When was the last you read a good Book?

I've read my fair share of books growing up. Anything in the school library to (you guessed it) comic books. As you may know, I've read comics by the dozen which played a role in my individual growth but I had to "grow up" and sell my comic book collection. Some time later, my dad begged the question: "When was the last time you've read a good book?"

For starters I read the likes of R.L. Stine to Edgar Allen Poe.*

Being fresh out of high school and retired from comics, I was curious about any authors that are very good. Reading makes you curious in my opinion. Seeing everything in an old Waldenbooks store at the ol' Crossroads Mall I found some books in the genre I'm mostly familiar with which is fantasy and horror, and I've discovered authors that piqued my interest.

Greywalker by Kat Richardson- Of all reasons for picking up this book was the concept and title of Richardson's book. A small-time PI beaten and left for dead for only a couple of minutes and comes back as a gap between our world and the next. Also I'm a fan of gumshoe stories thanks to TV shows like CSI: Miami and Law & Order.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs-I researched Briggs' writing credentials in 2006 and saw this one. Being curious about how good she is I decided to check it out and the book that followed which is Blood Bound. They both were good and the main character became one of my favorites in the contemporary fantasy genre. I liked the characters and the idea of the series since then.





Nightlife by Rob Thurman-Now when I came across the title, my first impression was a male protagonist that's some kind of otherworldly being dealing with New York's "other" residents. Thurman delivered a superb tale of action with two brothers that's in the spirit of Supernatural. The plot, Cal's voice and his supporting cast kept me all the way to the end. Definitely worth picking up!










Well, that's all the good books I enjoyed. I could go on...but my library's stacked to high heaven with authors I'm waiting to explore.

So friends, when was the last time you read a book that was really good?

*Disclaimer: I didn't know about Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" until I watched The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror when I was a kid. The poem was narrated by none other than James Earl Jones. At thirteen I found Poe's collection of poetry and short fiction at the library in middle school.

Why I write for Comics?

A blog from a Writing Challenge compadre gave out a clear definite reason why she writes the genre she loves had got me to thinking about the reasons I'm writing for comics. I've asked myself why for a while and let me tell you there's no easy answer. I felt that everybody's got a reason for writing for the genres they represent as I struggled to find mine. Then I realized they've been a part of me from the very beginning.

I didn't choose comics; comics chose me.

 Comics & graphic novels were an instrumental part of my growth as a person. They showed me the fantastical world of fantasy like any book I've read growing up. Granted it was the artwork of some best names out in the industry like Mark Bagley or Ming Doyle. Recalling The Death of Superman being my "first" comic, I was mostly excited because of the art by Dan Jurgens. Not only that my mom would read it to me whenever I asked her to.

As a boy I even tried to draw like the artists in the comics.

Going into my early teens, I had Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives collected as a TPB (trade paperback) and Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death before going my lone quest to find any comics store in my area. From middle school to almost throughout high school I collect what came out at the time and back issues until my retirement at 19.

 Sometime in my twenties, I decided to expand my writing to novels and that didn't work out so great because I don't have a handle on prose despite how much I've read it. Basically I didn't have the patience to write 300 pages worth of words to save my life. Once I wrote a graphic novel just out of nowhere, I saw where I can expand myself creatively by writing for comics. Of course it was hard. But nonetheless I had fun creating something of my own imaginative mind. It's all clear that comic books have never left me at all.

Comics are my definition of who I am.








 

Working with Established Characters. | Critique Circle

Working with Established Characters. | Critique Circle: Alrighty, boys and girls! Are you looking to put in your writing into comic books? If you are, here's a little heads up: When you're writing for comics and graphic novels, you'll be appointed with established characters at one point or ano...

The Final Countdown!

With five weeks remaining in the spring semester, I'm counting the days, the hours, and the minutes as I do plow through all my homework. Which is fitting for Europe's "Final Countdown" because the clock is ticking.

Right now I'm working on a psychology project which applies to my life that I hold dear to my heart. Bullying. Like any person around I know how it can affect people in the long run. I've been on the receiving end of the things bullies do. Name calling, harassment, the ridicule. Everything.

I think about the last time I was bullied everyday and the one moment my peers stepped in and said that's enough. To this day, I'm still very grateful for the intervention.

What's heartbreaking about the subject is how kids are taking their own lives because of school bullying and how it's spread to the world wide web. Bullies have become faceless and it's almost impossible to stop them.

These recent stats show how much the bullying epidemic has grown. Terrible, right? You never know who's child is being tormented at school or the poor joe who's new to the job that's getting horrendous emails, or better yet, someone who carries the scars from the experience.

If there's anything my bullying experience taught me is that someone out there cares. No one should suffer alone. Period.






 

Comics as a part of Literature

As a comic book fan, I enjoy the visual art work of the comic when I was a boy. That I owe to my mother when she bought me a copy of The Death of Superman and the magic of reading comics had stuck with me ever since.

I grew up not realizing their literary merits as I collected them throughout my youth. On the other hand, my vocabulary had increased as I read them by the dozen. Through them I learned about various real life elements such as AIDS, addiction, and racism. In my opinion, comics are a part of literature because they teach reading and expand the minds of readers.

Another aspect I wanted to touch on are the myths surrounding comics and one of them being "just for boys." For me comics can be for girls as well and they can share the magic of reading them with boys and they can bring together people of all races.  

*In a research poll I conducted, one person said that comics have become an ever evolving medium the last fifty years, moving towards stories about the complex relationships and conflicts rather than the "powers" the characters have. Another statement pointed out it depends on the comic. Prolific titles and some comic books that pander cliches and tropes to intended audiences. Poll results are 92 percent agree with comics being a part of literature to 8 percent of those who disagree. 

*Also recognition from respectable outlets as the National Book Foundation, Time Magazine, Booklist and Publishers Weekly have proven the merit of comics and graphics novels as a literary form. In 1982, Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibbons won the Hugo Award (Other forms category). Next in line was Art Spiegelman winning the Pulitzer Prize for Maus in 1992 and mainstream acceptance comics and graphic novels has grown. 

*According to an article by Christopher Murray, they have achieved a hard-fought for degree of critical respectability since the "graphic novel" boom of the mid-1980's. Maus, Fun House, and Palestine have been recognized as works of art and literature, and in recent years they have crept into university reading lists worldwide, and across a range of disciplines, from literature courses to history and media studies. Dundee University's master programme in comics studies combines the academic study of comics with practical assessments, allowing students to create comics as well as research them. Claims such as universities are "dumbing down" in order to recruit more widely and comics being "just for kids" stand in the way. 

The value in comics have been undervalued for so long, it's easy to write them off as "just for kids." But let's not forget the bright minds in comics like Will Eisner and Dwayne McDuffie who have made their stamp in the field telling stories about the world around us through visual story telling that touched the lives of anyone who picked up a comic book. For me, it's not just a book with cool art work it's one of the greatest works of literary art in history.

*Online research

*www.halloweencomicfest.com

*Christopher Murray “Comics studies has been undervalued for too long: We’re fighting to Change that.” The Guardian.com Feb. 2015