up, up, and away!
2002-04-14@2:58 a.m.

I was 13. It was summer. And Superman was dead.

I was staying with cousins for a few weeks (it was probably only a couple, but those visits always felt like forever.) Alisha (I am using real names, cause a. what are the odds they're gonna see this and b. It was a long time ago and I'm really not dissing anybody too much) was a year younger than me, but was still only up to the Bobsey Twins and Sweet Valley High in reading material. Her bookshelf was like the worst pit of hell, you know, the one where all the lawyers go. She was also almost too girly to be believed and I was bored out of my mind. There are only so many times that you can paint your toenails pink before you just want to puke or slide into a coma. Luckily, although I didn't know how much so at the time, her little brother had a stack of Superman comics stashed away in his bedroom.

I didn't know anything about Superman except the old black & white TV show and the Christopher Reeves movies. But hey, they said he was dead, it fit my mood, that was good enough for me. Reading them was like a revelation. I'd had no idea that comics could be so cool. Supes may have been dead, but there were some kick ass new guys vying to take his place. Plus, I was having actual conversations with my baby cousin instead of just beating the crap out of him. It was all good, until two days later when the stack ran out. But the important part was that I had discovered comics.

I tried to keep up, but never having stepped foot into the comics section of a bookstore let alone an actual comics store I was woefully uninformed about what titles I would need to purchase. I let myself be intimidated by the idea that this was a boy thing and as a girl I would have to be a complete freak to want to purchase a comic book. So I gave it up. Occasionally I'd dive into a "respectable" comic or graphic novel, like Maus, and I never forgot about that brief, electrifying summer that I was a Superman fan.

And then came Neil Gaiman. I first saw his name on Amazon where I was browsing for fantasy and sci-fi books as the author of Neverwhere. There was a review of it that mentioned his work on Sandman. I ordered Neverwhere and a few days later while shopping the book section at Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, Alabama I came across his name on the spine of another book. It turned out to be Sandman, Book 2: The Doll's House. After that I was hooked. From Sandman it was only a short hop to my current Batman obsession and then a small skip to the unbelievably depressing and fascinating Watchmen. It's like being thirteen all over again.

Of course I'm not very well read when it comes to comics. I can't hold my own in a conversation about them, my comments usually consist of the lackluster and embarassing, "Dude, comics are cool," and unabashedly begging to be given reading lists. Its only been a few years since I rediscovered them. And since comic stores still intimidate the hell out of me, my collection is entirely in the graphic novel format. But I'm learning what I like (fucked in the head superheroes, blood, and good stories that don't rely entirely on action and the afore mentioned blood.) So maybe one day soon I'll walk into a comic store and be able to hold my head up high as a true comic fan.

I've also learned one more thing. Grown men looking for graphic novels at Books-a-million are apparently afraid of me. I'm not kidding, they are completely incapable of entering that aisle if I'm there. Now little boys on the other hand are great. And more than willing to give me a reading list if I ask.

< its all about me...me! me! me! - they're coming to take me away, ha ha! >

Name: MsMongi aka Kim
AIM: Lola_N_Slacks

Too Pink? Bite me.

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