Sunday, March 13, 2016

Opinion: Comic Books

What is all the rage these days?  Comic book movies.  Well, it's been the "rage" since Bryan Singer's first X-Men movie, I suppose.  Even before then, the Blade movies with Wesley Snipes as the lead Day Walker.
In my youth, comics were looked at as a children's hobby.  A phase in adolescence that should pass once the reader learns of the opposite sex.  Yes, I learned of the opposite sex but I still read comics off and on throughout the years.  I was reading books like Richie Rich and Hot Stuff when I had moved back to America from Japan at the ripe age of 6.  I then graduated to a more sophisticated palate of Archie Comics.  I learned that teenage life might be better if I had a friend like Jughead (LOL).
We didn't have too many comic book stores when I was in my early teens.  But, I remember riding with one of my best friends (who still is to this day) on our bikes to our local comic book store.  Granted, that local store was about 5 miles one way on bike.  But, we were kids, we liked books like Groo the Wanderer and Amazing Spider-Man.  I believe my first Spider-Man comic was Amazing Spider-Man #281.
But, what changed comic books from being a geek hobby to mainstream?  Are the geeks finding their voice and saying, "It's okay to be who I am."?  Or, are the marketing departments in Hollywood movie studios saying, "This is an untapped market that can make us trillions of dollars."?  Who knows.  All I know is that is tres chic to be a geek and I'm happy to watch The Flash on TV once again.

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