Light Of The Quasar: Comic Books Are Not Just For Kids!

I've collected and been interested in comic books since I was ten or eleven years old, maybe even younger. This not only led to me being one of the best readers at my school, but taught me much about the rest of the world. I didnt just learn about how the Incredible Hulk would go nuts and beat the puss out of everyone and everything in his sight, I discovered things like that Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, not Spanish as I had assumed.

Nothing could compare to these fantastic adventures that would compel me to visit the local news store so much that I nearly became part of the furniture. School was so boring and never challenged or excited my brain enough to be in the competition for my attention against something that was both graphic and literal that could be read and understood at my own pace, unlike movies (nothing against teachers, I am friends with one and Im sure that I did learn a thing or two). My interest in comics, soon became an obsession and in the 90s, when comics had reached a great peak in popularity, my friends became influenced enough to trawl through the various titles and find their favourite character too.

Over the years, comic companies took notice of the adult audiences that had grown as the art of comics had also; this led to imprints that are for mature readers. And when I say the art of comics, I mean not just visually, but in a literary sense. If you look at the statistics, there are many more readers (I dont agree with the use of the word collectors) over the age of eighteen than below it. Of course the renaissance in movies that are based on comics has surely had an impact in bringing kids back to comics, but the majority of readers are still older. Maybe one day we might see these different worlds represented at movie award ceremonies, hell if Lord Of The Rings can win an Oscar any flic can (don't ask...Im still upset with the ending of Return Of The King).

Marvel Comics recently realised the popularity of an older title that they had changed by replacing all the characters and the creative team, but retained the same name, which was almost blasphemy for many readers. X-Force was revamping gone wrong, while some people found the new super hero team to be interesting, and found it great to be able to jump onboard with new characters many fans were still offended by the change and wanted their old team back. This is an example of capitalising on a comics goodwill, then alienating many of its fans who have become familiar with its great history and grown with the title characters. It now seems that the title has been brought back from the dead so to speak, as the old characters are returning and much of the creative team has too. This problem of disregarding the continuity of a title, for reasons beyond concern for the reader is very selfish. Marvel seems to still adhere to the notion that there is no history for a comic and can just change things at will. If you were a reader of one of these books for an extended period of time you would find the same frustrations many have had over a books history being changed by something as simple as a change in writer. This example shows how many complicated situations can arise in the comic world just over what many non-readers would regard as a childish medium.

The history of adult comics actually goes back a long way, my earliest mature readers purchase would have to be Death: The High Cost Of Living (Issue Number 3 of 3, 1993). This story was about Death spending the day on Earth as a teenage girl called Didi; she was trying to see what it was like to be alive and befriended a teenage boy. That really isnt your run-of-the-mill kind of story that would be attractive to young kids, or their parents, but it isnt as violent or rude as some of my other favourites I would recommend, like Preacher, Transmetropolitan or Howard The Duck.

All the adults out there who look at a newsstand or go into their local store might want to think twice before they dismiss these works of art on the shelves as kids stuff. Dont we all make too many judgements by appearances? Have a look inside the cover and actually read what it has to say, you may be surprised at what you find.

See Matts blog at: http://lightofthequasar.blogspot.com/
Copyright Matt Holt, 2004

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