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Posted by:

Mythrandiel

Date:

April 17th, 2007 7:10 PM

Header:

I Love Comics

Bulletin:

I love comics.

I remember when I was thirteen or so, I was a really shy kid. We'd moved to Marlborough, a poor neighborhood in south Kansas City where my dad pastored this rare, racially integrated church. My family was pretty poor, so my clothes were never really cool, and I think moving around as much as we had left me a little afraid to make new friends, at least at first. More than that, I was just kind of a weird kid. I spent most of my day contemplating dragons and radioactive spiders and trying to use the force. I fully explored the recesses of my imagination. I don't know where it came from. Both of my parents are practical, down-to-Earth people. Their extreme fantasy consisted of Walker Texas Ranger.

I didn't have many friends my freshman year. It wasn't that people hadn't reached out to me, but I was so shy and awkward, and an irresistible target for bullies. Some kids on the bus had started picking on me. I decided that my best option was to stop taking the bus. I started walking home from school. It was about two miles. My parents were at work and my sibs got out of school later, so I don't guess anyone really knew.

Along my route, on 85th and Holmes, was a Circle-K. I'd stop in and browse, just take a break from walking, and spin the comic book rack. Spider-man, New Mutants, X-Men, and eventually got brave enough to flip through a couple.

I decided I really wanted to get a comic book, but scrounging change wasn't easy in my house, so I started skipping lunch. Id take my $1 and get a hamburger from Mickey Ds and a 65 cent comic book (I'm certain it was providence that when comics jumped to 75 cents, school lunches went up to $1.25).

It was amazing. There in those 22 pages I found people who were going through exactly what I was. People dealing with being awkward and not fitting in, not being understood by others or themselves, facing hardships, but remaining people of integrity. And they were doing things I wasn't. They had adventures and visited far away places and battled the forces of evil. Everything I was and wanted to be was right there in four-colors.

My freshman year was tough, but it ended. By the time I was a junior I fit in just fine. I had lots of friends. I had cool clothes. I dated pretty girls. I was in a band. My senior year I sold my entire comic collection, which was by then a secret, to go on a ski trip. Looking back it all feels very Giving Tree. Laying in bed at night I couldn't help but imagine battling super-villains or what it would be like if my friends and I had super-powers, but all that stayed in the dark of my bedroom. I had to be cool.

I can't say I didn't pick up a comic for years. If I was by myself and near a comic stand I usually fell to the temptation.

It wasn't until years later when my girlfriend (now my wife), the girl I wanted to be the coolest for, convinced me that actually being cool was more about embracing who I was and much less about fitting into a societal mold. So I decided to embrace the inner-geek. I started drawing again. I started dreaming again. And I started buying comics again. I started being happy again. Sure I was a little less cool in the eyes of the masses, but so what?

I love comics.

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