Would I like comic books?

That’s a great question, and I will answer it by asking you three separate questions, and it’s a trick. Do you like books? Do you like movies? Do you like music?

For me, the initial answer to any of those questions would be yes. On further reflection though, well, not all of them.

There are more similarities to (non-pictorial) books, so let’s explore it from that point of view. I love Jane Austen novels, but I haven’t really enjoyed her short stories. I found Vanity Fair interesting, but I didn’t love it as much as I would have if the characters had been sympathetic. They were all kind of horrible, but because Thackeray is a good writer and the story itself was interesting, I kept reading. Dumas I find overly wordy and misogynistic from The Three Musketeers, but so many people say good things about The Count of Monte Cristo that I may still try it.

Getting into more contemporary books, I’ve written about this before, but trying to read Twilight gave me a headache. I then tried flipping ahead and it just kept disgusting me, as I discovered an ingrate who thought it was cool that she had a stalker. The Time Traveler’s Wife was too vulgar, and I gave up on it. Commercials for James Patterson books make me feel like I will never give him a chance. Finally, I remember reading several books by East Coasters (maybe all New Yorkers), and they were interesting but so neurotic that it lessened the enjoyment a little.

Let’s just say that there are several factors that contribute to your enjoyment of a book, including the plot, writing style, characters, quality of prose, and the voice of the author. Once you add graphics, an equal number of variables are thrown in. The quality of the words still matters, obviously the plot and characters matter, but you also have the aesthetic qualities of the art. Do you find it attractive or ugly? Do you like the color palette? If it is gory, is it too gory? I don’t imagine the lettering being a problem, but I suppose it could happen.

So the next thing to remember is that there is a remarkable amount of variety in what is out there for comic books, and unless you just hate having pictures with what you read, there is probably something that would suit your taste. I absolutely loved the first Persepolis book. It is an autobiographical book about a young girl in a repressive environment with an affinity for punk rock. Who could ever have predicted that would appeal to me?

I hated Ghost World. I was surprised by how much I hated it, because it is fairly well regarded, including by some people I really like. However, it is about some foul-mouthed young people who criticize everything and are really mean to each other, even though they are best friends. Really, that one didn’t do it for me? Hmm.

I don’t know how true this is for everyone, but I find that my own reading tastes are not bound as much by genre as other things. For example, I thought I hated mysteries, but really, there are just some that I can’t get into and others that I can.

Taking all of this into consideration, how do you find the right comic books for you? I don’t know, but probably the same way that you find books, except that there is the added graphic element so that if you find that the pictures are intriguing, you can consider it to be a good sign. If the cover makes you wrinkle your face in disgust, this may not be the best choice for you.

Friend recommendations may work or may not. One thing that I found with the ones Jennie recommended were that they were geared younger, and I found myself impatient with them. I told her this after reading them, and she admitted, and it made total sense, that they are usually reading them to the kids, so that’s intentional. Their exception is The Walking Dead, which they only pull out when the kids are not around. Since I hate zombies (though I may be getting past that), I will not be checking out that series.

And, even with that, while I did not think that I would read the rest of the Amulet series, when I went to Goodreads to post my review of Volume 1, I clicked around a little and there is the author, Kazu Kibuishi, saying that he feels with Volume 4 they have finally hit their stride, and he seems so young and earnest that maybe I should give it another chance. At the same time, with Rapunzel’s Revenge there would only be one other volume to read, but I hated it more, and I think it is because the Old West dialogue is triggering my anti-redneck sentiments, but that should be more of a problem with King of the Hill, which I love, so what do I know?

Incidentally I am reviewing everything on Goodreads, so ratings and comments can be seen there, and I inevitably feel guilty because maybe I am completely getting it wrong and doing a disservice to the fans, but I still post. I can only say what I feel.