In one of the more “uplifting” conversations this writer has been involved with, the topic of depressing films came up that we loved but never want to watch again. The usual suspects came up such as Requiem For A Dream and Irreversible, but one person mentioned the beautiful yet heartbreaking When The Wind Blows. (If you haven’t seen this, it is an animated film about an elderly couple preparing for a nuclear attack on Britain, and how they deal with the aftermath. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you that it doesn’t go well for them, as the story is more about coping with the inevitable rather than the ending.) Being the comic book nerd I am, I quickly let everyone know that it’s actually an adaptation of a comic book, and is almost the same and well worth checking out.

“N’ah I’ll pass, there is no way I’ll read a comic” was the general response I was met with, and it’s one that frustrates me to no end. In today’s day and age, when we recognise the strength of story telling in video games like The Last of Us, why is it that we still have a struggle for the comic book medium to be taken seriously?




Now, don’t get me wrong, I of course realise that comic books are a massive market with a quickly growing fan base. If you stick any comic book hero into a film it is almost guaranteed that it will make a ton of money at the box office. But there is a huge difference between being popular and having respect; It’s the reason why Transformers isn’t nominated for any Academy Awards this weekend. If any other written medium gets made into a film, you will always see their source materials topping book charts left right and centre, but I guarantee you the same won’t be said for any of the Avengers trade-backs when Age of Ultron hits.

But why is this the case? Comics are older than almost every other type of entertainment we have today, hell they have their origins dating all the way back to the 1700s, yet they don’t seem to get the respect that they deserve from a wider audience.

Some would point to the argument that for a long time comics were marketed directly towards children. They would feature slap stick humour that kids lap up, sometimes include a toy or sweets as a free gift, or the chance to win the biggest toy of the year. Think back to your old childhood, and I’m sure the likes of The Beano and The Dandy would feature in those memories quite a bit. With comics being presented like this for so long it can be very easy to see why people wouldn’t expect a comic like Alan Moore’s Lost Girls to exist, or to scoff at the idea that a comic can be more than just men in capes fighting bad guys.



Comic books as a medium have an amazing advantage; they allow the author to not only tell fantastic stories but they are also able to showcase fantastic imagery that only the authors imagination can limit. With such freedom available it makes you wonder why people should question where comics can take a reader in the first place? If ever there was one comic that showcased this then it has to be Maus. Art Spiegelman’s masterpiece tells the true story about his grandfather, a Jew living in Poland during the Holocaust. The comic is perhaps the finest piece of work done about the Holocaust, as it isn’t afraid to hold back and showcases a horrible time in humanities history, while also telling a fantastic lesson on the power of the human spirit. Spiegleman’s work become the very fist comic to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. Arguable what makes the story work so well is the fact that Art doesn’t portray any of these real characters as humans, but rather as different animals. This allows Spiegleman the ability to disconnect from these people enough to allow him to portray some of the most horrific images from his fathers life story, then remind us this was the reality of the situation. The image of piles upon piles of mice all stacked up on one another after going through the gas chambers is one that will stay with you long after you finish reading this.

Yet, we don’t talk about Maus in the same way that we would say Anne Frank’s Diary of A Young Girl or Night by Elie Wiesel. Despite being critical acclaimed, it still finds itself being dismissed as “something for kids” (Despite the fact that this a comic you wouldn’t give to a child) by the general public. It seems like the right people are creating the right work, yet they are fighting an uphill battle to get the praise they deserve from the general public.


Of course there is a very strong chance that I’m just preaching to the choir. If you’re a regular to Geek Ireland then you’re most likely already familiar with the strong storytelling abilities that comic books have over any other medium. And that doesn’t almost mean it needs to be an “adult” comic to convey this, just like a family film like Up can tell a better story in it’s opening scenes that many other serious dramas. If anything, there is a comic out there right now that is arguably one of the most important pieces of fiction in the world today, and it’s about a superhero! I’m talking about G. Willon Wilsons fantastic run with Ms. Marvel. As we see so much being said in the media about Islamic extremism, something like Ms. Marvel is a perfect way of counter acting some of the hateful and racist messages being put out there today against Muslims across the globe. Here we have a story about a young Muslim girl, living in America, and how she goes through the hardships and emotions of being a teenager…and she just happens to have super powers. But the focus of her comics isn’t her powers, but her life. It’s a brilliantly written look into showcasing that Muslims are no different than you and I. Ms. Marvel is a great entry way into the life of a young Muslim today in the modern world, without having the heaviness of the brilliant Persepolis, while also having some fun as she kicks bad guys asses. Once again, this comic is being critical praised and fans are loving it…but is it still fighting to get the respect it truly deserves?

Perhaps it is our job as fans to help get our medium the respect that has fought for so long to receive. We are always quick to defend comic books, but instead of putting up that front, why don’t we begin introducing people to the real power comics have? They can bring us to places that we would normally be afraid of visiting, make us question why the world works in certain ways, and open us up to new ideas and stories to be shared. Instead of us just saying “I love comic books, my favourite hero is…” we should instead tell people “I love comic books, because the stories contained within can speak to you more than another other medium out there.”