Comic Book Summer

I'm not really that much of a comic book guy. Well, I was. Then I wasn't. Maybe I am again.

I read every comic I saw when I was a kid--Richie Rich, Donald Duck, Sgt. Rock, Superman, L'il Hot Stuff, Kid Colt, Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four--whatever we owned or could borrow. Once a neighbor kid gave us a bunch of his comics--50? 100?--and that summer still looms large in my memory. It was a magical time, in an almost literal way. My brothers and I read every one of those comic books, then read them all again.

As an adult, I tried a few times to find comics I enjoyed, which led me to Hellboy and a few other graphic novels, but found myself priced out of keeping up on favorite comics. However, the iPad recently (last summer, for me) opened up a new way to read, and I rediscovered the pleasure of comics. They're beautiful on the iPad screen, and still just as portable. Easy to buy, easy to read, easy to carry. I like it, and so do a lot of other people.

Published by Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

This summer, my son and I went to Phoenix Comicon for the first time. Wow. It was not only much bigger than I expected, it had a lot more amazing art and creativity than I expected. Especially impressive were the independent artists and publishers, who I plan to note on these pages from time to time.

In addition, the movies seem to be all about comic book characters. With a couple of hits already, and at least one more to come, it's looking pretty good for the folks who have the imagination to create amazing worlds and fantastic characters.

It feels a lot like that summer, some 40 years ago, when we first looked at that pile of new-to-us comics and felt like something magical had come into our lives...