Comics Relief; a New Book of Essays Celebrates the World of Marvel Superheroes and Indie Artists Like Chris Ware.

Summary

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He filed the idea in the back of his mind for the moment. He was thinking about editing some sort of collection because, he says, "I was learning that part of being a good editor is matching writers to subjects they're enthusiastic about. ... Writers don't get to riff on their passions nearly as often as one might think." But he didn't return to the comics idea until he started reading them again and discovered that many of the writers he knew were comics fans.

"I'd have great conversations with them, all the more thrilling because I'd never felt like I'd been allowed to talk to other adults about comics. That's when I realized that all these writers had thought intensely about comics, but had never uttered a word to anyone else."

"Immediately, a stranger at the next table shouted, `G.I. Joe No. 21!' and you should have seen the look on his face as he realized he'd said this out loud. ... But I guess he realized there was no turning back, and his exhilaration returned, and he started hi-fiving my friends. That's the kind of liberation I hope this book encourages."

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Comics Relief; a New Book of Essays Celebrates the World of Marvel Superheroes and Indie Artists Like Chris Ware.

I won't lie to you. As a preteen I devoured Archie comics almost as fast as I gobbled up Butterscotch Krimpets and Jolly Rancher candies.

I knew they were stupid and essentially plotless, but they were so much fun to read. It wasn't that I avoided "real" books: My primary form of...

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