Imagine me as Rod Serling with a Black Country accent for a minute, and….Picture if you will a young boy in the 1970s. He is sat in front of a Calor gas fire, wearing obnoxious 70s PJs, eating breakfast and reading that days comic. Around him, his mother prepares for another day and his father shouts goodbye as he heads out to work. For the time it takes to read a comic the boy is transported to other worlds, fights the Japanese in WW2, menaces Walter with Dennis. The monotony of school life is forgotten and a day of adventure beckons.
Those warm, rose tinted memories are, I believe, a big reason for my return to and increased enjoyment of reading comics. Even now, before I head out to work each day, I allow time to sit eat breakfast and drink a coffee, while reading my latest comic. Obviously some things have changed, it's more likely to be read on a tablet now and not the old bog roll paper of the 70s with the family name scrawled on the top of the front page. But what hasn't changed is the ability for the comic to transport me away from, and set me up for, the day ahead.
I enjoy a bit of reminiscent reading and going through the collections from 2000AD, or a Warlord annual. But my favourite thing is discovering something new and being blown away by it. As I had a 30 year hiatus from comic reading, something new to me can be, for instance, Watchmen or Garth Ennis' Punisher run. Both of which I absolutely loved and was actually blown away by.
My most recent discovery, made during lockdown, was The Walking Dead. I have watched every episode of the TV series, even the shonky seasons, and kept the faith. However I'd never so much as looked at a TWD comic. Then I saw a Humble Bundle offer of the entire series of digital trades with even the FCBD issue and the 'Here's Negan' one shot all for a minimum donation/cost of just £15.
That was easily some of the best money I've spent on comics! I am a massive Stephen King fan and one of the things I really enjoy about his work is the characters he breathes life into with his writing. For me Robert Kirkman did the same with The Walking Dead comics, from page one I felt that I was at home and sharing that zombie infested world with Rick, Shane, Lori and the rest of his cast.
I was amazed by the amount of dialogue that Kirkman would get into a page or even a panel and it never felt too much. I feel for Charlie Adlard trying to set out panels to fit the action and the dialogue but he did and in beautiful black and white style too. His portrayal of everything from grotesque violence to grief stricken characters was spot on throughout with some beautiful splash pages for good measure.
So, I made TWD my breakfast reading and every morning I woke up looking forward to finding out what happened next. I was really strict with myself and didn't read it at other time of the day as I wanted to drip feed the enjoyment and stretch out the pleasure. A few days ago it all came to an end though, much like lockdown.
I felt genuinely bereft, it was an emotional ending and, I felt, beautifully tied up too. Now I have that empty feeling like when I've finished a King epic, such as The Stand. I know how this goes though, I'll peck at a few titles raiding Comihaus and some digital content from Comixology and then a new infatuation will come along.
I maybe won't be jumping on my Grifter and pretending to be Judge Dredd patrolling the big Meg, but happily comics and great storytelling can still add some adventure and distraction to my daily life.
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