The Amazing Comic Book Reader!

By DERRICK PYLE

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Standing at Kenmore Station this past week, I flipped through an issue of Uncanny X-Men from my weekly haul of comic books. The platform wasn't choked with people, so it was easy to hear myself think for once. It was also easy for me to hear the woman next to me scoff at me for flipping through the pages of my comic book.

"Aren't you a little OLD to be reading THAT?" she asked.

I looked up from my brain candy and saw a 40-something standing beside me in a suit with a skirt, sporting gelatinous cankles that oozed out of her too-high heels like super heroine's breasts tend to bulge from too-tight tops.

"No ... I'm not too old."

I continued reading. She grunted. We were done. Still, something was troubling me. I mean, I know I'm 26 and pretty well set in the gray department, but too old for comic books? Comic books are everywhere, and so are the people who appreciate them.

Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has taken his seven-season long television series to an eighth season, but has done so in comic book form. Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon helped pen the script for Spider-Man 2. Brian K. Vaughan worked for both DC and Marvel comics and is now a writer on ABC's Lost. The people who write what entertains mainstream America are also reading and writing comic books. No one's bitching about them being too old, or about those shows and movies being targeted at young, upstart whippersnappers. Shoot, Buffy won an Emmy!

I also don't think that millions of dollars in box office sales can be discounted when considering how prevalent comic books are in our culture. Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man: All have raked in huge earnings at the box office, and we're not just talking milk money from Mommy and Daddy. Mom and Pops are going to see these movies too, sometimes more than once. Iron Man alone grossed over $102 million opening weekend and Spider-Man made $114.8 million its opening weekend in 2002. It's not just parents and their young children going to see these movies. Everyone's going to see them. My father was stoked for The Dark Knight. Hell, my grandmother enjoyed Spider-Man!

So to better answer that woman's question: Maybe I like to get my superhero fix a little more often than others. Maybe that's why I pick up the pulp version. Maybe I enjoy the splashy artwork. Maybe I like the clever writing and the one-liners that only a great comic book can deliver. Maybe I like the surprise reveal you can only get when you turn a page. But there is a plainer answer to her question, and a better one: No, I'm not too old ... and neither are you.