My dear daughter,
I have a lot of comic books, but they are mostly stored at your grandma’s.
I started collecting when I was 11. Until I was 18 I read and collected everything Marvel published in Brazil. We also had a few American special editions we bought at Comix, a local comic book store. My father brought me some European comics as well.
I bought some DC comics stuff every now and then and a few graphic novels from publishers outside of the American mainstream.
At some point I had a Marvel subscription, they delivered around 8 titles every month.
I think I started collecting because pre-adolescents are constantly seeking an identity. I already enjoyed super heroes from videogames. It is a geek thing and I suppose I have always been a geek.
In a later moment I came to realize it was truly the modern mythology. It was an art form in its own right, it was part of the History of the 20th century. It’s a language which trades constantly with cinema, because they both tell stories with dialogues and images.
After college I slowly orbited away from mainstream comics to graphic novels, but I had a hardcore manga phase in the meantime.
Countries like the USA, France, Italy and Japan have a strong comics tradition. Manga is a universe of its own and they are as popular as TV in Japan.
I rarely buy serialized stuff now. I tried reading comics online for a time, but it’s hard to get used to it. It’s as if the art loses one of its dimensions. The last series I read were The Walking Dead, Hellboy and Fables. I’m still reading Saga and The Boys, by Garth Ennis. In the manga field, I’m still reading Vagabond, which depicts the life of Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most famous Samurai of feudal Japan. Actually, he is from the decline of the feudal era. He lived during the 1600’s – Tokugawa Era.
The best comic books I have ever read are Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller, and Preacher, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.
You will inherit many Alan Moore comics from me. I suppose he is still the best comic book writer alive. Watchmen is the only graphic novel to appear in Time’s list of 100 best novels, to this day.
Love,
Dad
Aspergers Dad 