As you may or may not know by now, this website started as a way for a non comic book reader (myself) to get invested into the hobby. I was given a reading list by someone who has been reading comics their entire life, and thus my journey down the rabbit hole began. It’s been a wild ride, and as I sit here on New Years Eve, I genuinely feel like a different person from all the stories I’ve read and all the heroes I’ve gotten to know ‘personally’. In a year when half the world expected December 21st to be the final day, and the other half of the world simply struggled to get by, it was refreshing and invigorating to read about superheroes; people who could actually make a difference in the world. Maybe it’s also my age too. I’m 28, and I have no more answers to how to live my life than ten years ago. If anything, I have more questions. A lot of people have come and gone in my life, and I’ve even lost some loved ones to cancer. This was a rough twelve months, and there were nights when I curled up to a good graphic novel and escaped my semi-charmed life.
So which comic books left the biggest impressions on me?
Logan was the first comic I read that really left me to question what I knew about these comic book characters. I know that Hugh Jackman had been reprising the role surprisingly well in the X-Men movies, but there is so much depth to the character, and he really does have a tragic existence. I guess a lot of us wish for regenerative super powers and claws that could cut through steel, but to be honest, the price of admission was not worth it. The man can’t be killed, but at the same time his loved ones can, and his brain survives by erasing traumatic memories.
Oh, and you get to see an atomic bomb dropped on Wolverine. That was definitely a panel where I shouted “what the hell!” while reading alone in my room.
Further down the road, I came across a rather surprising limited series called The Inhumans. I guess the title was supposed to be ironic, as the seemingly alien race were more humane than we were throughout the book. I had my issues with the comic, like how not one superhero even bothered to help the civilization, but I’m also beginning to learn that for other heroes to intervene simply kills any sort of narrative or character development (you can’t always take the easy way out). What made this comic interesting not only was the main hero, Black Bolt, a character that could not speak lest he destroy civilizations, but the unique dynamic of a culture we could never understand. It was a comic where teenagers looked forward to standing out, and the caste system would seem incredibly archaic for modern day society.
Paul Jenkins did a magnificent job of writing this comic, and he often chose the high road for his characters, something that humanity rarely does. He had me liking a character that did not utter a single word the entire series, and it was for that which made my journey into comic book nerdom that much more entertaining; knowing stories like these existed.
In August, I read about The Sentry, and while I hear that the character gets fleshed out in other comics, as a standalone read I adored it. Paul Jenkins did an excellent job writing a story about a seemingly too perfect superhero that nobody could remember, and the tale that ensued really had me guessing until the very end. Let me be clear that this graphic novel had my favorite ending of them all so far, because it broke the fourth wall in such a way that it left me smiling at the last page, wanting to re-read the whole story just so I could see if perhaps I missed a hint that would give away what really happened.
In September, I finally caught up with the times and read Batman: The Court of Owls, and finally understood why DC Comics were not all as bad as people made them out to be. I thought that the story was done surprisingly well and it very well could have made for the plot of a new Batman movie. The psychological torture was strong with this one, and because the comic is relatively new, I won’t spoil any of the plot, but you really should read the reboot. Scott Snyder did as good a job as Nolan in setting up a universe and a Bruce Wayne that I could enjoy.
Here’s to next year, when I can fall further down the rabbit hole and discover the beauty of books with pictures in them. It’s funny that I used to complain that comic books had no depth to them. I guess the saying is right; a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Categories: Comic Books, Rant, Review
The 616 Project 
Leave a comment