Marvel

I just got back from seeing Marvel’s The Avengers.  I haven’t seen any of the Marvel movies that set the scene for this one (The Hulk, Captain America,  Iron Man, Iron Man 2, etc.), nor did I grow up reading the comic books.  Until this past semester, I didn’t actually know the difference between Marvel and DC; I knew nothing of the Marvel universe and my experience with comic books was limited to Archie and a Spider-Man computer game.  I had no idea who Stan Lee was.  I didn’t know who had created Batman, or even Superman.  I didn’t know any of their origin stories.  But within the past month or so, that’s all changed.  And here’s why:

Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

I just finished this book yesterday, and it’s left a serious impact.  After reading the final sentence, I desperately flipped the pages for more.  I knew there wasn’t any and that there shouldn’t be, but the novel left me with a craving.  Is it cheesy to say it inspired me?  All my life I’ve had this hazy idea that I’d eventually write a novel.  I’ve read loads of novels, enjoying them for content but also trying to learn something about the craft–always absorbing.  But when I closed Kavalier & Clay, I was energized, enlivened, bursting with a desire to create something just as beautiful and smart.

I used this book for a final paper I recently submitted.  The class was called “Comics in America,” and I’m still not entirely sure what prompted me to sign up for it in the first place, since I had neither prior interest nor experience in the genre.  Whatever prophetic decision-making process in my brain led me to this class, I’m grateful for it.  Not only did this class lead me to Chabon’s brilliant novel, but it led me into the history of the comic book and the costumed superhero, into the Golden Age of comics, and into the Marvel universe.

Now, as is my tendency, I enter this new subculture humbly and tentatively.  I am new to comics fandom and willingly admit it; there is plenty I don’t know and might never know.  Researching this paper, studying the history of the comic book, and seeing this movie today all made me feel that I was peeling back another layer of cultural history, peeking in at something that was always there despite my ignorance of its existence.

And I want to know more.

I’m not saying you’ll see me at the next Comic-Con.  I don’t know how far this will carry me into the comics world.  But I know I’m deeply fascinated by the art form and its evolution.  I love discovering how superheroes are so directly inspired and influenced by the lives of their creators.  For some reason this intrigues me more than finding traces of an author in a novel.  To see what heroes are born of: that thrills me.  To witness the creation of a legend from the tragedies and weaknesses of an individual’s life: that enchants me.  I tried to write my paper about it but I’m not sure I really captured what I was attempting to capture.  It’s simple, really: writers and artists of all kinds always put more of themselves into their creations than they realize.  I just like to draw the parallels.  Maybe that’s directly related to my desire to create something great: to find in it connections to myself.