Back in 1993, I was super into comic books. More specifically, I was super into X-MEN 2099. While I read comics here and there before, I never collected month to month issues. I'd just grab whatever cover looked cool, which usually featured Wolverine SNIKTing all over the place. However, X-MEN 2099 was the first comic I collected monthly.
Every week, I would head down to my local comic shop with my best friend to pick up the latest copy. However, I had no clue what the shipping and distribution schedule was, so basically, every week, I'd annoy the manager of the store, Mike. I had no idea what it was about this series, but this was the moment where I became a comic fan for life. It was the first series I collected and fell in love with, and it kind of sucked, but I didn't realize that until years later. I continued reading up until the Onslaught Saga, but then found myself bored with what comics had to offer. Maybe it was the fact I was a teenager and trying really hard to be cool and fit in or maybe it was the fact the stigma of "comics are for kids" was a huge thing back then, but I gave up comics for about 6 years.
In that short amount of time, comics became stagnant and repetitive to me. While I enjoyed super-hero stuff, I just wasn't as into it and frankly, a lot of comic shops didn't carry anything but super-hero books. It wasn't until 2002, when I went to a local comic convention and walked up to a booth called "Funk-O-Tron" and bought a book called BATTLE POPE, which was still a super-hero book, but felt more like a satire of it more than anything else. I started getting interested in comics again a started looking for books outside of Marvel and DC. A couple years later, I found a book called DEMO, which is essentially a book that got me reading comic books full-time again because it spoke to me and it was the "something different" I was looking for. From there, I found other books and series I fell in love with and some the exact opposite.
So what's the point? Why front-load this piece with a story about myself finding comics? To be self-serving or to put everything in perspective for my journey as a fan of comic books? Well, probably both. The thing is everyone's journey with comic books is different. No one has the same story as me. Sure, maybe someone out there got out of comics at the same time or maybe someone else found DEMO to be the book that got them interested in comics again. But no one has the same story of how they found their love of comics as I do, just as no one has the same story as you.
We live in a time where Marvel and DC still dominate the comic industry, but at the same time, there's been an explosion of books from other companies, both the traditional super-hero books and any other type of story under the sun. Aside from there being this mass variety of genres to read, the level of creativity coming out of the industry is insane. I know I bring the series up anytime I talk about my love of comics, but it's the prime example, for me, of a great book, but take a look at Y: THE LAST MAN. It's character driven and the antagonist is just as much the world as it is the lead character, Yorick Brown. Sure, you could say that about many stories from THE INCREDIBLE HULK, but they're all issue to issue and don't really have the long-form character development that Y: THE LAST MAN does. It's a singular, long-form story that has an ending and a great one at that. There are people who are turned off by the idea of a never-ending story (not the Michael Ende book). They want something more complete and stand-alone, which the realm of graphic novels can offer them.
That's something I find myself loving about where we're at with the comic book industry. The phrase "comics are for everybody" had so much more meaning that originally intended and applies to where we are at today. Because there are companies out there like Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW, BOOM!, Archaia, and others taking this mixed media art and putting their own spin on it, readers are getting not only some high quality books, compared to 20 years ago (not knocking the mid-90s), but there is also a variety of different types of comics to read. Sure, there's traditional superhero stuff that appeals to more of the Marvel and DC reader, like INVINCIBLE from Image, but there's also books with a comical spin, like CHEW, or more a bit with a horror twist, like LOCKE & KEY, or something a bit more mysterious like MIND THE GAP. The industry has something for everyone and it's only getting more diverse. There's literally something for everyone.
It's more than just the rise of independent companies that make now a great time for comics. Marvel and DC take more chances with their stories, since the early 00s, and a lot of that probably has to do with the abandonment of the Comics Code Authority, which was had storytellers and companies under a stranglehold. While discussing the CCA is a whole other story altogether, companies like Marvel and DC gave comics their own rating and could now write stories where the bad guys could win or they could actually do something as scandalous as put the word "terror" on a cover of their book. Ok, that's more at a jab at the CCA than anything else, but we did see an explosion of some pretty awesome storytelling that spoke more to an older reader during this era: CIVIL WAR, IDENTITY CRISIS, BATMAN: HUSH, Grant Morrison's run on NEW X-MEN, and many, MANY others. With these two companies setting their own ratings, they didn't feel they needed to abide to the CCA, even though the CCA really held no authority over anyone. Again, the CCA is this whole other insane beast/discussion/maddening history within comics.
Because there's so much diverse types of storytelling at so many different companies, which is only growing/getting better, who do we thank for all of this? In short, everyone. Thank the publishers for putting the books out. Thank the creators for coming together to tell these stories. Thank retailers for ordering the books. Thank other fans for showing interest. Thank random people at conventions. Thank everyone involved in the process of making, buying, selling, and reading comics because it's all part of one, gigantic multi-functioning organism. Look, we all love comic books and too many times, fans can focus slowly on the things they hate or don't agree with. Now, I'm not here to give a lecture on anything like that. What I am saying is that maybe we should take a step back and celebrate the fact that comic books are better than they have ever been and we're all lucky to be living in this era. As much fun as it is to complain and gripe, I think sometimes we take what we have for granted. We wouldn't have things to be mad about if it weren't for the things we love. Let's take the time to celebrate what we love about comics.
What do you love about comics?