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I enjoy comics.  I really do – and I want to make sure that I am very clear about that. I enjoy the art, I enjoy the stories, I enjoy the community and most importantly I enjoy supporting the artists. As an artist myself, I know how great financial support can be.

There is also a certain thrill associated with heading to the comic shop on Wednesday (no matter how far away it is) and getting books with that new comic smell. That thrill is heightened even more at the conventions –- but that is another post.

This is not a “gushing about comics” post. This is a complaining… er… um… I mean questioning post. In honor of Earth Day earlier this week – I wanted to bring up my major problem with comics. They use a lot of paper. Sure, they are like any other magazine or periodical or book -– and to be honest I have problems with all of those things too.

So, what do you do with old comics? The obvious answer is “save them.” You know, get the bags, boards and the long boxes – that old drill. But what am I saving them for? Am I going to go back and read them again? Doubtful – hell I have stacks of books that I need to read the first time – let alone rereading old ones. I know that Ron is proud of his gapless Uncanny X-Men run – but how often is he hitting all the old books? Is it worth the space it takes up?

With prose (or “normal books”) I tend to either lend the books out to friends or sell them to a used bookstore – or just give them away. With comics I feel this strange sense of “needing to keep them.” The simple fact is that unless they remain in my family for roughly 100-150 years, they probably won’t be worth much. Sure, Action Comics #1 is fetching $675,000 to upwards of a million bucks depending on where you’re looking, but most comics just don’t sell for that kind of money anymore. I don’t think that there is anything special or limited about my copy of Secret Invasion or any other comic I have.

My wife tells me that I should try and sell them back to the store. I casually point out that he still has many of my books on his shelves and therefore is probably not interested in a slightly used copy – even though he could then turn around and sell it for approximately 75 cents.

The thought has come into my mind of donating them to a school and/or other organization. But then I realize that there is nothing appropriate for children in any of my issues of Northlanders – so that idea quickly goes the way of the dodo.

I recycle all my old magazines and junk mail, but when it comes down to it – I don’t want to recycle my comic books – but I don’t feel the need to have boxes and boxes of old (worthless?) books sitting in my house.

So I pose the question: what do you do with old comics? Seriously? How long do you hang onto them? There are, of course, some clear favorites and things that will not be going anywhere. Example: I am not trying to get rid of Absolutes, graphic novels or even TBPs (at this point). I am purely concerned about the books that I pick up every Wednesday… and then they are dead to me in a month or so.

What about legal online versions or downloadable comics? I get a majority of my news off the internet. I certainly spend a lot of time on my computer – why not consolidate that way?  Zinio is an online magazine service. They have a huge selection of magazines that you can subscribe to – and then you just read them on your computer (no paper!). 

I know that some of the comic companies are doing online versions – but sadly not all of the comics that I read are available that way. I assume that in the not too distant future it won’t be a problem at all – every book will be available that way. Then the only storage that I’ll be worried about is on my computer… and that certainly takes up less room with less of an environmental impact.

Unfortunately moving to all online puts me into another quandary. Sometimes I buy a book just because it has a great cover. Actually – I do that pretty frequently. I enjoy looking at all my options because I never know what I might find. Plus, as I stated earlier, I just enjoy going to the store. I enjoy the community aspect. It actually helps to get me away from my computer.

Argh! This paradox can go on for days! Damn you, double-edged sword!  DAMN YOU!

What would Captain Planet do?

So, last week was somewhat eventful.

On Monday it was announced that I was nominated for an Eisner Award for The Nightly News (Best limited series along with Atomic Robo, Parade, Dark Tower and Umbrella Academy).

This is unassailably cool – so I’m pretty happy. It’s one more, way-over-the-top, candle on the cake that has been the reaction to my first published work.

Now, I most certainly don’t expect to win (And if I can diverge from my main topic here for a second, you’ve got to figure that the odds-on favorite is the Stephen King, Peter David, Jae Lee, Richard Isanov blockbuster Gunslinger Reborn with the darkhorse being the sick-art Gaby Ba Umbrella Academy which I feared had the makings of another celebrity suckfest flameout and instead was not only quite readable but damn fine writing by Gerard Way), but at this point, I’m beyond being surprised. So, to note: the Eisner’s are the highest industry accolade and every nomination should be cherished. It’s an honor to be considered…

…And right now I couldn’t care less.

Which feels weird, because in my family, awards are a big thing – winning is a big thing. Not the actual trophies or symbolic mementos, as those are actually just indicators of what really matters – excellence and achievement in the face of competition.

Most of that attitude comes from a pretty humble, but oh-so American, background. My mother’s family was, ahem (say it like it’s a disease), poor. Her mother worked two jobs to make ends meet because my grandfather drank all his money away. There was never extra cash outside of covering expenses, which meant that my mother and her sister worked to be able to buy material so they could make their own clothes. Sure, plenty of people move beyond similar situations to achieve more than their parents, but most don’t graduate at the top of their class and win homecoming queen along the way – Mom did. My father added to that a nature that could only be described as “there’s a difference between rules and laws: both can be broken but only one you go to jail for.” They got married at twenty and as this is America, free from aristocracy and home of the open market, this combination of character traits is downright scary. So, when my parents were twenty-two they brought their new baby boy home from the hospital to a trailer. Five years later they had bought their first house and ten years after that, they built their dream home. It’s one example of the kind of goal setting that existed in a family where people who grow up without measured success.

A child of such parents, someone who’s never been hungry or truly gone without his entire life (i.e. me), is pushed towards slightly different goals. Part of this is passed down by parents wanting more than just accumulated stuff as accolades for their children, they want exploits in higher arenas: athletic, cultural and peer achievement as well as other forms of societal respect. The other part is the constant motivation of fearing a return to the state of ‘not-having’ so they are constantly demanding excellence from their kids in all things. My parents expected a certain amount of success and I’ve delivered plenty. (Admittedly, these aren’t the life and death struggles of strength and survival that many on this planet experience – we’ve left behind the Darwinian struggle, which is fine; it’s a blessing of modernity).

So, knowing all that, what’s up? Aren’t the Eisner’s the perfect pavlovian bell for a dog such as I? If not, what’s changed?

Which brings me to Friday of last week when at 10:30am I packed up my wife and headed to the hospital so that she could deliver into this world, and into our care, our second son.

A short time after we got married, my wife and I had this meandering state of the union talk about ‘us’ and what were, and were not, going to be acceptable guidelines for our family going forward. We still live in the same town as our parents, as well as many old friends, and the biggest realization that we came to early on is that, regardless of old ties and loyalties, we have allegiance to only one tribe – the two of us.

I want to be very clear here because many people might misconstrue this as selfish behavior, but beyond the fact that we’re all a bit self-centered, it isn’t. It’s about taking the conditioned behavior you brought into the marriage and transforming it into something else. If you’re honest with yourself during a process like this it can cause you to have one of those life changing moments where you evolve or die – Where you become something greater or fade away into the background noise of ‘life.’ Around the time of my first son’s birth, I finally got my act together and decided to finally change my definition of ‘success’ from external to internal.

So I sit here writing this, looking at the newest member of my tribe realizing that one day he will start his own and I sincerely hope that the point of this article is worthy of being continued in his new family.

Okay, superdad lifecoach, could you perhaps bring this thing home so we can all get back to Thor?

Sure, no problem.

I’d be honored to win an Eisner, but it’s an outward manifestation of something I’ve already achieved. I got the ultimate win the day that I created a book I was proud of.

I’m gonna’ fucking cry, is there any practical advice or fortune cookie wisdom to go with this article?

Absolutely. Remain competitive, as I generally think competition is a good thing, but professionally don’t judge your work (which you can control) by comparing it against other people’s success (which you cannot control). Only compete against yourself. When you are free from that restriction, the benefits are pretty numerous – here are several things think about:

• 1. Tell the story you want to tell in the format you want to tell it.
• 2. Leave nothing out of a story so that you can revisit it later – if it’s worth being in there, put it in there.
• 3. Don’t edit yourself or censor your stories because they might offend someone. If it makes the story better, you’re a schmuck if you take it out.
• 4. Judge a story on if you like it, not if it’s better than (or as good as) most comics being published.
• 5. If everyone is doing a certain genre book, don’t do the same thing hoping to cash in unless you know that you’re either going to make fun of them or kick their ass.
• 6. Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’d actually buy your book.

So, there you go. Sorry if that was overly sentimental/therapeutic – but I’m obviously in something of a mood.

I’ll be taking off a couple of weeks to hang out with my family and I’ll be back soon.

If you’ve got comments or questions, post ‘em here or send me an email at jonathan@pronea.com (but no attachments, people!)

Jonathan Hickman is the creator behind The Nightly News and Pax Romana as well as the forthcoming books Transhuman, A Red Mass for Mars and PLUS! You can find him online at either www.pronea.com or www.myspace.com/pronea.