# Do you, or did you, read comics as an adult? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2016, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635 "2016-04-09T11:47:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/81 "2016-04-12T00:51:43Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > The only comics I ever read are in the New Yorker. That, and would re-reading Daniel Clowes’s “A Velvet Glove Cast in Iron” late at night (Volcano-vaping half my body weight in herb) count, or is that too “graphic novel-ly”? (a term, btw, that Mr. Clowse, himself, for some reason, despises) (the noun version, that is - not my quite brilliantly conceived adjective) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/82 "2016-04-12T02:59:16Z")
I like the term Graphic Novel. After decades of being looked down on for being less than literature, it’s a reminder that a comic is a short\*\*\* novel, with the “graphic” being a bonus. An extra dimension in storytelling. I’ve heard/overheard many people discussing or buying “Graphic Novels” who wouldn’t sound as enthused about reading “comic books”. Ditto for “Anime” vs “cartoons”. \*I stopped at a coffee joint on the way to work and read an entire book in 20 minutes _(JLA #106)._ Let’s see _you_ do that, Jane Austen fanboys. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/83 "2016-04-12T03:26:50Z")
Well, of course. Why wouldn’t I be reading them? If it’s well written and the artwork does a great job of storytelling then of course I read them. Drawn storytelling books **have** no age or age limit. And as I read through many of the posts I would hope that in this day and age that the term _comic book_ doesn’t automatically mean _super heroes_. I can read a copy of Spider-Man, then an issue of Love & Rockets and switch to a Carl Barks Scrooge McDuck comic. Why not? If it’s done well, you can read and enjoy anything. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/84 "2016-04-12T05:25:58Z")
I still read the occasional graphic novel, I’m in my 30s. I read the monthlies growing up but there is too much stuff to keep up with now-a-days. So If I read about a good story or it’s an author I like I’ll wait till it’s complete and on GN form and then I pick it up and read. I just finished **Sandman: Overture** , a prequel to the Sandman comics of the 90s. I bought the comic books with the variant covers as it was being released but I hate starting a story and having to wait a year or more to finish it so when it was done and came out in hard back I bought that too and that’s what I just finished. Classic Sandman. Gaimans’ imagination and enormity of the character hasn’t waned. Great short story with no filler. Next up is Clive Barkers’ **Next Testament** about how the god of the old testament is released from his prison and back to old testament form. The story seems short in the three volumes but the premise is intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/85 "2016-04-12T10:27:37Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > The only problem I see with that is that eventually you change the character so much that they no longer seem to be the same character. > > Your mention of Lois vs. Wonder Woman as Superman’s love interest, for example. Lois Lane was “Superman’s Girl Friend” for virtually all of the 75 years that Superman has existed (except for, that is, when she was actually Superman’s wife). Wonder Woman never became a love interest until the New 52, and I found that very disappointing; I really thought some writer who started as a fanboy was trying to fulfill an adolescent fantasy. More recently, Superman lost his powers. He was also given a new power, some sort of energy burst that stripped him of his other powers for a time after using them. My reaction to all of this has been, yeah, this is some sort of superhero story, but it’s not Superman. Superman has a defined canon; I think one needs to be very careful about how and to what extent one changes it lest he lose the essence of the character. It can be done. John Byrne did an excellent job of tweaking the Superman character in 1985. But the New 52 changes, in my opinion, have been a disaster, and have left me wondering if I even want to continue reading the series. Let’s just say I’m hanging a lot on how well the upcoming \*Rebirth \*reboot is handled. > > It’s similar with Batman. For the umpteenth time, Bruce Wayne has either disappeared or apparently died, and someone else has become Batman for a while. This time it’s Jim Gordon, who has suddenly become young enough to take on the cowl (though they have said in the comic that he is 46, and I find it hard to imagine many 46-year-olds who are in the sort of shape to do what Batman does, even if they do have a mechanical robot suit). Again, it’s some kind of superhero story, but for me, it’s not Batman. Write the stories about a police commissioner turned caped crusader if you must, but don’t call them Batman, because that’s not who Batman is. As with Superman, there’s a defined canon out there - what’s wrong with just writing good stories within that canon? If you have a way-out idea about a character who is significantly different, either make it a different character, or, if it fits, write an “Imaginary/Elseworlds/What If” kind of story, in which you are able to explore your idea with the established character, but outside of the established canon. > > Maybe I’m just old and cranky, but if I read a Superman or a Batman story, I want to recognize the character. I don’t mind them replacing the character with a different version, for example X-23 has become the new Wolverine now that the original is dead. The problem is that these things never last or develop and sooner or later they will revert to their original state. It is part of the problem of the constantly shifting timescales in comic books. No one really ages and any character development can be undone by either trying to tie in with the latest movie or editorial whim. It would be nice to see a situation where characters do stay dead and the replacements are allowed to grow into the role. Sadly I can’t see this happening with the big players. IIRC Cerebus the Aardvark did have a planned length of run and the characters did change and die as the series progressed. Whether this was commercially successful I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/86 "2016-04-12T15:18:09Z")
I read Howard the Duck (“trapped in a world he never made!”) in my early to mid 20s, up until they changed the artwork in ~1978 to make Howard look less like Donald Duck, apparently in response to a threat of legal action from Disney. (Did anyone outside of Disney’s lawyers think HtD looked enough like Donald for there to be an infringement of copyright or trademark?) The result was that Howard didn’t look like Howard anymore, so I stopped reading. And the movie totally sucked too. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/87 "2016-04-12T16:05:34Z")
I tried. I never really read comics as a child, and tried as an adult. I swear, I tried about 40 different books, different genres, different mediums and styles. But they were all universally boring. I found myself getting irritated by how few words there were on any given page and how short the stories were, and kept paging past the art to read the story - kind of the point of a comic book is the art! It just didn’t grab me. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/88 "2016-04-12T17:01:54Z")
Never really got into the DC-class material as a young-un, but then we came across a publication called _Heavy Metal_ which was largely a vehicle for French artists. It was darn good stuff (ask **John DiFool** ), basically good art with captions. And, of course, the classic _Asterix and …_ series. After _Heavy Metal_ seemed to fade away, mostly lost interest. Mom recently gave me a graphic novel thing, _Ms. Marvel_, about a teenage Muslim girl superhero. The story and artwork are nice and edgy. The mainstream DC-type stuff always seem bland and repetitive to me. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/89 "2016-04-12T18:14:38Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > _Asterix and …_ series. I wasn’t introduced to Asterix until I was 20. The early works were hilarious; those published after Rene Goscinny died, not so much. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of Bowdlerization of the books in recent years, all in the name of Political Correctness. Yeccch! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/90 "2016-04-12T18:21:21Z")
Comic books, or comic strips? Not that it matters, as I read both, well into my 50s. In fact, except for a few Archie comics in my youth, I didn’t get into comic books until Simpsons comics came out 25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/91 "2016-04-12T18:26:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I wasn’t introduced to Asterix until I was 20. The early works were hilarious; those published after Rene Goscinny died, not so much. > > Unfortunately, there has been a lot of Bowdlerization of the books in recent years, all in the name of Political Correctness. Yeccch! :mad: He died just as they had started running it as a daily strip in the local paper. Lamentably, the paper had to call the druid “Readymix” because the name “Getafix” from the books violated their Hayes Code. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/92 "2016-04-13T22:08:00Z")
i started reading comics in college, so depending on how you define “adult”, I may have _only_ read comics as an adult. I liked the artform as a medium, but only a limited amount of the material I could find appealed to me. Then much later I discovered manga (Japanese comics), and especially girls’ and women’s manga, and since then my consumption of Western comics has dropped to nearly zero even as my _overall_ comics consumption has skyrocketed. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/93 "2016-04-13T22:21:10Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Next up is Clive Barkers’ **Next Testament** about how the god of the old testament is released from his prison and back to old testament form. The story seems short in the three volumes but the premise is intriguing. Yeah, this can be skipped. Great premise ruined by a mediocre story. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/94 "2016-04-14T12:13:42Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > He died just as they had started running it as a daily strip in the local paper. Lamentably, the paper had to call the druid “Readymix” because the name “Getafix” from the books violated their Hayes Code. I never understood the name “Getafix” – it’s from the British editions, and it makes the Druid sound like a Drug Pusher. In the original French he’s **Panoramix** , which they should have kept for the translations. By the way, if you like the books (I’ve been a big fan since the 1960s), I highly recommend the film **asterix and the Vikings**. There have been several movie adaptations over the years. The early cartoons were very disappointing limited animation. They did a couple of live-action adaptations (with Gerard Depardieu as Obelix!) that were better than you’d think, but the 2006 animated feature **asterix and the Vikings** is easily the best one, with really good animation, adapted pretty freely from _Asterix and the Normans_, with some stuff from elsewhere and quite a bit of necessary updating. > **[Asterix and the Vikings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_and_the_Vikings)** > > Asterix and the Vikings (released in French as Astérix et les Vikings and Danish as Asterix og Vikingerne) is a 2006 Danish animated adventure film based on the French comic book series Asterix, written by Stefan Fjeldmark and Jean-Luc Gossens, and directed by Fjeldmark and Jesper Møller. A loose adaptation of the story of the comic album Asterix and the Normans, written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo, the plot follows Asterix and Obelix trying to train the nephew of their vi... ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/95 "2016-04-14T12:16:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I never understood the name “Getafix” – it’s from the British editions, and it makes the Druid sound like a Drug Pusher. That _is_ the joke, isn’t it? He gives out fixes of his magic potion. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/96 "2016-04-14T12:22:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > That _is_ the joke, isn’t it? He gives out fixes of his magic potion. So I assumed. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Give me _Panoramix_ any day. I don’t have the same problem with “Dogmatix”, but they could have kept his original name of “Ideefix” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/97 "2016-04-14T12:27:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I never understood the name “Getafix” – it’s from the British editions, and it makes the Druid sound like a Drug Pusher. As a kid, I always read it as him being the guy you go to to _get fix_ed up, since he’s also the village doctor. So it never had bad associations for me, even when I was grown up. I did nearly drive myself mad trying to figure out what the pun was in Vercingetorix, since none of the other Gaulish names were really subtle. Imagine the surprise when 14yo me reads a potted history of Caesar’s conquests for the first time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/98 "2016-04-14T12:35:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t have the same problem with “Dogmatix”, but they could have kept his original name of “Ideefix” It’s Idéfix, actually. I think that’s one of the _best_ name-pun translations by a masterful translation team, and I’m OK with it because even though _idée fixe_ is OK English, it’s still the original French and also not as colloquial as “dogmatic” - although I would also have allowed Monomanix as a more accurate pun. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/99 "2016-04-14T16:59:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So I assumed. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Give me _Panoramix_ any day. But Panoramix doesn’t seem to be funny at all to me. It’s just a word that doesn’t have particular relevance to a Druid who is primarily known for making a magic potion. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635/100 "2016-04-14T17:57:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > But Panoramix doesn’t seem to be funny at all to me. It’s just a word that doesn’t have particular relevance to a Druid who is primarily known for making a magic potion. The winner here is the French name for the bard Cacofonix: _Assurancetourix_, “comprehensive auto insurance.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-did-you-read-comics-as-an-adult/751635.md?page=6)