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Over the past few months, there’s been a bit of discussion in the media as to whether or not adults who read comic books are in fact adults or actually just children in large bodies.
Yet, we still hold a piece of youth within us when we sit down and read a comic book. There’s still the anticipation of going to the comic book store on Wednesday because everyone knows Wednesday is New Comic Book Day, right?
So, if you need a reason to be convinced that it’s OK to be an adult and like comic books, then hold onto your seats, because I have eleven reasons for you.
1. We understand that it’s not classic literature, but it’s some damn fine writing. In fact, there are seven highly famous authors who dabbled in comic book writing before it became cool.
Writers like James Patterson, Stephen King, Jonathan Lethan, Margaret Atwood, Marjorie Liu, Chuck Palahniuk, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
And that’s not counting the legends in the comic book Genre like Geoff Johns, Skottie Young, Gail Simone, and the legendary Alan Moore.
2. We still like other things from our formidable years, so why not comics? Please tell me that you don’t still jam to the songs from the ’80s, ’90s or whenever your time period was. We all do.
I’m fifty-three and I still listen to loud alternative music just like I did when I was younger. We go back to our favorite movies and secretly binge shows we watched as teens. It’s not really a secret if everyone does it.
3. Over time you build bonds with characters, writers or illustrators. The traditional superhero comic, like Marvel and DC, are often flawed people that were given a second chance and that we can find a way to relate to. We want to see what happens with that character and how they get through life.
It’s the same with some writers and illustrators. If you tell me any of the following three people have something new out, chances are I’m grabbing it.
Skottie Young, most famous for Deadpool, Gail Simone, who has written some of my favorite characters including DC’s Birds of Prey series, Deadpool, Batgirl, Wonder Woman and Red Sonja and finally Grant Morrison, this generation’s Alan Moore who among other notable accomplishments has worked on Batman, X-Men and Justice League.
4. If it’s done in moderation and it doesn’t become an obsession, why not? It’s just like all things in life. If we can afford the hobby and the hobby doesn’t become our life, then are we hurting anyone?
If we start ignoring our significant other because we’re too busy reading comic books or we’re looking for a place to store the thousand books we have, then it may be a problem, but kept in check, it’s all good.
5. Variety. I’ve written about this several times and at the bottom, you will find links to some past articles, but if you haven’t been in a comic book store in the last ten years or so, you probably won’t recognize it.
Sure there will always be the shelves full of Marvel and DC with their colorfully dressed superheroes and their often scantily clad superheroines (I read them not draw them, OK?).
But the independent scene is growing in a big way with companies like Zenescope, Dynamite, IDW, Titan, Valiant, Dark Horse, Boom!, and of course our childhood favorite, Archie Comics.
Series like Fight Club, written by Jonathan Lethan, the author of the book Fight Club (see #1), Red Sonja from Dynamite, Walking Dead, Vampirella and Dick Tracy are out there for you to read plus literally hundreds more.
Zenescope is an independent that has become a favorite of mine and is actually very close on the number of subscriptions I have of Marvel and DC. They’ve gotten the rights to characters from classic literature, put their own spin on them and created some amazing comic books.
There’s Liesel Van Helsing from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Alice Liddell, A.K.A. Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella Serial Killer Princess, and my personal favorites Robyn Hood and her sidekick, a witch named Maid Marian of Myst.
6. Overall it’s an inexpensive hobby. (See #4). Compared to a hobby, such as golf, which yes, does have added value in exercise and hanging with the guys, it’s inexpensive.
An average round of golf in the United States is roughly $40-50. If you play once a week, let’s say that’s $175 a month. Let’s add a dozen balls per month at $45. Now we’re up to $225 a month and that’s not counting the new putter you want for $200-400.
At an average price of $3.99 per comic book, you would need to buy fifty-four comic books each month (a very hefty feat) and a pack of a hundred bags and a hundred boards to protect them every other month, just to equal golf once a week.
7. It’s something as a dad/uncle/grandfather/aunt/whoever, t=you can do with the kids in your life. I can’t tell you how many quotes I’ve pulled out of comic books just in the last month because they either spoke to something I was dealing with personally or it was just a profound statement.
Children have often said that they learned racial equality and values by reading comic books and I can’t see a negative thing about that!
8. You find pearls of wisdom in comic books. This is similar to the last one, but these are things that speak to us and not so much to our kids. One of my favorite examples is Miles Morales Spider-Man.
Miles Morales is the Puerto Rican/African American Spider-Man from Earth 1610 and as a high school student, he was given a project to keep a journal. The comic book is the journal of his life as Spider-Man. It talks about not only what he does, the fighting and all that, but also what he learned.
This is far from the only series to drop some cool thoughts. Most series have their moments of epiphany. You just have to find them.
9. $1 comic boxes and sale bins. This one should speak for itself as who doesn’t like a great deal, right? Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment about an hour away and afterward went into the comic shop around the corner and found eight issues of a series I’m collecting in the $1 box. Sweet.
They also do cool things like this picture to the left. I walked into my local shop one day and the owner showed me the Venom box she was creating. It just so happened that I was there looking for a new box for my comics as my collection is slowly growing.
I love Venom, so I immediately blurted that I wanted it and then asked if she would make one for my daughter who only collects Rick and Morty and the Runaways. So now my daughter has her own custom box to keep her comic books in instead of her old box, A.K.A. her bedroom floor.
11. It’s a safe haven. No one judges you at the comic book shop. We all come as we are. Guys in suits, me with my service dog, guys in jeans and t-shirts and girls there without guys. That last one sounds like an urban legend but isn’t.
We’re all there for whatever floats our boat. I’ve never seen anyone judge another because of what they’re picking up off the shelf, though I do occasionally see people asking others what they’re reading.
If you’re a single woman and you see me in the comic book store, please feel free to come up and ask what I’m reading, because like a lot of my fellow comic book nerds, I have no game and won’t be clued in enough to pick up on you.
Thanks in advance for the help!
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