When I was in university, I really loved comic books. I would always be looking out for the next one to come out, and would always keep a couple with me wherever I went. I would always pull them out to read whenever I had a spare moment. I remember I had this one government class, the kind that talks about the different structures of different world governments. As the teacher would drone on and on, I would pull out a comic book and hold behind my textbook so it would appear that I was following along. I think I scraped by with a “C” in that class.
Like when I was a kid, maybe in third or fourth grade, I got my first library card. I grew up in a fairly small town, and we had one central library. We all went down to the library as a class, and signed up for our library card. We had already filled out a practice form at school, and then filled out the real form when we got to the library. After we all got our library cards, before they turned us loose, we got a lecture from the chief librarian. He told us about the dangers that would happen if we didn’t return our library books.
Big ugly, scary guys would come to our house and hunt us down. Armies of horrible trolls would hide under our beds and wait until we pulled out the library book in question. Giant Cyclops’ would swarm down from the heavens to wreak havoc if we kept a book past its due date.
After the lecture, we were turned loose to roam the shelves. I remember the total wonder and fascination I felt when I looked all the books that I could take home and enjoy. I remember thinking that I would never be bored again. Books are funny that way. I guess it’s not the books, but the fantastic journey they take your mind on. Like you can be reading this, and all of a sudden your daily worries and anxieties will completely disappear as you lose yourself in this. You are transported to magical new worlds that can enlighten and inspire and entertain you. And sometimes, if you find something that is really good, you can enjoy this again and again, knowing that you will find a new perspective every time you read this.
A couple of years ago when I was cleaning out an apartment I was moving out, I found an old library book, about Ben Franklin. As best as I could guess, I had checked it out for a history report I had to do. I don’t really remember ever writing the report, and I certainly don’t remember ever checking out that book, but there on the back, clear as day was the old library barcode. I guess I luckily escaped the parachuting cyborgs that apparently didn’t find me.
The coolest thing that’s been happening lately is all the comic books that have been turned into movies. This is a dream come true for somebody that has really enjoyed reading comic books growing up. When the first Spiderman came out, I was happy to see how successful it was, knowing they would likely make a few more. And with the success of that came all kinds of other comic book movies, which is fantastic.