A Bit of a Rant to Anyone Who Believes They Are Too Good for Comic Books

Have you seen the trailer to this summer's blockbuster film 300? It’s a story of Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Greek Spartans hold back a Persian invasion force of thousands. I am sure the exact numbers have been exaggerated for dramatic effect, but it’s an impressive real life story. Guess what, it’s an impressive comic book too. Frank Miller turned the story into a graphic novel (a classier word for comic book) and from what I understand, it’s a pretty darn good adaptation. Well, because Sin City (another comic book, a crime series by Frank Miller) was received so well by movie audiences, Hollywood has put its resources into making another one of Miller's comics into a movie. It looks like it will be fun. What I don't get is if you read anything in your spare time and you watch these movies (Sin City, X-Men, Spider-man, etc.) what do you have against reading a comic book?

Especially now, with media changing because of the impact of technology. The majority of movies have little content, which I believe has made a lot of people seek gaming as an alternative. And now the video game industry makes more money than Hollywood. Television got boring. Any media with in a serial format is going to get tired over time. Plots get recycled and then the only time they are interesting is when they get spun according to current events. When reality television came around, it became really popular because it was something different, which put pressure on the people writing television to come up with better stories to compete. They have, there is a lot a of good television programs out today. The comic book industry has been around since the 1930's. It has gone through a series of up periods and down periods. Right now it is in one hell of an up period. The later half of the 90’s was the last really bad period. In the early 90's collectors bought as much as they could, thinking all four variant covers of X-Men number one were going to pay for their way through college. All the industry had to do was release variant covers, holo-gram covers, foil covers, and they would make more money. When people figured out they weren’t going to be getting rich through comics they bailed. The industry went into one of those down periods until guys like Mark Millar, Brian Michael Bendis, and Grant Morrison started writing. Now BK Vaughn, Robert Kirkman, and Greg Ruka are writing along side those already named and comic book veterans from the past twenty years. Add to the equation guys like Damon Lindelof (co-creator of Lost), Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, X-Men, Apt Pupil, The Usual Suspects), and Brad Meltzer (The Book of Fate) and there are a crap load of great comic book stories being told right now. Stories with depth. There are also a lot without depth. Stories that are only clever and not that deep, like Civil War. If CW isn’t your thing, fine, it is a story designed for those who like super heroes, but if you like good story telling there are plenty of other comics, with intelligent thought provoking content, that you can read instead of super hero. Sin City and 300 are both steps in the direction of what comics can do outside of super heroes, but they are still very much action adventure stories, which are more clever than intelligent. However, I just read the first book of Maus, which tells the story of the author’s father’s experiences through the Holocaust. It anthropomorphizes nationalities to tell the story (Mice for Jews, Pigs for Poles, Cats for Germans, etc.), but so does Animal Farm and that is considered literary. My point, if you like to read, I guarantee there is some form of graphic story telling you could enjoy, if you only gave the medium the slightest of chances.

I Am Either the Dorkiest or I am the Most Awesome Comic Fanboy Ever

I proclaim myself Most Awesome, but I will let you judge for yourself.

If you have been brought down by the delay, I wrote this speech to raise your spirits. Of course, I modeled it after the St. Crispin's Day speech in Henry V.



Disgruntled Fanboy: Oh man, I wish Civil War had the consistent schedule of 52.

Enlightened Fanboy: What? Who wants Marvel’s Civil War to be like DC’s 52?
If this crossover was going to be worth our time and money,
We deserve the magnificent pencils of Steven McNiven.
By the spirit of Kirby! Do not ask for a fill in artist.
Fanboy, I am not collecting all of the variant covers.
If you are buying this crossover, for a resell profit on eBay, you’re cool with me.
This isn’t a Marvel vs. DC thing.
That rivalry doesn’t have much weight anymore.
But if it is dorky to get excited about comic books,
Then I am the biggest dork there is.
No, fellow fanboys, do not wish for a consistent six week schedule.
On Kirby’s grave! I would not lose McNiven’s art
For a crap alternative, which I believe a fill-in artist would deliver.
Instead, put in on the internet,
Anyone who is pissed off about the delay,
You can drop the series. There are plenty of other comics that come out more often.
I would not post on a message board with the fan
That does not have the patience to let great art be made.
This day is Wednesday, new comics day.
The fanboy who can tolerate the long wait for this comic book,
Will be rewarded when he pours over every awesome panel.
And we will be psyched whenever anyone talks about Civil War.
He that gets through this day and does not have the plot spoiled,
Will go onto iFanboy.com and post about it with other comic book fans.
He will post, “Holy Crap! Spider-man really unmasked to everyone!”
Then will he bare his love of super heroes and show his geekieness.
And say, “I am blown away by Mark Millar’s cliffhanger endings.”
Bad crossovers get retconned; Let all go through a Crisis,
But Civil War will echo through every future story arch,
In the Marvel Universe. As familiar as mainstream pop-icons,
Captain America, Iron Man and Spider-man,
Daredevil and Falcon, Goliath and Thor,
Will be talked about in every good comic book store.
This crossover will a good collector give to his son.
And future publisher wide crossovers will never go by
From this series, until the collapse of the industry,
But we fanboys will be remembered
We dorky, we happy geeks, We Band of Brothers,
For he today that buys this comic,
Shall be my brother, Even if he is the biggest nerd there is.
This day will make him a little cooler.
And those readers who are too embarrassed to walk themselves into a comic book store,
Will spite of us but not admit that they ARE jealous, when their co-workers talk,
About what happened, in Marvel’s Civil War!

In the Absense of Marvel's Civil War...

...lets take a look at a comic about another war. This was done by Civil War writer, Mark Millar, for a Scotland newspaper, The Sunday Herald. It appeared a while back. It is a good view of what comics can do outside of the super hero thing. A lot of comic book story telling is about feeling the story rather than coming to an understanding. Comic books are poetic in that they can convey emotion without putting them into words. Look at Blair's face, a part of the guy is hurting inside.





Don't forget Civil War #4 comes out next week (September 20th)!