national comic book day

It's National Comic Book Day! I've never heard of this holiday, but I do love comics. I would have thought this day was the first Saturday in May which is Free Comic Book Day. I love that day too. Comics are the best and yes, you should be reading them if you are not.

I wanted to talk about five comics I love reading right now. I have a bunch that I love to read. Since I am one for the spandex muscle comics I'll be talking about them. I know that's not every ones cup of tea, but it's mine. I'll try and throw in some other good books too.

1. Invincible by Robert Kirkman. This is the best monthly comic book out there. Invincible follows Mark Grayson on his adventures. The twist and turns of Invincible will totally keep you reading the comic. Mark grows from a high school kid with no powers to one of the most powerful superheroes on Earth. He deals with every day situations and with the morale decisions he has to make as a superhero. Should he kill villains? Should he work for the government, even if they're a little corrupt? His decisions will effect society he lives in. I love the personal drama Mark goes through with his family life. Everything is being thrown left and right as Mark grows up.

2. The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott. I'm a huge Spider-Man fan. I've loved Spider-Man for so many years, I can't count them. The most current story going on in the Amazing Spider-Man in Spider-Island. Normal people are getting spider powers. They can webswing and stick to walls. Mayor Jameson doesn't like this. The world see this as a epidemic. Can Spider-Man protect New York when he's now just like everyone else? Slott has been plotting Spider-Man for about a year now. There has been a lot of changes in the last few years and this Spider-Man is ready for action. For once most things are coming up good for Peter Parker.

3. American Vampire by Scott Snyder and Steven King. This is a new comic I've been reading from Vertigo Comics. I for one thought vampires were played out. Twilight made me feel that way. This comic has no superheroes. I'm not even sure if there's a hero in the book. The vampires in this book are evil. They suck blood and murder humans for fun. They're not about finding love and sparkling. They are about killing. One of the interesting things going on in this book is that each line of vampires has different powers and weakness. The old European vampires are the classics, the ones we all know. The American vampires are new, the story starts with following the first one, Skinner. He is a bad cowboy for the 1800's. Snyder and King both write different sections of the stories and weave the magically evilness of them. If you like good vampire stories this is an excellent one.

4. Gladstone's School for World Conquerors by Mark Andrew Smith. It's the Hogwarts for super villains. That alone should say enough. If you're a super villain you send your kids to this school to learn to use their evil powers and fight superheroes. Or do they? There's an evil mystery behind the school and the super community. What is that secret? This all ages book is amazing. It will grab your attention and make you want more and more.

5. 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago. If you like baseball this is a great comic. It tell the true story of Roberto Clemente. How he was from Puerto Rico and made it all the way to the majors. It's a great story and I think everyone should read it.

Okay there's five comics I love right now. Now you all need to get up and go find a comic you'll like to read. You can check them out from your local library if you want too. It'll make your life better. Trust me.

comic junkie

I love comics and I can’t get enough of them. I don’t just like the spandex heroes jumping building from building either. I really enjoy independent comics, which I know can be superheroes, but at the same time a lot of them are not. I have been reading this one webcomic by Jon Adams called Truth Serum. This comic is a satire on world viewed through really bad heroes. These heroes never do really any good, which makes it even funnier. I was first exposed to Truth Serum when I bought one of the graphic novels about three years ago. This graphic novel was written before the web comic came out. Then recently I bought a new graphic novel. This one took the events of Bush presidency and showed how some of ideas were not the best. Comics are the best. They can look at anything and make statements about them that other might not be able to make. For one most people don’t care about comics, so they get away with a lot of things these days, since they got freedom of speech again. They just got that back in the late nineties. The major two at least did, the small companies never bowed down to the illegal sanctions of the government. I go off in so many tangents it’s not funny. I’m just an odd ball at times. One comic I read this year that was amazing is Satchel Paige Striking out Jim Crow. This comic is a view of how Satchel Paige was able to play baseball with white people viewed through the eyes of another player was forced into retirement from an injury. Of all the comics I’ve read this year, I would say this is the best. It’s a true story about a great man that many people might not know. Plus who doesn’t love a baseball comic? They don’t make many of them.


Comics are a medium that are not explored enough in the US. They can be so many different things. They don’t just have to be about superheroes fighting supervillains. They can be educational tools. If I wanted to teach someone something I would think that comics could have a powerful source to do that. In other countries comics are more than just entertainment. In Japan they have history comics. One of them that I read about was a comic about the invention of noodles in a cup. A small thing I know, but who would want to read about it when you have comic that talks about it. All I am saying is that comics need to be embraced more. I might not be the best source for this, being a comic junkie myself. It’s like asking a crack addict if crack is good for them. I would say my comic addiction is as bad being a crack addict, just ask my parents or wife. I have so many comics and spent thousands of dollars on them. I still wouldn’t want them to give them up. Comics are the best. I made my points, go read comics.

For your enjoiment an ed the business warrior sketch: