Comics

    What can I say? I like comic books. But I didn't really get into them until junior high school. Before that, I had gotten some comics from an older neighborhood kid. Mostly kids comics like Richie Rich, Archie, Casper, and a few Disney characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, I think. There was also a Batman comic, #249. But lightning didn't strike then.

    Something happened later, after my parents were divorced, and I had already read The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and some other kids books. I latched onto some Batman comics, and this time, they took hold. I bought every comic with Batman in it that I could find. Then I branched out, with other DC heroes like Superman, Flash, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Auquaman, the Justice League, and others. But I still hadn't had enough, and ended up trying just about everything on the comics racks--horror, war, westerns, etc. I even tried out most of the Marvel comics of the time, too: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Iron Man, Avengers, Defenders, Doctor Strange, even Howard the Duck.

    I collected some of the Marvel comics for a while, but I was more of a DC fan than a Marvel fan, so I stopped trying to keep up with Marvel. While there were exceptions, the Marvel "style" seemed too regimented and too conformist, while DC seemed more relaxed and allowed artists to be more individualistic in their work. Later on I also discovered independent comics like Cerebus the Aardvark. My interest in comics has waxed and waned as I've gotten older, but there's no denying that I like comics. Mysteries were enjoyable, and science fiction and fantasy could be really strange and interesting, but nothing seemed to capture my imagination like comic books. Especially the superheroes. Is it the colorful and vibrant artwork? The relatively simple and fast-paced action and adventure? The costumes? The wish-fulfullment of having superpowers? Who can say? Perhaps all of these factors played a part.