How Far Comics Have Come

I was in the book store the other day (I won't say which, but it rhymes with Narnes and Bobles), and was losing myself in the 'Graphic Novel' section (I hate that term, but that's another blog).  It dawned on me how far comics have come in the mainstream media since the 80's, when I went from being a child to a teen to an adult.

I loved comics as a kid.  My parents always had comics around the house that we got from 7-11.  They even use to get the black and white Marvel and horror mags, that I wish we still had today.  I learned to read using comics.  It was a world I could get into. 

Back then, the 'Graphic Novel' section was a few books at the beginning of the science fiction section.  Mostly it consisted of 'The Death of Captian Marvel' and maybe a reprint of a European comic.  That was it.  Every now and then something else would dribble in, I think Marvel did some other thing with the X-Men, but that was it.

Return of the Dark Knight was huge in the 80's.  And the retail book stores wanted in.  DC issued the trade containing all four issues to retail book store and people bought it in droves.  I think this happened because back then most people wouldn't go into a comic book store (they were mostly dark holes in the walls), but they saw all the news reports and TV segments on the comic and wanted to read it.  So everyone who wouldn't set foot into a comic shop got their Batman from the local mall's B. Dalton.  Then when DC issued the leather bound collection of all of Frank Miller's work on Batman, it too sold out.  Translation:  Comics can be money.

Maus gave comics something they never had, credibility.  Even if it made money, snobs everywhere would turn their nostrils to the heavens and made snide remarks about such a childish en devour.  They couldn't say that about Maus.  Sure there was great comics before Maus, but this one got thought to the high brows and snobs who dismissed comics without ever turning a page.  It could be because Maus touch on a emotional nerve in such a poetic way that it couldn't be ignored.  Here was a work so impressive that the snobs had to finally look.  Translation: Comics can be art.

So what does this mean?  Well, one, I can now sit and read comic in trade back editions while drinking overpriced hot chocolate.  I also have a wide selection from DC to Marvel to Japanese comics to artsy stuff (mostly put out by Fantagraphic) that I look at once and never touch again.

It also means that comics children can relate to have become near extinct, and the homes with piles of comics on the floor are no more.

But that's for Part Two.