How I Remembered That I Loved Comics Books and Stopped Being a Stuck-up Prick

As anybody can tell by just glancing at my tumblr, I read a lot of comic books. Like “a lot” a lot. I pull down about 30 titles a month or more and then buy trades and other such comic-ry. But in the last few months I hadn’t had the time or money to buy these books, and let me tell you I love these comic books. I almost forgot how much I loved comic books.

I’ve been going through a phase in my life where I’ve been trying to be a better adult, still do the geeky things I love, but I’ve looking at comic books as just a money sink and kind of wanting to let my account go. But something happened recently to turn that around. I let my account slip and pile up. For 3 months. Strange Adventures, being the amazing store that it is, allowed me (an oldish and goodish customer) let my account pile up until it was about 100 books or more strong. I got a call telling me I had to get my books because my account was in danger of being shut down. So I bought them. I paid a total of $170 or so for these books (I can’t remember, really) and then I let them sit there. Honestly I had barely touched the books I picked up from the other 2 months. So here I was looking at a stack of 130 books. And I let them sit for another week or so.

But now, and I don’t know what changed in me, I’ve whittled that stack down to 40 books. 

And I need to say that I forgot how much I love comicbooks. Comicbooks are weird and fun and oh my god have you read Uncanny X-Force? Because that book was the one that REALLY got me back into it all. Remender’s story on all 35 issues has been solid and has given new and beautiful characteristics to heroes like Psylocke, Wolverine, Deadpool, and Fantomex. This rag-tag group of assassins has been through so much, and they’ve ACTUALLY grown as characters. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic break the status quo and leave it broken as much as this book has. The journey in this book is so personal and right. It just feels like a real story. I’ve been looking at stuff like comic books as anti-academic and anti-artistic, but then a book like X-Force gives me the misty eyes as Deadpool admits he’s never been called a hero before and it’s just… it’s perfect.

The only book I’ve read that rivals the power this book has is Legion Lost, and anybody who knows me knows that I think that Legion Lost is one of the best comics ever written. And apparently lightning strikes twice, because the same magic was captured  with Uncanny X-Force. Here are characters who I mostly don’t care for (though kind of enjoy) on a team that I REALLY never cared for (X-Force used to be Cable’s team and I’ve always thought the Legion was lame as fuck) doing something different. These two titles were never big, hard-hitting titles that had events and world changing matters centered around them, but these two titles matter more than anything else because they’re so personal and full of character. The world doesn’t change, but people get hurt bad, and the ending where Wolverine lets go of a piece of himself is just… it’s perfect.

And then I remembered that I love comic books because a lot of the stories are so personal. X-Force was bred from love, and practically every book I read feels like that. Captain Marvel, while not being the book I thought it would be, is a lot of fun. Spider-Man is still my favourite superhero of all time, and the stuff that’s been happening with him has been interesting to say the least (I’m giving Superior Spider-Man a chance because Slott knows what he’s doing). Batman is still being done by Snyder and Capullo and I’ve never read a better Batman than this. Winter Soldier is still a great spy book and if you like spies the same way I love spies, then read this book right now. Brubaker’s stories don’t disappoint and the art has been amazing. Saga. Oh man Saga is still the story that I never knew that I wanted to write, and if I could rewrite a certain two characters to reflect what Saga has, I would. And then of course Walking Dead has been astonishing, and never before have I been ACTUALLY on the edge of my seat as much as the last issue made me. There’s more than that, but you get my point.

What I’m saying is I lost myself, but now I’m back. I’m back and I love comicbooks more than anything right now, and that’s who I am. You know? Yeah. You know.

Avengers WIP. Because, of COURSE I couldn’t go a week without drawing me some friggin’ Avengers. So I really dig the line up for the movie (minus Hawkeye’s costume), but I wanted to add in my two personal favourite Avengers, The Vision, and Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel. I’m saying she’d be Ms. Marvel here because I find it weird to have two captains on a team, but if it were up to me, Captain Marvel would be leading the current Avengers.
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Avengers WIP.

Because, of COURSE I couldn’t go a week without drawing me some friggin’ Avengers. So I really dig the line up for the movie (minus Hawkeye’s costume), but I wanted to add in my two personal favourite Avengers, The Vision, and Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel. I’m saying she’d be Ms. Marvel here because I find it weird to have two captains on a team, but if it were up to me, Captain Marvel would be leading the current Avengers.