Alexisofroses’s Blog

All my life I have always been on the outer fringe of Comic Books, especially those in the DC World. As a kid I loved Batman, he was the greatest super hero of all time, and much better than those silly turtles that my cousin loved. I mean, all THEY did was sit around, eat pizza, and say silly words like, “Cowabunga.” However, despite enjoying Batman as a kid, and despite having friends that often read comics frequently, I remained largely apathetic.

The big exception to this was Sandman. I liked Sandman, Neil makes an epic story with compelling characters. The art is surreal, the story strange… but I was immediately drawn into the lives of the Endless. They were more powerful than gods, and mythologies surrounded them. And I have always loved mythology. So I read Sandman several years ago, and then went back to mostly ignoring super heroes in their comic form.

My love for Gaiman quickly spread from the Sandman comics to his novels and short stories. American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, all of this are stories that I loved reading… or rather, listening too. Because, you see, I absolutely love audio books. Listening to an audio book reminds me of when I was growing up. Back then me and my family would all snuggle up on my parent’s large bed and read. I experienced Harry Potter, Martin the Warrior, A Wrinkle in Time, and countless other stories through the voice of my father. I loved reading time, it was the best time of the day, and something that the entire family looked forward too. And so audio books, in addition to being convenient, provide to me a strong sense of nostalgia.

From audio books it’s only a short step to audio dramas. The only thing better than watching Doctor Who blow gold dust into the circuits of an unfortunate Cyber Man is to listen to him careen through the galaxy in his Tardis to confront Rasalon. Doctor Who has been releasing audio dramas for years and years, and hours upon hours of my life have gone into listening to them. In addition to the Doctor I have enjoyed listening to audio dramas like The Lord of the Rings, stories from Stargate: Atlantis, and novels from Diskworld. But although many of these series also had comics to go along with them, again I hardly touched them. I know that Doctor Who has comics of his own, and I love the Doctor with all my heart, but never have I desired to read about his travels in comic form.

Then, last Summer, something happened. It was something that felt completely normal at the time, but that has led me into depths undreamed of. Last Summer I came upon a torrent. It was called Infinite Crisis, an audio drama about the Justice League of America (or JLA). I read the description, saw Batman’s name mentioned, and thought it looked interesting. Why not? I am looking for something new to listen to.

The audio drama was fantastic. It contained a story that pulled from decades of DC past, all mashed into a story that was possibly the most epic thing I listened to all Summer. Alternate super heroes from different realities collided with each other. Super Boy fought the entire force of the Teen Titans. The multiverse was saved at the last moment by not just one Superman, but two. Beyond that, there were emotional stories as well. The trouble that Batman brought on the world with his inherent distrust of everything around him, Wonder Woman dealing with the fact that she had real blood on her hands for the first time, and many other stories as well added a depth of interest that went beyond plain action. These were people that I was entranced with, people I was sorry to see leave when the audio drama was finished and the multiverse saved.

Despite how much I loved listening to Graphic Audio’s version of Infinite Crisis, I did not immeadiatly go out and start buying comics. No, once again I placed super heroes on the back burner. I had taken a small step away from the fringe of Comicdom, I could tell you that the Marvels said Shazaam to transform for example, but I still had no real interest in following the Justice League. I had dozens of other audio books to be listening to, and although exciting, super heroes still weren’t at the top of my list.

But then, tragedy. At the end of the Summer my faithful computer gave up its ghost. Suddenly all of the audio books and dramas I had saved were gone, lost to the netherworld where information goes after it is lost. I felt empty, cold, lost. What could I do?

Well, obviously, I could figure out how to download more. With a loaned computer in hand internet access was restored, and with it the entire library audio collection was opened up to me. But where to start? Robert Jordan was about to release his new book from beyond the grave, so I knew that I wanted to listen to the Wheel of Time series again, but what else? And as I browsed for new and exciting things to listen to I hit gold.

I found a torrent that included every DC audio realisation that Graphic Audio has produced… and there were over fifty of them. I queued them to download and then started to listen to Wheel of Time, an event that took up the next three months.

Time passed, the World Turned, and twelve memorable winds blew through my life. And then the tale of the Dragon Reborn was at it’s end, or at least as close to the end as it is currently possible to get. With a sigh I closed the book on the last three months of my life and looked forward. What was there to listen to? And the I remembered a torrent queued up over three months ago, something almost forgotten. I searched it out and poured through the list of titles. DC comic titles filled the screen of my laptop, and slowly I started throwing things of my ipod. 52, Countdown, Batman: The Stone King, and many other titles were suddenly at my command. Once again I was swept up by the world of heroes and legends, of New Gods and strange aliens, of telepathy and magic. One after another the stories flew by. I soared through them at Super Man speeds, almost as fast as the Flash. I listened to Batman take on an organisation of white supremacists, I listened to a tale of the Apocolypse, I listened as Kyle took on the mantle of Green Lantern and flew to the very edge of the expanding universe. Old feelings from childhood swept through me. As I  listened to Batman touch his Bat Plane down in the middle of Washington DC I remembered how when I was little I may have done the very same thing with my Batman toys. And new names swept me up. Hal Jordan was a Green Lantern before Kyle, but who was he? What was he like? Why did his city get destroyed? And finally Comicdom caught up with me.

I wanted to know more.

I wanted to experience more.

I wanted to dream of a world protected by super human passions for truth and justice.

So last weekend I went out and selected a small collection of comics. For the first time in my entire life I spent money on Comic Books.

I became a comic book geek.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have comics to read and super hero lives to catch up on. If you need me you can find me in Comicdon.