Comic Book Culture

The line starts out relatively small , but I 'm early , bundled up in my winter coat to stand in line to meet the artist . It 's isn 't the first time I 've done this , nor will it be the last . Like all lines , it starts out with people staring at their feet , trying not to make eye contact with the strangers who obviously share your obsession enough to come out in the winter and stand in line . This is Jim Hanley 's Universe , across the street from the Empire State Building and the

occasion is a book signing with a new artist , for an Indie comic , I think . I 'm one of the youngest people here and female , which makes me stand out in this male-dominate crowd . It 's Jim Hanley 's Universe , but it 's my world , a world dominated y four-color heroes and dark villains and , once , though not any more , by the Comics Code

My love of the story started early , drawn to it by my love of art , my desire as an artist to see what others were doing and dream of one day doing it myself . The appeal of the comic book was subtle and strong , an illustrative fantasy like no other . It 's all about the art and the story and the feel of the book in my hands , something I recently discussed with comic book illustrator , artist and FIT instructor Ray Lago . It 's a tactile thing , he said , about the way the medium feels in your hands . No matter how good computers may get , there is something about the feel of in your hands that is somehow comforting and exciting all at once Ray should know , he 's one of us , a collector since he was 8 and comic books were still available for 12 cents each . Those days are long gone The new issues are now closer to 3 , or more depending on where you happen to buy them , but still they call to us , collectors and enthusiasts . Some might even call us comic book nerds . Whatever . If they understood , they 'd collect them too

After all , nothing is so iconic in America as the four-color superhero Oops , there I go again with those in crowd terms . Maybe I should explain , draw you in just a bit to this world that enraptures me enough to entice me to wait in line with never heard of . Comics in their most basic form date back to the days of cave drawings , simple drawings telling a story and in 1896 something revolutionary was added , the balloon , a space with a little white tail indicating what a character was thinking or saying . And , then for a few years , like three decades or so , comics were largely dominated by family-themed strips , like the modern Sunday comics , often featuring a boy and his dog , or in the case of Calvin and Hobbes many years later , a boy and his stuffed tiger . Then , in the 1930s...