``Jimmy! How are you ever going to get into a second childhood when you don't get out of your first one?!''
This happened last week. My dad was the one doing the yelling and his victim was little ol' me - doing something as harmless as reading an Incredible Hulk comic.
Can't blame him ... I mean .. how would you feel if you had a kid who worked someplace as serious as a newspaper but came down every vacation just to laze away his hours with Spiderman and Wonder Woman?
Can't blame me, either. Coz I just happen to love them guys in tight nylon and colourful underwear - whether they are saving damsels in distress or reducing whole cities to rubble with huge swipes of gigantic green hands and HULK SMASH!! war cries.
And many a time have I sat and wondered which superguy I would like to be ... and for some reason, Spidey has always been my hot favourite.
Mebbe its because I am a journalist, just like ol' Peter Parker. Or mebbe its coz I have an editor who bears an uncanny resemblance to J Jonas Jameson (especially when he roars at me with his mouth wide open). Or mebbe coz I have also lost a Gwen Stacy from my life (though I guess this one did not go tumbling from the Washington bridge).
Or mebbe ... just mebbe it's coz my wildest fantasy is to swing from skyscraper to skyscraper leaving loads and loads of gooey webbing in my wake.
Superman? Naah! His might be a pretty boring job... fighting green aliens, grovelling under rays of ozonised kryptonite every other day and last and worst of all, telling idiot schoolkids to avoid littering the place with chewin gum wrappers.
But really, the big blue is a bit too nice, a bit too perfect and a bit too invulnerable. Nothing nutty about him - so unlike me, so unlike anybody I would ever like to be. And there are times when I actually wish that Brainiac wins a bout, for a change.
But what really beats me is why Spiderman curses life as much as he does. C'mon, he's got a job, he's got webbing, he's got Mary Jane and he's got funny guys like the Green Goblin and Venom keeping his life from getting too boring.
Someone help me on this one.
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12 comments:
Ah this post takes me back to when I used to collect comics and spend all of Saturday afternoon reading them. I didn't really have a favorite and I wasn't either a Marval man or a DC man. I got into it all. My favorites were those that had small stories within each comic book. Like Twisted Tales or Alien Worlds.
Actually, I don't think that comic books are made just for children in mind. A lot of it's serious adult drama. Batman was always pretty serious. I especially liked Silver Surfer or The Punisher. Sometimes Fantastic 4 (which I think they're making a movie of it by the way) and X-Men.
I guess you could look at Spiderman like any other super human being out there in the world. We think they have it all and it looks to us that they're in control of everything, but then they have all kinds of deep troublsome thoughts. I think super heroes also have fears and are not so perfect after all. Most of them are still human (even those with mutations).
Never been much of a fan of comics, but I have always been up to date, courtesy my friends.
I suppose Spiderman is a better bet. He's the one with the least superpowers and so much more human :)
And here i was wonderin when u would finally talk abt COMICS..
PEOPLE, jimmy's got a darn good collection of comics!! i just loooved spending my weekends with them (meetin jimbo was ofcourse an added attraction)
superman..uhmmm...not my fave..its not that he is purrfect..he isnt..anything which is green or red leaves him feelin green too..but he's got too much of jingoism in him..justice..truth..blah blah..it's easy to say that when u have ur underwear over ur tights.
hulk is too arnoldesque and van-dammish--he only grunts and speaks in monosyllables..nobody as witty as spidey i must admit..
so who's my fave?? well..it's a tie between wonder woman and any female in Conan the Barbarian...
i'll never forget Newspaper man and nowhere man tho!!!!
Hi Varant,
Guess I will never stop collecting comics - coz, like you said, one can never get too old for them.
Well ... Powerpuff girls and Mickey Mouse, maybe ... but not the ones in which you have people blastin the shit outta each other with mutant powers.
Now that I remember, I have read some Lobo and Eclipso comics that were strictly NOT for children. Hmm ...
And my dad (yup, the same guy who yelled at me about that second childhood thingy) reads Calvin and Hobbes and keeps ranting about how mature the little chap's views are. And my bro reads Dilbert and keeps crappin about how his boss is just like Catbert. Ha!
And after they are done with their bit, they try the funnies on me for readin stuff about guys in coloured underwear. No fair, no fair.
X men tops my list (maybe coz of Wolverine and Marvel girl), love the new Green Lantern and Flash (though I think Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are real geeks). And my favourite ... the very favourite ... is the all powerful Guy Gardener. My, life would have been so boring if not for him!
Animesh ...
man, aint u missing something .... but thank god for your friends :) .
And guess you are right ... Spidey's the most interesting ... coz he is the most human of `em all, even with all his powers. He might be depressed half the time but he's got a crack for the darkest of hours ...
Hey Shain/ Will never forget Nowhere man and Animal man, and not to mention dear ol' Newspaper man ... man, they were like superheroes I had never seen before.
In fact, Nowhere man is so damn good, he can give my other fave - Guy Gardener - a run for his money!
Jimmy,
I have to tell you I am NO expert when it comes to the comics, can't say I've ever even read one. BUT what I can tell you I am is an expert at NOT growing up (and of course constantly getting in trouble for it). My dad...he's a silly guy so he gets it, not only that, he taught me silly. My mom on the other hand wellll..we are pulling her along.
Enjoy your comics forever...I've "heard" they are even considered literature in "some" circles....LOL. I wouldn't know, maybe you'll send me something easy to start me off????
EJ ...
U also in the `non-growing-up' club? Cool, coz I m its unrivalled president (Not that I know many who want to contest for the post, anyway).
Coz last night at 3:00 am, I found myself watching Teletubbies on teevee (Try to beat that, ha!). But then, u do video games - and as far as I know, Mario is still the king in that department ;).
And yeah, comics are veritable literature in my circle - which, incidentally, has Everyman and hordes of 10 to 13 year-olds as part of it.
But really, u shouldn't miss out on comics. Try Newspaper Man to start with, he's mine and shain's personal favourite ...
this is me jimboo..just checkin if blogger will let me be or if it will play blocker...
shain
hey there...well i'm wondering why i ain't surprised that you haven't grown up! i would be shocked and have a heart attack if you did grow up and worst of all if you showed signs of it! anyway your poor dad seems destined to see this little spidey all tangled in his own web for a looong time to come! cheers till the time you GROW UP!
I'm needing a new post from you Jimmy!!
Besides...if I'm gonna quit smoking then you will have to post more often. I will need things to keep my mind off smoking :-P
Reading Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and the likes sparked off my childhood fantasies and I grew up imagining myself as an amateur sleuth:P
Alas! My dreams are squashed for good!My weight doesn't permit me to scale walls..
As years went by, I graduated to novels..whodunits..but I still can't resist a Tinkle or Chandamama that comes my way:P BTW Mandrake was my favourite too..Haven't laid my hands on a Mandrake Comic for a long time..
I love the way u write..On a blogging strike?
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