COMICS PORTAL: Adventure!

When talking comics, I often find myself using the word—adventure!

When I’m interviewing comic creators or even just talking with fellow comics fans, that one word, adventure, keeps coming up when I’m describing why I love comics. Yes, I enjoy good art and strong writing, but the stories that always appeal to me are ones that involve adventure.

So, what does that word actually mean? Well, I looked it up on dictionary.com, and it defines that word as: “An exciting or very unusual experience; participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises; a bold, usually risky undertaking, hazardous action of uncertain outcome; peril, danger, risk, chance, fortune, luck.”

I’ve often noted here in this column that I’m much more of a DC guy than a Marvel fan. DC characters tend to be described as “iconic” or “larger than life.” (DC actually used to sell a book called Adventure Comics!) Marvel characters, on the other hand, are often more strongly grounded in what we call “real life”—you know, Peter Parker having to avoid his landlord because he doesn’t have the money to pay this month’s rent or Sue Storm having a bad hair day. Contrast that with Bruce Wayne, who, when faced with difficulties, just buys the institution he’s having troubles with.

Now, which is more life my day-to-day existence? Of course, my everyday goings-on much more closely resemble Peter Parker than Bruce Wayne. I’m not a millionaire, by any stretch of the imagination. However, which one would I LIKE to have my life resemble? Of course, it’s Bruce Wayne with his “stately” Wayne Manor instead of an ordinary house on a regular street.

So, when I read comics, I turn to books that take me places I don’t normally experience. Action, derring-do, “buckle that swash” type of stuff appeals to me because I simply don’t get much of that in my daily life.

That’s where the word adventure keeps coming in. I want to, at least temporarily, go where I don’t live each day. Hey, if I want racism, financial problems, interpersonal disagreements, I just have to turn to the daily news or sometimes to my own experiences.

But what would I like life to be like? I’d enjoy much more of the unusual! Do I want that ALL the time? Of course not! I can’t live on the each of my seat ALL the time!

I’ve often found a favorite franchise of mine to contain a great example of what I mean.

My favorite Star Trek has long been Deep Space Nine. Why? Because the danger level is much, much higher there! You have shapeshifters always keep one guessing, worrying that you are actually trusting what you see or what an enemy wants you to see. That wormhole could open up and some horrible foe would come through, wreaking havoc as far as the eye can see!

Now, THAT I want to watch and enjoy the stories of! What’s going to happen next? I’m not personally threatened by what I watch on the TV screen, but my imagination safely transports me there.

On the other hand, if I wanted to choose a Star Trek incarnation I’d rather LIVE in, I’d pick The Next Generation. Why? Because if the Enterprise-D actually occasionally encounters danger, they run like crazy to get away from it! They do their daily jobs, talk with each other, and then go to bed safely each night.

That’s pretty close to what I go through daily!

So, I love DS9 because it’s fun and full of danger! But actually live on that space station? Not a chance! I’d rather find myself on that safe, secure starship so I could live a long and happier life!

As big of a “longjohns” superhero fan as I am, I still want to read other kinds of storytelling because I love variety in my reading diet. I enjoy reading works from Tom King, who often employs longer discussions as a page-long experience, than say, Scott Snyder, who breaks up any exposition by having visually exciting events take place at the same time.

There are some comics that truly explore the day-to-day lives of their characters, following them as they go shopping at the local grocery store or talking with their roommates as they watch a program on the TV. And that’s fine, if it’s done well.

Again, though, I get that kind of thing a lot in my daily life, so it doesn’t always mean I’m going to be interested in it when I’m reading a comic book.

It’s also why I don’t go for comics that use the likenesses or tales about real people. The books are their own world to me, so when the “real” world collides with them, well, that’s not as interesting to me. It’s also why I don’t enjoy politics in my comic books. I get more than enough of that in “real” life!

Along those lines, I again follow the Star Trek rule. You’ll never hear the words “Democrat” or “Republican” in a Trek episode because they don’t get into politics. Now, issues? THAT they get into a lot, from racism to health care to any other topic of the time. I like it when they explore the subject and don’t go pointing fingers at someone.

I also prefer stories that don’t preach to me. I don’t care if this is from the Left or the Right! Just tell me a good tale that will engage and entertain me. I don’t need a comic book to tell me what I should think or do. I can do that on my own just fine, thank you!

I like to have superhero stories that are constructed on what is possible! By that I mean something that COULD happen in the world that has been built. If something shows up out of nowhere, that just ruins a story for me.

I often run into this kind of thing in magic stories. The writer may paint himself or herself into a corner where they have built a danger they cannot use what they have constructed to get the hero out of. So, instead they “pull a rabbit out of their hat,” as the saying goes. Something that we have never seen before suddenly appears that the hero can use to save the day.

Meh. A good writer will foreshadow what they will need eventually. Don’t just make something show up out of nowhere!

So, give me adventure, but make it happen through good writing and great art! This is why I often stack the comics I’m about to read with the one I think will be the best on the bottom! I want to end on a great note so that I will look forward to the next time I dive into a comic book!

What do you think? Do you read comics to enjoy something you don’t experience in daily life? Or do you prefer stories that expound on what we see around us regularly? What makes a great comic story to you? Whatever your opinion, feel free to share it in the space below!

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