Heroes

Every since I was a kid I have loved comic books. Many a day was spent living the adventures of my heroes and I always felt a little bit sorry for those who never experienced the thrill of a good graphic adventure or those who only remember comics a some dim memory of their childhood. For me they were always there to take my conciderable imagination to places others could only dream of. I always felt they were missing out on something I had the priviledge of being given the gift of. Sure a good novel can take you to other worlds but can anyone really say that seeing Lord of the Rings on the screen wasn't better than just reading the book. We all have the gift of imagination but having that head start is what really makes a story come alive. Spiderman was always a great comic book character but he never really came alive for me until Sam Raimi made the movie and brought him to life in all his web swinging glory. Hell I cried during Spiderman 2 and didn't give a shit who knew it. Aunt May's speach to Peter about why we NEED heroes; even imaginary ones is the truest purest example of my personal philosophy that has ever been expressed. It why I never cared what anyone thought of my love for the medium of comics or my belief in its value as an art form. I have spent my life studying the myriad styles and approaches; artists and writers; characters and sagas like another person may study history or mythology. I collect action figures that are primarily superheroes like museums would collects ancient greek and roman statues. I see the same beauty in the sculpt of those little pieces of plastic. So from time to time I will return to highlite some of the best of both. Since comics became too pricey to make collecting as an investment impractical I was able to find a way to keep up with the characters and their never ending adventures by downloading them off the net and I discovered that owning the copies was not as important to me as the stories themselves. I much prefer dowloading a whole miniseries or run or a character's titles. (All praise and glory to the original scanners and seeders and bless the holy bit torrent!!!) Its much more satifying to read all the chapters of the whole story at once instead of having to wait 30 days for the resolution of the cliffhanger. I was never one to delay gratification.Written and drawn by Alan Davis is by far one of the finest tales of the Fantastic Four that I have ever read and one of the best miniseries of all time. I always loved future tales that show the evolution of characters and this one is epic. The art is detailed and flawless filled with sorry and pain but also joy. The love these characters have for each other (they truly ARE a family) hasn't diminished over time its has only been strengthened by loss and separation; the things that create the strongest connections in all families. There are moments in the story where the writer creates the EXACT dialog you would want Ben to say to Johnny or Reed to say to Sue in that situation. I feels that authentic. And nothing gets me going like a story of redemption; an opportunity to fix a failure from the past with the highest stakes imaginable. Any story that leaves you catching yourself smiling at the end has done its job. Hey, this isn't Shakespere but for the past two hours I was riveted to this tale told in six issues. You get a cast of thousands with a universe at conflict juxtaposed with the personal drama of these four people and all those they have inspired with their heroism and self sacrifice. Four people who got in a rocket ship one day and never had any idea the adventure that was waiting for them. Suddenly I feel sorry for anyone who missed out on the past 45 years of the FF cause for a fanboy like me the payoffs in this story are very satisfying.