, I’m the kid nobody wants to talk to because my dad’s in prison. The teachers and my friends talk to and about me like I’m fragile and ready to crack open. After school, on most days, I work odd hours at a shitty pizza gig (Illegally, to boot. They paid me under the table and told me I could “re-apply” when I turned 16…) and give most of my paycheck to my mom so we can recover a bit faster after losing the income my dad was bringing in. I don’t even want to talk about being at home.
I’m fifteen and life dealt me a good hand for being a cynical, pissed-off teenager. Thank Christ for Zack Snyder.
It sounds stupid, but Watchmen was the right movie at the right time for me. I feel like most people I’ve met like to spend time with happy, positive fiction when they’re feeling down. I’ve always been the opposite. When I’m feeling low? Give me the dark shit. Let me feel validated in knowing I’m not the only one who feels bad sometimes. Let me know that sometimes, those feelings can be channeled into something productive. Something like art. The one universal truth in my life seems to be that I learn the most about myself when I’m at my lowest points – I love stories with characters that experience the same thing.
So, I go see Watchmen with my friends and I’m blown away. I knew going in it was a deconstruction (as a side note, I feel like this was the point in internet history where anything that was even slightly fucked up got labelled a “deconstruction” and the term started to lose meaning) of the superhero genre and it was partially responsible for the dark-n’-edgy direction comics went in the ‘90s. But I didn’t expect the level of storytelling and characterization I got. I loved it.
And in case you’re wondering, no, I was never one of those Rorschach kids. I was edgy, but I wasn’t a complete dumbass.
Cut to a few weeks later. I’m hours away from home, hanging out with my friends at the closest mall. We found ourselves scattered about and I ended up in a bookstore. Whoever ran the place was smart, because the big table of Watchmen books caught my attention. I still remember the conversation I had with the woman who rang me up:
“See the movie yet?”
“Yeah, I liked it a lot.”
“I thought it sucked. The book’s way better. Hope you like it, kid.”
She was cool. Fifteen’s an awkward age where you feel that need to justify to everyone why you like the things you like. Being able to share even a tiny moment like that with an adult felt nice, and probably why I can remember that conversation but not the rest of that mall trip.
I do remember the drive back, though. Trips to the mall were few and far between for teens from my neck of the woods. And even when we could go, we were often stuck with a parental figure shepherding us along. But, friend-of-a-friend Alec had his license and a recently-purchased van. I still remember being on the highway and only half-paying attention to the discussion of what everyone bought and all the hot girls they totally got the numbers of and weren’t making up at all. I was in the back and flipping through pages. It was dark, and I could only make out so much, but…
Damn, the art looked cooler than I thought it would. There was a style to this thing I didn’t think it would have, for whatever reason. I tried to start reading the book then and there, but the poor lighting just wouldn’t do. I couldn’t make out the text at all. So, I just kept flipping through and looking at the art.
After a few days, I read Watchmen and then put it on my shelf. I wanted more. The Dark Knight was still in memory, so I had borrowed a random assortment of Batman stuff from various friends, but nothing ever really stuck with me. I think I read a few issues of Hush and some other stuff. Don’t remember.
After about a month I kinda lost interest in the whole comic thing again. This was still the advent years of the MCU and general superhero movie onslaught we’re still in now, and I was content with watching those instead.
The girl I dated at the time had a little brother only a few years younger than us, and we somehow made a tradition of watching the direct-to-video DC animated movies over the years. Some of the Batman stuff in particular caught my interest. I ended up borrowing Year One and Dark Knight Returns from friends and enjoying them. I remember reading up online after the fact about Frank Miller, and being a bit disappointed, yet not terribly surprised, that he has a long history of being a blatant jackass.
Once again, I had dipped my toes into superhero comics and left them behind. The movies were still being cranked out and I still mostly enjoyed them. The Continuity Problem still muddied some of the interest I had in picking up more to read. I still didn’t know where the hell to start. The few times I did ask left me more confused than anything else. And to be blunt, life was getting busier with college and work and I found more fun spending cash on video games.
But through some random occurrence, I ended up falling in love with a man named John Constantine.
I don’t know how I ended up learning about Hellblazer, honestly. I had seen the movie but never really knew it was based on something. I’ve always had a fascination with mythology, folklore, and occult-y stuff, so it was right up my alley. I read… and read… and read…
And now I tell people “Yeah, I’m not really a comic book guy, other than the hundred or so issues of Hellblazer I went through.”
A weird place to be at, I know. But it’s the truth, goddammit, and we all have to start somewhere. I want to read more. This blog series will be a journal of sorts, documenting my experience getting into a medium I’ve always wanted to dive into my entire life. I’ll be chronicling my thoughts on books I read, but don’t expect a full on “review.” Keep in mind I’ll barely know what I’m talking about with each blog post, but also keep in mind that’s half the fun. Forgive me if I egregiously reference cartoons, movies, and games I’ve seen when talking about material that predates them, but also know that those things are some of the only anchor points the comic industry has given me for understanding their worlds.
I have to say, it seems like a bizarre time to get into the medium. Marvel’s Black Panther just destroyed the box office. But at the same time, their EIC is a guy who pretended to be Japanese and the company recently had a plan to partner with a weapons manufacturer that rightfully received backlash and fell-through.
I don’t even have anything to talk about with DC, but to be honest I feel like that sort of speaks for itself.
From a fandom level, angry manchildren seem to be trying to launch a harassment campaign for comics like they did for video games. Shit seems wild.
But, hey, people must enjoy these things for some reason, right? I’ve had more than enough of a taste myself at this point, and I mostly liked what I read. I have a comixology account and a backlog of books to read, so I might as well jump in. I’ll take things book by book, and go where my interests take me.
…But if you have suggestions, feel free to tweet/DM me. No promises that I’ll actually check it out, but it never hurts to send me a recommendation if it’s in good faith and you think I’d enjoy it.
See ya ‘round.
