Recently I've been reading "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. In it, a band of heroes from Victorian fiction team up in order to fight the enemies of Britain and investigate the strange occurrences that take place in the late 1890s. It is basically a mashup of a number of Victorian writings mixed in with a tad bit of steampunk and Alan Moore's dry wit. My first thought when I started reading this was that it was amazing how Moore could so perfectly spin a plot out of fiction that many today would find dry and long winded. My second thought was that I could not believe that such a great work was made into such a terrible movie.
It was so bad that Sean Connery had to rage quit acting afterwards
What I really want to focus on is my first thought. See I love comics about as much as I love horror movies, but comics take this to a different level. Horror movies are generally straight forward. There is something out there that is killing people, and it is probably coming after you. Run, hide or fight, the outcome is generally the same. People die, and the main character barely manages to get away. That's not to say I have suddenly stopped liking that genre; it's just that comics can cover such a wide array of stories, styles and themes that even if you don't want to read about superheroes, there is most likely a story for you in graphic form.
Although I'm pretty sure I just alienated all of my readers who are DC fans.
I didn't read many comics when I was a kid. In fact, it wasn't until college that I started to really get interested in reading them because of the group of friends I hung out with. Yes, we may have been geeks, but we could have more interesting conversations about the intricacies of different stories and how one book related to another. Take the new "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice." You may have watched it and taken it at the face value that it was a good superhero movie. I, on the other hand, got embroiled in a three-hour long conversation about at least four different source comics that Zac Snyder used in the making of that movie. Did you know that originally when Batman and Superman squared off, that Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow, was the one to shoot Superman with an arrow laced with an aerosol Kryptonite? Did you know that Batman had retired prior to that showdown?
And the best part is that he still beats the mess out of Superman.
Now you may say to yourself, "But Nathan, I don't like superheroes." That's OK! There is a plethora of other stories that have been put in graphic form. There is the wonderful story of "Persepolis." It is an autobiographical narrative by Marjane Satrapi about her early life growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. She tells the story about her life so artistically and weaves together both the history of the events and how she herself reacted to those events. Do you enjoy science fiction? I just picked up a copy of "Roche Limit" by Michael Moreci. It is a blend of noir, mystery and science fiction set on an asteroid colony during a golden age of human expansion throughout the cosmos. No matter what genre you enjoy, there is most certainly a comic out there for you to read.
Plus I have to give a shout out to all of those DC fans out there.
Long story short, if you want to lose yourself in some of the best reading of your life, then go out and pick up a comic book. These authors are writing some of the best literature, and they are matched by some of the best illustrators who are pouring years into perfecting their craft. You will find that you will soon be immersed in a universe of intrigue and storytelling that I think is unmatched in other media. So go support your comic book creators and local comic book shop. You won't regret the decision.
