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The Cereal Box in the Closet

As a kid, I was quite a bit different from my younger brother Benjanime.  In fact, we had quite a few differences in hobbies.  He has always loved video games; I hardly have ever played them.  Rarely did he ever play with action figures and such, whereas that was all I ever played with.  And I also liked collecting certain things.  Not collecting as far as keeping them in their original package till the end of time, but collect and PLAY WITH EVERY SINGLE PIECE SIMULTANEOUSLY just to add on to the creativity and adventure I had embarked on in my imagination. 

I collected only whatever suited my favor as a kid:  Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars (kept in a holiday cookie aluminum can), G.I. Joe figurines and vehicles (kept anywhere I could keep them within eyeshot), Legos (kept in a huge cardboard box), etc.  It wasn’t until later in my mid-teen years when I would start collecting something that did not require my creativity, but was rather prewritten.

One year, while in the Air Force on leave at home in VA, I went into Ben’s bedroom closet just to see what was left of mine while everyone was at work and school.  In there I found a Sam’s Club double value-styled cereal box on the floor in the back with the top cut off.  Just as I had pulled it out and saw what was inside, I remembered what was in there. 

Comic books.  I had almost completely forgotten I had started collecting and reading comic books bought at yard sales and thrift stores before I joined the military, consisting of random issues of Spawn, Daredevil, and mostly Batman.  There were none in particular order, however I had some graphic novels, one that grabbed my attention the most and affected the entire Batman series.

 

In case you’re not brushed up on Batman 101, here’s a short little synopsis of the book.  CAUTION:  SPOILER ALERT.  Batman catches a young Jason Todd stealing the wheels off of the Batmobile one night, so instead of scaring him off with intimidation, Bruce Wayne kind of adopts Todd on the spot.  Wayne sees potential in Todd, training him in martial arts and immediately promoting him to the first Robin.  Todd investigates his family past, discovering his own mother had been held captive by the Joker in the Middle East.  He pursues her freedom only to find out she willfully volunteered to work for the Joker.  As a result, she sabotages Jason, giving him up to the Joker, and is also sabotaged by the laughing loon.  The Joker beats Jason to near death with a crowbar, and sticks him and his mother in a nuclear warhead facility filled with explosives to cover his tracks.  Jason does all that he can to save his mother and himself, but both perish in each other’s arms from the explosion. Jason ends up forgiving his mother in the final moments of their lives.

This is a pivotal point in Wayne’s life as Batman, because it makes him more cautious about getting close to those around him, just to have them ripped away from him by death.  But I digress…

This particular book was the reason I started collecting and reading Batman graphic novels.  There are other ones I had as well that I really enjoyed, such as the Killing Joke, which gives the story of how Barbara Gordon ultimately becomes the Oracle.

Also Arkham Asylum, which is beautifully illustrated with watercolor, screen printing, and every other style of art you can imagine that adds on to its extremely dark and morbid greatness.

With the box full of comics stuffed into my suitcase, I flew back to my place at the end of my leave.  Pretty much the next day, I was at Barnes & Noble looking through their graphic novel section for Batman books.  I think I may have walked out with about $120 worth of books that day.  I've never been a fan of B&N primarily because of their lackluster customer service, however to this day their variety in graphic novels has surpassed any other bookstore I've been to.

And I think that’s why I prefer graphic novels over individual issues nowadays, because novels in the comic book world are literally the entire series collection of individual issues.  They’re cheaper in the long run, and you don’t have to wait each month for the next issue of the series to come out (you just have to wait till way longer for the graphic novel to come out).  Thankfully, my wife is totally cool with my collection, only because I’m semi-cool with her strange collection of ceramic horse carousels.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading my first article as much as I enjoyed writing it.  After having read Ben’s articles, I felt this was a good start to my series of articles.  Cheers!

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munkysrench Posted on Aug 28, 2015 at 09:56 PM

I was definitely impressed with the Dark Knight series with Bale as Wayne. Especially when they brought Bane in the last one and summarized the Knightfall comic series. It pissed me of when a lot of non-readers bashed it hard without even knowing the story line in the comics, when I thought it was done very well. Another series I'd suggest is the Batman

Hoju Koolander Posted on Aug 16, 2015 at 03:33 PM

It's great to have both brothers contributing now, especially since it sounds like your retro-interests are closer to mine than Benjanime's (he's a fine writer, I just can't relate to his articles most of the time).

Though I'm much too aware of my comic book collecting, it love the idea of finding a secret stash I forgot about. As a dedicated fan of all the Robin's in my youth, A Death In The Family is one of my favorites as well and it paved the way for my favorite Robin, Tim Drake.

I am actually just reading The Killing Joke for the first time right now and man, is it twisted. I'll be curious to see the animated version, since they did a pretty good job being faithful to The Dark Knight Returns.

Looking forward to more articles from you, maybe about your action figure collecting?

Benjanime Posted on Aug 13, 2015 at 09:30 PM

I forgot to mention, it's confirmed that the killing joke is becoming an animated movie, and mark hamill is reprising his role as the joker. here's hoping they don't gut the story like what they did with superman doomsday.

munkysrench Posted on Aug 13, 2015 at 04:32 PM

@massreality Thanks!

massreality Posted on Aug 13, 2015 at 04:33 AM

My first ever comic was the TPB of A Death in the Family. I must have read that book a hundred time and studied the artwork. It was a great book. Welcome to the site!

munkysrench Posted on Aug 13, 2015 at 01:43 AM

@Vaporman87, I'll admit, getting through The Killing Joke was pretty tough the first time for me, being how graphic it was. But I think that's what stands out about Batman compared to other comic book characters is that raw unedited storyline.

@Ben, I actually was going to make this one a lot longer, but thought with the synopsis that it was long enough. I knew I should've written more! lol

Benjanime Posted on Aug 12, 2015 at 06:04 PM

when I had my short time of being with you guys I kinda wanted to read a few of what was in your collection, but seeing as how I was on a deadline to find a job I never really got around to it. great job for a first article, looking forward to seeing longer length ones in the future :) great job bro.

Vaporman87 Posted on Aug 12, 2015 at 05:59 PM

It's good to have you here with us. Any family of Ben is certainly welcome here.

I too own The Killing Joke, though I'm not certain I have ever read it all the way through. But yes, owning Graphic Novels is definitely the way to go if you're just catching up on some of the better storylines. I would like to pick up a novel of Civil War, and also the old Secret Wars story (not the new one).

Thanks for sharing!

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