Comic books have developed from throwaway stories into an American icon. Over the years, they went from simple pulp fiction to campy silliness and finally into legitimate literature. Groundbreaking works such as Watchmen showed the medium’s versatility and demonstrated to the world that comics can be viewed through the same critical lens as film and prose.
I love comic books for many, many reasons. While I enjoy stand-alone stories like Watchmen and Y: The Last Man, I particularly love the mainstream superheroes that have become American icons, such as my personal favorite, the Incredible Hulk. This section features my thoughts on comic books and their related media, combining nerdy rants with history lessons on some of America’s most enduring characters.
- Crowning Moments of Awesome: Examining my favorite moments in comics.
- Superhero Evolutions: An exploration of individual heroes and how they evolved in both look and style over the years.
- The Golden Age Superman was a Badass Vigilante: The original Superman simply had no time for bullshit.
- ThunderCats, No!: ThunderCats: The Return gives us a lesson on how not to handle a popular children’s franchise.
- The Best Plot Twist that Never Happened: A look at one of my favorite readings of All-Star Superman.
- Captain America Punching Hitler was Once Controversial: How Jack Kirby and Joe Simon bucked a pro-Nazi trend in America with Captain America.
- Green Lantern in “The Leap Year Menace!”: Hal Jordan once almost caused a nuclear catastrophe in an attempt to get out of a marriage proposal.
- My Favorite Comics, Sans Superheroes: My favorite books to read where there’s nary a spandex-clad crimefighter in sight.
- The Original Death of Superman: When Lex Luthor killed the Man of Steel.
- Successes from the New 52: DC’s 2011 reboot bombed, but it still left a few gems behind in its wake.
- Superman’s Secret Identity: Glasses and a necktie work better than you think.
- When Superman Defeated the KKK: Superman showcased how powerful media and entertainment can be when he took on the Ku Klux Klan.
Image: Marvel Comics
