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[Jan. 15th, 2009|05:54 pm] |
| [ | A Bit of the Old Ludwig Van |
| | Tyr - Ramind Hin Unge | ] |
Comic Books
I've been into comic books for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, maybe like, 5 or 6, I read alot, which is something I'm trying to do more of now. But I used to read like, a book a night, usually R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. I think that's what got me into horror movies, or at least part of it. But I'm getting off point. When I was younger, I would always go over to my grandparent's house, and they would always buy me a book. Sometimes, it would be a Star Wars book, because I was, and still am, to an extent, a huge Star Wars nerd. However, my favorite thing to read, and I still have all of them, to this day, were the Calvin and Hobbes comic books. They're sitting in a box full of books I don't have room for in the back of my closet. This was my first exposure to comic books. The cynical, megalomaniacal six year old, and his stuffed tiger that was brought to life with the imagniation of a kid who loved it. I used to imagine my stuffed tiger was real, too lol. I think those books hit me at such a young age because it was something I could relate to. The typical life of a six year old, playing in the mud, torturing the little girl a few houses down, and refusing to take a bath. Reading that book seemed like I was reading my own childhood at times.
As time went on, I kinda stopped reading comics for a bit. However, once I got into the trading card game phase of my life, be it the Pokeman stage in like, 7th grade, or Yu Gi Oh and Magic The Gathering throughout high school, I found myself exposed to comics once again, because that's where I went to buy my cards (and still go to this day). My comic shop, Alternate Realities, is like a heaven to me, much like a tattoo parlor or bookstore or shady movie store. I go there to escape and surround myself in something I love.
As time went on, I found myself getting back into comics, first with the basics, like Spiderman and X-Men. Then it was Iron Man, which I've read most of throughout the past couple of years. Iron Man, hands down, has become my favorite comic book of all time, followed very closely by The Punisher, though I don't like where the Punisher is going now. But I'll get into that later. I love Iron Man because, in reality, it's really the story of how the worst enemy you have to face in life is yourself. Sure, Tony Stark's a genius, millionaire playboy, with an incredibly advanced suit of armor that allows him to fight crime, but he's a raging alcoholic, and he uses that to hide his problems, which always wind up catching up to him.
The Punisher, on the other hand, is something I love because of the sheer brutality of the books. Not to mention the concept is unbelieveably simple, yet one of the most effective in the Marvel Universe. A man whose family is killed seeks revenge on those who perpetrate those types of crimes. Garth Ennis' run with the book really gave it legs, as it was probably one of the best written comics in.... well, comics, in a very long time. I love the comics so much I have a tattoo of the infamous skull logo on my right shoulder. My first tattoo, which will stay with me forever.
A few years ago, I started branching off into other comics, other than Marvel. Dark Horse was an immediate favorite, as I found another one of my all time favorite series, The Darkness, which is the story of a mob hitman who inherits demonic powers on his 21st birthday, and uses them to fight supernatural entities. The video game was also BADASS.
For a while, I had refused to even touch a DC book, and to this day, I still won't, with the exception of anything Batman. The idea behind Batman is partly the reason I like Iron Man and the Punisher so much. A normal guy, with no born superpowers, no mutations, no defects that make him special, doing whatever they can in their power to fight crime. Something about the everyman type of idea behind Batman and the Punisher strikes me as noble.
My comic collection is pretty large. I wouldn't consider myself a serious collector, but I definitely love collecting. I have tons of single issues, and a lot of hardcover volume issues.
I don't know why I wrote this. Just had it in my head, wanted to get it out. |
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