World's Lousiest Comics

It probably comes as no surprise that I'm a great fan of comic books. A geek, if you will. I think I probably mentioned at some point how waiting for each issue of Watchmen to come out and then reading them was literally a life-changing experience for me. I used to horde my lunch money (sorry, Mom)so I'd have more money to buy comics. I bought comics right up until having a family impoverished me so much that I couldn't even afford to keep up my complete run of The Avengers.

Kidding! I'm kidding! Sort of. The comic book line was one of the first to be eliminated from the family budget, but at the time it was an easy decision because most of the comics that were out then...in my opinion...stunk. Reeked. Were awful. This happens to me every five years or so, where I read a comic that send me in such a rage that I literally quit reading comics for months or years at a time.

As my kids grew older, though, I wanted to share with them the joys of comic reading, and my son really caught the fever. I'd make frequent trips to the basement to get him stacks and stacks from "the vault". He likes the superhero books mostly, like I did when I was his age.

His interest got me buying new comics again, something I've been doing for a few years now. And initially, the old thrill was there, and I started dreaming once again of doing comic book scripts (comic moguls, take note). My artist friend Matt Smith and I keep threatening to collaborate on a graphic novel, something that I would love, love to do. All these thoughts and experiences, and the look on my son's face when we read the new issue of JSA conspired to make comics fun again.

But last week I read a comic book so stupid, so insipid, so morally vacuous my tiny little world is put in a tailspin yet again. Every so often a comic comes along that seems (again, just my opinion) to exist solely to insult the intelligence and taste of what is typically a very loyal readership. The comic was so bad that it made me angry, and worse, it made me sad. The comic was just plain disrespectful, to readers, to characters, to story.

I feel old today. I think I'll wish that comic book to the cornfield.