Comics

Growing up I loved comic books, hell, I still do love them.

When I was younger it was a way to escape reality in a way, to put aside any insecurities  and worries I may have had and delve into the world of Superman or The Green Lantern.

It was more fun to see the Incredible Hulk struggle to control his inner rage and anger than actually deal with my own. I much preferred reading about the Flash losing his powers and money and ending up homeless than worry about the financial strains our family was under.

Mainly I loved them because they were fun and exciting and just a wee bit cheesy but that was the appeal, where else could you see a man in a Bat suit beat a psychotic clown and a crazy fat guy with a Penguin fetish? I don't know about you but those kind of people weren't usually walking around in the neighborhoods I grew up in ( well maybe in 'Maritzburg ).

Every school holiday Matt and myself would have great fun creating our own comic books and comic characters and we created some pretty good ones and some decidedly BAD ones. Some of the award winning creations were "Hoverman"( who basically just floated a foot off the ground); "Pepperman ( who exuded pepper and... *drumroll* made people SNEEZE! Yeah...move over Thor and your almighty hammer this dude can make people SNEEZE!) and ForkLift (who's mental powers allowed him to basically only lift a fork with his thoughts - I'm hoping that was a joke character). As pitiful those characters were, we did have some good ones and I've always wanted to create our own comics using these characters and storylines.           Like my other childhood passion, wrestling, comics are pure entertainment, pure fun, you boo the villians and love the heroes (or if you're like me love the villians) and I really feel sorry for the people who turn their nose up at the comic book art form.

In our early life we needed the escapism and joy that comic books bought with them and in our stressful hectic adult life we may just need them even more.