As a kid I was really into comic books, but not your typical Batman and Superman ones. I was more drawn towards stuff from Image comics like Spawn and Maxx and stuff like that. Eventually over the years I moved away from comic books as they seemed to be the “un-cool” things to read in my high school years. I still have a trunk full of old comics that I had growing up, stuff like Spawn 1 through 46 (or something like that) a bunch of autographed Spawn mini-series comics, Blood Feud I think it was called, and of course The Death of Superman, Superman #75, still in it’s original black bag. On top of the death of Superman, I have all of the comics that built up to him returning and I have that issue in it’s white bag, so I was fairly into the comic book world as a kid and lately I find myself becoming drawn back into that world, but this time for different reasons.
As a kid I really only got comic books because I thought the characters were cool. I honestly can’t remember any of the storylines of any comic that I read as a kid, which is sad actually. These days I’ve found myself venturing back into the comic world by way of “Graphic Novels” and my family makes fun of me for it now more than when I was a kid. Apparently they don’t realize that things like WATCHMEN are ridiculously good stories and not just pretty pictures. And this is what I’ve come to realize lately. These Graphic Novels and comic books are great ways of telling a story. In a book you only get words on a page and have to use your imagination to come up with the worlds that the book has created, but with comic books you get to see these twisted worlds and characters as they were imagined. You can argue that books made into movies give you the same look at the characters as a comic book does, but I think you’re wrong. The author of a book has in his mind what the characters look like and how the worlds look and often times when these books are made into movies, it’s not the author making them or there aren’t real actors out there that can accurately portray what the author invisioned. This is what is so great about comics and Graphic Novels, the author and the artist can draw a character any way they please, it doesn’t have to conform to the look of anything. They can let their imaginations run wild through their pens. And the artwork that these guys can put together is absolutely incredible.
This whole article stems from me finishing WATCHMEN a couple weeks ago for the first time. And I say “first time” because I have a feeling I will be reading it again. It’s not just a big comic book as some people see it as, but it’s an amazing story that kind of fits with what is happening in the world these days. After I finished the book I got the itch, the itch to get back into comics and, now, graphic novels. Next on the list was Batman: The Killing Joke. I had heard really good things about this one and knew that JOKER was coming out soon, so I figured I should check it out.
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November 25th, 2008 by Me
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Today is the day that Batman dies, supposedly. Batman comics issue #681 comes out today and is the final issue of the Batman R.I.P. storyline in which Batman ends his run. Nobody is really sure whether Bruce Wayne is actually killed off or if he mearly retires from fighting crime. So if this sort of thing interests you, head to your local comic book store today and pick up your copy and see how it all ends. I haven’t bought a comic book (outside of a few graphic novels) in probably 13 years, but I might go pick this one up after work just to see what happens.
