Comics are for kids…

Graphic novels are comic book issues in a numerical run, bound into a collection covering a story arc. Think of them like this, the Eastenders omnibus you watch on a Sunday, while hungover (best excuse for watching soaps, and the only acceptable time – Peggy still owns the Queen Vic right??) It isn’t a Eastenders movie but it’s cut so it seems like one big continuous episode.. that’s what graphic novels are to comic books. By extension they are still comics, some fans will get a little snobby claiming they are aimed at adults or a more mature audience, but they are the same. It is in this snapshot which explains the dilemma of reading graphic novels, feeling the need to explain or justify it. Graphic novels are without adverts, printed in a higher finish of paper, and either paperback or hardbook bound and more expensive. Contrastingly comic books are cheaper grade paper with sometimes half to a third of the pages eaten up by adverts, fairly cheap, and no fancy binding, so there is a clear difference, hence the snobbery and more adult ‘look’ of graphic novels.

Growing up from a young age I’ve always read comics, starting at around age 5 with the X-men. I remember this because my mum used to take me into the local newsagents once a week when I first started primary school. Eventually I got a subscription, and I used to be excited like mad when I got home and seen that browny/yellow envelope lying on my bed. I even started knowing which day of the week it was, just because I could not wait, and counted the days. Funny thing was I could not really read them, there was a ton of text in them while lots of complex and long words were used. In school at the time, for homework they were getting me to read Biff, Chip and Kipper. Containing probably a grand total of 10 words a page. Basically 3 kid siblings and their dog Floppy, who had wild fun adventures such as: Fun at the Farm, Picnic Time and Going to the Dentist etc. I’m sure you can appreciate how bland this would seem, when at the same time I was looking at pictures in comics at the time of Wolverine chopping Sentinels into pieces with his Adamantium claws like they were going out of fashion. Over time I was able to start reading what was going on, words I’d learned in Biff, Chip and Kipper were also in the X-men comics. The other words I just sort of guessed what they were, coupled with the drawings of what was taking place meant I could follow roughly what was happening, without the exact details. Later as I passed through primary years I learned more on the way of pronunciation and phonetics of words I was coming across in the comics. I also used to constantly draw X-men and had loads of pictures of them stuck up on my bedroom wall, and in class at school. Later as the years passed by a bit more, I graduated onto Spider-man (more about him later) where the comic bug really bit (excuse the pun), and my dad started to take me to Forbidden Planet in town.

So from those early years I got a lot. I learned how to accurately tell how long a week was, to be excited but also how to be patient. How to read at a level more advanced than my age as well as reading something I found incredibly interesting. I also stretched my vocabulary and helped exercise that area of my brain involved with speech. My hand eye coordination was improved as I sat and looked at the comics while drawing the characters from the pages onto paper, as well as my ability to draw from a young age. Later as I moved onto Spider-man I learned a lot as well, his comics always had a science element to them. He mostly always used his brains to figure out how to defeat bad guys, as often they would be stronger or more ruthless than him. As I grew older I continued to read Spider-man well into my teens, while other superheroes like the X-men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man etc came and went. Spider-man taught me a lot about life, he wasn’t some guy who lived with a team of other powerful people in a big mansion bankrolled by a baldy guy reading minds in a wheelchair. He wasn’t part of some foursome who went to space then came back with amazing powers, he didn’t get angry, turn green and become insanely strong. He was just an orphan brought up by his aunt and uncle, who when a teenager got bit by a radioactive spider, woke up the next day with powers, tried to use them to make money, and was too arrogant to stop a thief who then shot and murdered his uncle. With great power comes great responsibility. He then was always spending his days trying to hide his secret identity, finish school, survive puberty, get a date for prom, look after his lonely old aunt and make something of himself, all the while carrying a bag of issues around in his head that he couldn’t really talk to anyone about. The irony is we can all see a little of ourselves in Spiderman, empathising with him at points as we’ve all been there at some point in our lives.

That’s what makes comics great, they are escapism but also realism in equal measure. As I grew up lots of things happened in my personal life, and I could use comics to escape, but also (cheesy I know) find some sort of reassurance that I wasn’t alone and even my favourite superheroes had it tough too. They had people close to them die, their personal relationships broke down, were too nervous to talk to the girl they liked, had hopes and fears, felt awkward about being a teenager, they were ‘real’ people with ‘real’ people issues between saving the planet from an alien invasion.

Most people who read comics, or graphic novels will tell you a similar story, or have reasons why they like to read them. They do deal with complex issues, shocking things happen to characters, some return in dramatic fashion after being long thought dead for years, issues end on cliff hangers, plot twists happen that you don’t see coming, insignificant events have major impacts later, mistakes are made, love grows and dies between characters, all played out with sometimes incredible artwork depicting epic battles, faces drawn with clear emotion ‘written’ on them, scenes which could be framed and hung as modern art. Now tell me how any of the above, isn’t something you also get playing videogames, watching movies, reading books, listening to music, or watching TV shows. Some of the best comic books arcs are written like a season of Game of Thrones or Soprano’s, have similar shock value as the ‘Who shot Phil Mitchell’ storyline in Eastenders, or stay long in the mind like a good book or videogame.

These arcs, as previously stated are collected into graphic novels. Some are so excellently executed in vision and writing, they end up on the New York Times bestsellers list, and rub shoulders with actual novels, competing in the same categories for accolades. Vertigo’s: The Watchmen, DC’s: Hush, Marvel’s: Marvels, DC’s Batman: The Killing Joke, have all appeared on these lists receiving widespread acclaim and praise from the wider community, beyond just comic book enthusiasts.

Some of them have also had themselves turned into movies (heard of the The Avengers, X-men, Superman, Batman etc?), with some of the more popular graphic novel story arcs forming the basis of these movies. Captain America: Civil War is often highlighted as a touch stone moment in superhero movies, as it was arguably the first to really go beyond mainstream. It was based loosely on a graphic novel of the same name, which in 2006 shook the marvel to its core and had long lasting ramifications for all characters which lasted for years, with some impacts still felt today in storylines. The Dark Knight Rises, although not in name, is loosely based on the Knightfall arc from 1993, in which Bane slowly over months in the comics wears him down, and on a psychological levels taunts him, not revealing himself in his batcave, beating him senseless and breaking his back. The 2nd half of that movie then goes on to loosely adapt another graphic novel of Batman called No Man’s Land, in which after a huge earthquake destroys Gotham and releases all of the inmates from jail, the city descends into anarchy and the American government abandons it walling it off, Batman vows to continue fighting crime and helps return the city to what it was. Many other big screen adaptations are based on graphic novels, or have their plot threads woven into a larger story involving said character(s) ie Infinty War and Endgame (all Marvel movies have small nods and easter eggs which slowly fleshed out and built towards these 2 movies over a decade, and 20 separate movies). Also more often than not some of them are used as source material to get into character, and most actors assuming the role will be given certain volumes to read if a director is looking for a certain aspect of the character to be displayed on screen.

We wouldn’t have these summer blockbusters if not for comics

On the topic of Hollywood and celebrity, comics do have a huge number of fans. Nicholas Cage, who played Ghost Rider in the early 00s flops (sorry its true they were terrible), took his acting surname from the Afro-American Marvel character Luke Cage. He also has a large collection of rare comics, named his son after Supermans real name, Kal-El and last year voiced Spiderman Noir in the animated movie, Into the Spiderverse (definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it!) Eminem is another huge fan, taking to twitter to voice his anger at The Punisher being cancelled on Netflix, he too has a huge collection of rare comics, grew up wanting to become a comic book artist, and actually appeared in a few issues of The Punisher comic book. The list goes on, from Elvis to Olivia Munn, to Maisie Williams, Ryan Reynolds and Henry Cavill. This is not to mention rappers, who also cite characters or comic book lore or references in songs, from Ghostfave Killah, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky, Method Man and Drake to name but a few.

For all the above reasons, it’s easy to see why sometimes people get a little defensive over graphic novels and comics in general. Often to outsiders they are seen as being childish and not taken very seriously as an art or media form. They are looked at in the same way early child books are, that the stories revolve around the classic, bad guy want to take over the world, the hero(s) take him down with a few large ‘Ka-Pows’ and the day, and world is saved all over again. But the irony is they are more than this, often more complex and interestingly layered than those early school books, and if I’m being honest most stuff on tv shows these days. To those who do read them, they are a source of inspiration, emotional connection, escapism, enjoyment, shock and in most cases fun, which again is often why people do get defensive over them, it’s because they mean so much to them. We’ve all felt that frustration, or having our backs up feeling when someone has a dig or negative comment on something that we do or have as a pastime. It’s human nature after all – which ironically is what comics often show off in all its varied degrees and spectrum of difference. So the next time you’re bored or want to try reading something different, don’t dismiss those graphic novels as being just for kids!

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