Looking in my graphic novel box I realized there was only one artist to start him with and that was THE KING, Jack Kirby. Once I told him who Kirby was and what made the Challengers of the Unknown so cool he was interested. But when he saw those 500 glorious black and white pages he was sold. I can't wait to hear what he thought of the stories after he has read them. It was the exact kind of stuff he was looking for where he didn't need to know everything about the character to enjoy them. He said that is what made some of those Marvel and DC movies hard for him to follow. I never really thought about how people who know NOTHING of those characters would take to movies about them.
I am used to talking comics with people who know as much as I do but this time I was doing all the teaching. It was awesome to educate him and I think I sent him away with some good stuff. He would find an interesting cover and ask about the character. Eventually he took some Flash and Fantastic Four and a HOWARD THE DUCK Christmas special because he thought the duck looked alot like Donald Duck. I had to tell him that Howard had the same anger issues and Donald but their lives couldn't be anymore different.
He knew of Iron Man and Wolverine so he asked if I had any of their books and when he saw that I did he he was off to the races with those guys as well.
Then he saw my 500 page black and white collection of the first 25 X-Men issues that started with Giant Sizes X-Men #1, the book that brought Wolverine and Storm and Colossus to the team. Written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byne it's the perfect primer if you want to see Wolverine's first real comic book stories. He was stoked that such a treasure was available.
I have been feeling really down lately but today, for a second, my joy for living came back. Don't worry, I am sure that by tomorrow I will be back to my old bitter self but for now it was a great experience to share all the reasons that comics are cool with someone who really has no idea of the fun he is about to experience. I thing I might have created another fan for life and that is a good thing.
At first the very idea of dealing with my massive collection was daunting but now my motivation is strong to finish what I started this summer.
2 comments:
Terrific news. Always good to run in to a kindred spirit, even if they aren't as into the material as you are. Hope your project goes great!!
Always time to go back to our Ennui or melancholy. I know that territory. Revel in the good times that come along.
Sounds like you made his day!
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