Every time I seem to write a Facebook status about my love for comic books, I tend to get silence from all my FB “friends”. Every time I go out with my Superboy or Green Lantern shirts, I definitely get judging looks from strangers and I know some of you do negatively judge me for wearing those shirts in public (I had one person once tell me so).

For some reason, our society has looked down on comic books as a whole in favor of just about everything else. I’ve never really understood why comic books have been looked down on so badly for so long. I personally love reading comics and I think more people need to start reading them. So that’s why I’m here. Fifteen reasons. Let’s go!….

#1 - The passion many of you have for sports and fantasy teams is really no different than the passion that comic book lovers such as myself and others have for reading and cosplaying. Like many follow TV shows, many comic book lovers not only watch the same TV shows (and follow sports) as everyone else, but they also happen to follow comic book news. We are all made of the same skin and flesh. We aren’t any different than you or those who don’t read comics. Many who love comics have played sports, it’s only fair for you to give comic books a chance.

#2 - Comics have an amazing collector’s value. I just started collecting in June or July and I already have comics that are worth a total of about $300 and I’ve only spent about $150 on comics. Imagine how much they will be worth years and years from now. Like baseball cards, they are a great tradition to pass down to your children and for their children and their children’s children. They really are pieces of history too. Check out back issues ranging from the 1930’s to yesterday. Comics have been around for quite some time.

#3 - The thing that hooked me onto comics besides the storytelling (I’ll get to that later) is the beautiful art. Every artist has their own style and some you just can’t help but fall in love with. Lately, I have fallen in love with the art of Francis Manapul, Greg Capullo, and Cliff Chiang. (Google them, seriously) If you like to look at pretty things, (which I know everyone does) then you would love the art in comics today.

#4 - Ladies, it’s not a “guy’s thing” anymore. I know some awesome women who read comic books. We have more and more amazing female creators in the industry than ever before. (Gail Simone and Amanda Conner’s are both fantastic examples of the many great female creators. I would definitely check out their works.) We also have more female characters being created and giving me something to crush on.

#5 - I can’t find anything more captivating than reading a comic book. Yes, you have the story and the beautiful art, but you also have the intimate perspectives and the flavors and attention to detail that you can only find in a comic book. My best way to describe it… Combine the visuals of movies with the captivating stories of novels. Everyone always says that the novel is always better than the movie, well same with comics for movies. The best comics are on par with the best movies and novels out there. Yes, that’s a crazy claim to make, but I dare you to prove me wrong by reading some comics and try to tell me otherwise.

#6 - The comic book companies have made it easy this year for new readers to jump in. When I started out, I had NO CLUE where to begin in the DC universe. Especially with the likes of Batman or Superman. I knew a lot about them, but I didn’t know how much was different between the comics and the cartoons and movies. As of this month, DC Comics has basically rebooted all of their comics (except Batman and Green Lantern) to give some previously outdated and stale characters a modern edge and fresh stories. For example, Superman now isn’t the Superman you knew from Christopher Reeve’s depiction in the movies. Now you can follow him in his earliest adventures in Metropolis just as he is starting out. Marvel has also created somewhat of a jumping point with their Ultimate’s line and their ongoing events Spider-Island and Schism. There is no better time to start than to start this month.

#7 - Comic books aren’t just for young people anymore. Beyond DC and Marvel, there are tons of fantastic stories for adults and people our age. Sure, there are some great lines written for children (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice just to name a few), but most of DC and Marvel’s comics are written for people of all ages. Some of the most well known stories were not written for children. For example, Moore’s run on Swamp Thing and his story for Batman known as  “The Killing Joke”. Many of the characters today are also much more complex and interesting than they were back in the 60s or 70s or even the 80s. They aren’t as simplistic as you might have expected.

#8 - A lot of movies coming out lately are from comic books. Some of you have probably never even realized like Cowboys and Aliens was a graphic novel before it was a movie. You would be surprised how many movies you wouldn’t expect are from comic books. Not only that, but having read the comic books makes it easier to follow the movies. Reading the origin of the members of the X-men and following them makes it easier to follow the movie rendition. It also makes you appreciate the movies and comics even more. Many were disappointed with Green Lantern, I can assure you that the Green Lantern comic books today are a billion times better than that thing called a film. (Okay, it wasn’t THAT bad, but it would have been amazing if they had followed their source material and had not chosen Hector Hammond as the villain.)

#9 - I know when I started out, I was intimidated by the guys who worked at the comic book stores and it definitely did not make me feel welcome. I was always afraid of being looked at like an outsider, like I didn’t belong there. I was proven wrong by going to a small comic book shop in Saginaw and getting some great service. They love giving their recommendations and talk about the industry. They are actually really friendly and passionate people. They wouldn’t be working in a job that requires talking with people unless they loved doing it.   

#10 - The one thing that comics gave me that they will give you if you start to follow them is some great friends and awesome strangers you meet along the way. Sure, you will have the occasional friendly Marvel vs. DC rivalry which are no different than the rivalries between MSU and UofM or Macs and PCs. I have friends who have gone to comic book conventions and they tell me how awesome the people they meet are. I know about the stereotypes about comic book readers especially male comic book lovers. They are lazy, don’t like to socialize, and they are creepy and are afraid of women. I won’t lie and say that those guys don’t exist, but they have been greatly outnumbered today by awesomely friendly and social people. Some who love to work out and some who are married and have many friends. That old stereotype doesn’t apply anymore to people who read comics.

#11 - Comics can and have changed the world in ways no different than the effect that movies, novels, and television have. This deserves an entire essay to explain, so I won’t here, but I will say… the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the space race, among many other things were both shaped and helped, in part, by the comics of that time. 

#12 - You can now read comic books online. You don’t have to go to the store. You can either buy and read them on your computer, or you can read them on your iPhone, Droid, Kindle, Nook, iPad… Just to name a few. They are more accessible to read than ever.

#13 - Following a comic book series is no different than following a TV show. The characters and plots develop before your eyes really no different than in your favorite TV shows. Like episodes (kind of), most comics today come out weekly or once a month. Instead of seasons, comics go by story arcs which are actually A LOT easier to follow than TV seasons.

#14 - If you already love reading historical fiction, historical non-fiction, science-fiction, biographies, fiction, non-fiction, dramas, romances, horrors, thrillers, and so on. You have all the same genres in comics. I personally find comics easier to read than novels. They make it easier for me to read because I don’t have to really imagine because the visuals are already in front of me. It’s still up to me to give each panel flesh, voice, and tone though. It’s great for both intelligent people and people who aren’t as intelligent.

#15 - Some comic books series will live forever as the best of the best. For example, I am told that Sandman by Vertigo is one of the best series out there. The best thing is that after all those years that comics have been around, the best stories are still being written. To name one example, Scott Snyder’s run this year on Detective Comics (the line that Batman came out of) before the reboot and renumbering is considered one of the best Batman stories of the last ten years and one of the best comic book runs in general. The quality is still there after all these years. The art and writing has evolved and it is beautiful. Of course, not every comic will be amazing. That’s an impossibility. But like with everything else in life, the bad comics will only make you appreciate the great comics more.

… And the list goes on from here.

I could come up with more reasons or you could just go to your local comic book store or could you go online and find what interests you and read away. I think once you start to read comics, you will understand and begin to appreciate the people that have been reading them. You will begin to understand the hype and the fandom and what makes comic books so truly beautiful and amazing and join the bandwagon with the rest of us.

It truly is the best time to get into comics… So what the hell are you waiting for?!

  1. aleams posted this