I know about alternative realities, various alien wars, and the secret identities of any super hero you can name. I know which super heroes belong to which publishing company and I feel vaguely uncomfortable when little kids are playing pretend and have Batman and Spider-man on the same team. That just ain't right, man.
But I know other stuff too, from comic books. My niece told me that she did not know the point in the Captain America movie of having Cap participate in what looked like a Vaudeville-type show. I explained the whole concept of war bonds and how celebrities assisted in raising funds for the war - something I learned from reading comic books set in World War Two.
Marvel Comics publish a book about Thor - a character from Norse mythology. The book also had folks from Greek mythology. Those characters fascinated me to the extent that I read every single Greek mythology book in the Nicholls School library. Then, thanks to my mom, every book on Greek mythology in the South Georgia College library. Then all the Greek mythology books in the Valdosta State College (now University) library. I was in the fourth grade at the time.
I learned about the Tuskegee experiments from comics. I learned about concentration camps from comics. I learned about internment camps for the Japanese here in the U.S. from comics. That last one I thought - or hoped was fiction. Asked my mom about it and turns out we really did round people up because of how they looked and put them in special camps while fighting Germans who did the same thing. I was twelve and knew that the Germans were evil since they killed as many of their prisoners as they could. I knew that we were just cowardly and racist.
My parents never allowed any of us to use the term nigger in our household. I even feel funny typing it now but, I find something cowardly about calling it the "N - word". Call evil, evil and don't soften it for fear of it coming to power. Comics showed me racism and apartheid in greater detail than anything I saw on television or movies.
There are things that are wrong with comics as well. Women are drawn with figures and clothing that most of us only see in a Fredrick's of Hollywood catalog. The writing for women has improved over the years with Lois Lane moving from the damsel in distress to one of the most feared / respected investigative reporters in the imaginary universe of Superman and company. But we are almost always presented with form fitting, incredibly revealing outfits even for those women who are displayed as warriors.
Another thing is the violence. Don't get me wrong, I love an epic fight scene. I love cool images that evoke the concepts of bravery and honor and perseverance. I love that Wolverine is such a hard case and that Batman is just beyond cool and that the Hulk smashes. But too often, violence is the first resort of the GOOD guys. The good guys are just as likely to make the sarcastic, threatening comment that sparks a violent exchange as the bad guys.
I see people all the time that have verbal exchanges where the whole point is one-up-man-ship and intimidation - while they are at work or with their families. I don't blame comics for this failing in our society since I know that most of our society are not geeks like me. But is it too much to ask in this day and age to have heroes that demonstrate responsibility? This may all be me just getting old and folks may say that reading a comic book where the characters just talk would be boring as all get out.
I disagree. How much tension could you build into a scene where the hero gives the villain every opportunity to be reasonable and do the sane thing? How much scarier is the villain who, when confronted with a calm, deferential hero who is trying to keep violence from erupting, tries to gut him like a fish anyway?
But, I still enjoy comic books. Some of the writers you now enjoy on television and movies, used to be (and some still are) writers of comic books. Gerry Conway used to write the Justice League back in the late 70's and 80's. He was a regular contributor to Law & Order. David S. Goyer, who wrote the movies, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, is a comic book writer.
The AMC show, The Walking Dead, is based on a comic book. So was Road to Perdition, The 300, Blade, The Crow, From Hell, A History of Violence, The Mask, V for Vendetta and all the other obvious ones that come to mind when you hear the term, "comic book movie".
They are stories with pictures. You know, like movies and television shows are stories with pictures. Some of them are incredibly juvenile while some are horribly violent and then some can bring you to tears. They have the ability to teach. The lessons may not always be the right ones though. They are an entertaining exchange of thoughts like all other forms of art.
Oh, and before I end this, John Byrne drew the best looking Wolverine of all time, The Lions of Baghdad is one of the best books out there (go find it), and Maus (the story of Auschwitz as depicted by mice) will leave you in tears and anger. Take it from me - I am a Fanboy.
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