Yesterday, Ser and her two boys came over to hang out for a while. Before they arrived, Mr. Milkweed brought most of his longboxes up from the basement so they could peruse his rather large collection of comics. They were pretty excited about it, too, and I'm kind of sorry Mr. Milkweed wasn't here to see it. We share a lot in our marriage, but his passion for superheroes is his alone. I have absolutely nothing against them, put I tend to confuse the JLA with the Fantastic Four and the Green Goblin with the Green Lantern and generally embarrass him when I go with him to the comics store.
Here's a typical exchange:
"Honey, this looks kind of cool!"(*waves amusing paperback with wide-eyed children and flying dogs on cover*)
"Um, yeah, that's manga..."(*hissing, teeth clenched, looking around to see who heard*) "Are you sure you wouldn't rather wait in the car?"
Mr. Milkweed was extremely impressed as I recounted how carefully they went about their explorations, and that Luke and Henry recognized Thanos, and that Henry (who is barely three) instantly recognized Thor. Then I told him about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comic they found. "I have to admit," I told Mr. Milkweed, "that one surprised me. I mean, superheroes and villains...sure, I get the attraction there. But mutant amphibians that spawned the most annoying cartoon of the early nineties?"
I was in for it. He gave me this impassioned speech about how the TMNT comics were "historically important because they mark the first time a black and white comic became a popular seller! Furthermore, it was the first time another comics publisher-- Image-- succeeded in the era of DC/Marvel dominance. That's huge." I then heard a three hour tale about the intense rivalry between DC and Marvel, which I was pretty sure was intended to change the subject, so I didn't press it.
But really. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
As he re-alphabetized the single issues that had been removed and lovingly flipped through The Essential Conan he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Besides removing the more adult and inappropriate titles, I also took out all the issues of 'Son of Satan.'"
Ser and I both thank you, Mr. Milkweed.
4 comments:
That Mr. Milkweed is a keeper. Not only did he organize, sort, and haul up four boxes of comics for my children, he also APPRECIATES that they love superheroes, which, I must admit (curse you Waldorf preschool!) I've always been a bit ashamed of.
Although Son of Satan probably wouldn't have done any damage. Luke had a lemonade/homemade comic sale the other day, and I discovered at the end of the day that he had been selling a comic in which little boy finds a jar containing a demon. Oh, that Luke.
You may laugh and you may scoff, but I defy you to read the early issues of TMNT and not be impressed by the storytelling. It is to be noted that it inspired a whole genre of imitators, including Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters and Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos. And the Turtles' creator, Kevin Eastman, is now married to Julie Strain, making him a kind of geek demi-god.
That's Mr. Milkweed, by the way.
-Mr. Milkweed
Just this morning I read Michael Chabon's "Secret Skin: an essay in unitard theory" (New Yorker, 4/10/08), driven to do so by the posting here: you should read it, too! Here's a link (which should work for the time being):
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/10/080310fa_fact_chabon?currentPage=all
or anyway
http://www.newyorker.com/
reporting/2008/03/10/
080310fa_fact_chabon?currentPage=all
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