Comic books 101

I've been sucked into comic books.

And I don't mean graphic novels. I mean straight up Wonder Woman, Batman, and X-Men (I don't really care about Superman).

After a painful reading of a new Wonder Woman saga, I knew I needed to find someone who knew what they were talking about (not me), so it wouldn't happen again.

And so, on a lovely Sunday morning, I popped into my local comic book store.

And then, my lovely female guide took me on a trip around the store and through series after series.

You know I took notes.

First, I asked for her favorites.

She led me to Batman: Year One, which I ended up buying. There was some talk of Year One being the gritty new Batman we know and love. We even discussed how the Bat is a big moody-pants.

I said blech to Superman and so she showed me Invincible which is about Superman's son and involves Superman being kind of evil. Son vs. father? Sounds a lot like The Runaways to me. Which she has read, and I started to fall in love with her because she didn't hate on my for having a guilty pleasure read which involves raptors.

She told me I have to read the Sandman series. Which, okay, Gaiman is cool, but it looked a little violent for my liking.

Also on my if-y pile was The Goon. I'm just wondering if I care about "skunk-apes," although I'm definitely on board with mad scientists.

We discussed Skim (loved it), and Asterios Polyp (she loved it, I wanted to love it but didn't), Joss Whedon (Buffy creator), and on and on into comic bliss.

Then we perused Y: The Last Man where there is only one male mammal left on the planet. Oh snap. My comic instructor let me know that it isn't man hating at all, it's an examination of what it would be like. I've tried reading The Last Man, but can never find the beginning of the series at the library.

We were getting into my territory: gender issues.

Which brings us to Wonder Woman and her truth lasso.

I said I was interested in taking a look at WW historically. You know, back in the day when it was all: Wonder Woman, get in the kitchen and save the world!

To keep me from getting righteously angry at history, my guide veered me toward Alan Moore's Promethea series (a retelling of the WW story, only not patronizing). I would have bought it on the spot, but was persuaded to use the library (as the first of the collection wasn't in the store).

I went to the library today and checked out books 1-4.

Happy.

I might start hanging out at the comic book store.

Before I head to Comic-Con, I need to read more. First up, the other half of my book club duo and I are going to read both original WW comics and Promethea (to cleanse the gender palate).

Bring it on Amazons.