The Joy of Comics

When I was younger I was an avid comic book fan. I use the term fan because I wasn't a collector until I got slightly older and grew concerned about having my childhood comics to read. I unlike some people was never in it for money, I didn't care how much a given issue would fetch me some day. This was long before the days of E-Bay and your only real source of comic sales were stores and conventions anyway. But I was more interested in getting complete runs of series. I can still vividly recall finding old issues of comics in long boxes stacked in dusty old stores and happily adding it to my collection. With the advent of trades and now digital comics this is no longer necessary. My old comic books now sit snugly in my attic tucked away in a corner where I rarely venture. I think about taking and issue out now and again but most of the time it isn't worth the hassle. But something strange has happened recently that made my struggle with what to do with my collection come into perspective.

My daughter has begun getting her own comics. She picks up Savage Dragon, Tiny Titans and Batman Brave and the Bold. Also anything with Spider-Man and Wolverine ( though I try to censor those a bit since most aren't for small children) and just this past week she got the first issue of The Incredibles. Which also happens to be her favorite movie. In the few days she has had the comic it has been turned into a treasure map and a spyglass. It also has had numerous trips in the family car as she reads it over and over while we drive. And by reads I mean makes up a story to go along with the pictures in the issue. It is already battered and beaten and is not close to mint condition, but I would suggest that this comic has given her more fun then anything that may have ended up bagged and boarded and only read once in a blue moon.

I think this is a point my generation has missed the mark on greatly. Comic books are disposable entertainment. Not something to be hidden away in the corner of the attic. We rail against people destroying our childhood by making movies that don't conform to our memories. Or comics that lack what the ones from our childhood made us feel. But the whole time what we are really doing is ruining it for the next generation. We've made comic lovers a smaller and smaller group by excluding anyone who doesn't hold comics as some high art form. When most times it is a guy in a goofy costume made to entertain kids.

The rush of the digital age will most likely save comics from the scrap bin of history and thankfully new generations will discover the joy of reading comics. But something is lost in translation when a kid can't just roll a comic up and stick it in their back pocket. So next time you're at the local comic shop pick something up for your kid and let them destroy the thing, after all that's what comics are for.

Post Christmas post.....

Well I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying your time off or at least having an easy day if you don't have off. Holidays went well around here, the monkey got all her presents from Santa and was extremely happy. She is currently playing on the floor in front of me with her dinosaur Spike. Who she is alternately loving and in abject fear of her gobbling her whole. Who I of course had the pleasure of assembling along with the multitude of other toys and gadgets.


It really wasn't to bad and it was more then worth it seeing how much she is enjoying herself now.

We got to see tons of family and had a minimum of drama which is always nice. Though I could have done without all of the driving. Talked to friends from London to California and they all had pretty good days which is also a plus. For everyone out there in cyber world I hope you found yourself among friends, family or both and had a wonderful time. Have a great new year all.

Vacation

So tomorrow begins my annual vacation. I'm starting the pilgrimage tomorrow and won't be back until next week and then it is all about the holidays. I'll be about but off doing a million little things I've been putting off. So I'll see how much I can post and keep everyone up to date on everything. But I can make no guarantees. I hope everyone has a good holiday season. Merry Christmas and all that good stuff.....

Rebellious Bride

This is just to weird. Check this out.

Broccoli Books Folds

Another manga publisher going down. I do think this has to do with the economy but I also believe the market got bloated for awhile and this is necessary step to trim it down and make manga and graphic novels a permanent part of the establishment in the major book chains. Anyway check out the article.

almost....

It's almost Turkey day folks. I am trying to set up mobile blogging because I will be away for a few days. Have to visit the family with stops at the In-Laws and dad's. WOOHOO! Family time.

Battle of the attic part 2

So yesterday between watching wall e and flipping over to the Giants game I decided to put some more stuff into the attic. I had pulled out a bunch of Christmas decorations on Saturday as I was putting the lights on the house. And I wanted to get everything away and make some room for the boxes of ornaments I will be putting up there next week after we put up the tree.

Well I pull down the stairs and get walloped by an arctic frigging wind that seemed to be waiting just for me. I mean god, I thought I might lose my eyebrows to frostbite from the cold. Pushing through the chill I made my way up and turned on the light. As I started moving stuff around I decided that the best thing to do would be to move a series of plastic bins to the other side of the attic. I get through the three bins in short order and am happy to think I'll be getting out of the freezing cold attic shortly. Well what I failed to realize was when we put the plywood in we seemed to forget to nail down the very edge I had been lifting the bins off of. So I of course caught my foot on it fell forward and whacked my head off one of the many attic beams. I yelled out an expletive that I won't be repeating and I stood rubbing my head. I heard my daughter yell up to me and say "Daddy that's not a nice word!"

I swear this attic is out to get me!

The battle of the attic

As many of you know I bought a house recently and that tale alone is a long and twisted one. But now it has a new wrinkle. When we bought the house I understood that we had a decent size attic. Which I fully intended to use as we need the storage space, me being a collector of masses of useless items. The only issue at the time was that we had just scuttle access. Which anyone with boxes full of things knows just doesn't work, go ahead try and shove a box over your head while standing on a step stool and also getting it through a tiny hole at the same time. It ain't happening. So in the process of our heat conversion I was able to get attic stairs put in, which to this day I am thrilled about. Now of course I lost some space to the new furnace but nothing that would kill me.

I have recently begun the unenviable task of moving things into the attic. And it is has turned into a full blown war of me versus this cold and dark place. First we had to put in plywood to make sure I didn't fall through into the ceilings below. Then it was removing some of the insulation as it was overloaded. And now it is trying to configure what now seems to be to the most insanely put together space in my lifetime. Beams reach from here to there threatening my skull at ever turn, as my bruised noggin can attest. Plywood creaks under the strain of newly placed boxes. While also trying to configure some method where I won't have to move everything all over again when I need it, such as holiday decorations.

Then of course there is my love affair with books. Which maybe my mistress but are a pain in the ass to store. I keep telling myself I should donate them or otherwise dispose of them. But I keep hedging on it at every turn. And of course all my reference materials need to be close enough to my new stairs so that I don't have to dig to get to them. I know, I know just use the Internet. But now and again I do need to look in an actually book to be sure I am not incorrectly stating the time lines of the Roman emperors are some other such thing.

And it seems to me that at every turn this room finds ways to vex me. Be it bumping my head or almost falling through the ceiling or finding I can't stock boxes a certain way because it makes it impossible to get to another set of boxes. I keep fighting the battle but am now under the impression the battle will never cease. And in the end the damn attic will probably win.

Check it out

Be sure to check out the latest family offering.

Jazma Online Interview

Be sure to check out my latest interview with the good folks over at Jazma Online.