Fall In Love With Comics Again

Comic Book Discussion Circles Everywhere

I’ve read comics off and on for most of my life.  As a young child, my favorite heroes were primarily DC characters like Batman, Superman, and The Flash.  Some of the lesser known heroes in DC’s stable such as Firestorm, Black Lightning, and Plastic Man held my interest as well.  The only Marvel heroes that I liked when I was younger were Spider-Man and Hulk, and that was primarily due to the fact that those two characters were in comics, on television (including Spidey in snippets on PBS), and on cartoons on Saturday morning.

As I matured, the X-Men, Daredevil, Captain America, and to a lesser degree, characters such as The Punisher and Ghost Rider, grabbed my attention.  Gone were the brightly colored spandex suits of DC’s big heroes, making way for the grittier, (seemingly) more adult tone of Marvel’s herd tackling issues that I was slowly beginning to understand like racism, gang violence, politics, internal emotional struggle, etc.

When I entered college, I left the two big guys in the dust for titles from Image like Hellshock  and Codename: Strykeforce.  These titles were tougher than your standard Marvel and DC books (although I now know that DC and Marvel both had some pretty intense titles in publication during the 1990’s) and I loved them.

Now, less than a year away from turning forty years old, I’ve found myself back on the DC train.  While I’ve read and enjoyed many recent Marvel titles, DC has won me over, particularly with their New 52 batch that came out a few years ago.  Geoff Johns and company got me interested in Aquaman, for crying out loud, and I do believe that I’ve fallen in love with Mera as well.

I’m championing the likes of Black Manta and Ocean Master and have taken a lot of interest in Cyborg, Wonder Woman, and Animal Man.  Heck, even Robin, specifically Damian Wayne, has become an important part of my life.  Couple that with the brilliant television shows Arrow and The Flash, and the promising looks of Suicide Squad and Batman Vs. Superman coming to the big screen, and I’m pretty much a DC guy through and through.

Granted, I’m still a bit behind on the times as the New 52 has already been replaced recently, but DC has reminded why I loved comic books and superheroes so much as a child.  I loved to see Superman enter the fight and wipe the floor clean without breaking a sweat.  I enjoyed seeing Batman break cases and dig up clues, all the while fending off attacks from costumed villains such as The Riddler, Penguin, and, of course, The Joker.  I couldn’t wait to see these larger than life characters take on insurmountable odds and come out on top.

Why?  Why did I love those types of stories so much as a child and have rediscovered that love for them again at my current age?

Because every year that I grow older and become wiser to the insane world in which we live, I NEED an escape, and DC’s heroes provide that escape more than any other stable of comic characters.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I still love to see the X-Men fight super villains and discrimination at the same time, and every once in awhile I prefer to see the young version of Peter Parker fight school bullies, but ultimately I need a getaway, and DC has done that for me in spades.

I know that I’m doing a lot of rambling here and I do apologize for that, but if you haven’t read a comic in recent years, go out and grab one.  I highly recommend The New 52 run of Batman and Robin and the Justice League titles from the same series.  The rebooted origin story of the JLA is awesome and hilarious at the same time.  I also highly recommend the Aquaman series in The New 52.  In just a few panels, Geoff Johns blows up any preconceived notions you might have had about everybody’s favorite fishy guy.

Go ahead, escape for a bit.  You deserve it.

As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to comment below about any of your favorite books on the shelf now or from when you were a kid.