(See post May 8, 2016 for lead up)
...Superman died.
There used to be a saying in comic books that no one stays dead except Uncle Ben (Spider-man's adoptive father), Bucky Barnes (Captain America's sidekick), and Jason Todd (Batman's second sidekick). But a corpse left in charred ash is about as dead as you can get. Plus later plot points show that there's no possibility of reviving Superman.
But it's an interesting thing when you bury something. In some ways they become more real. I had let this blog die, but a new freedom and joy of comics emerged. I was actually reading more than ever with no strings attached! It was amazing like riding the clouds with the wind in your hair that few but Superman would know the feeling.
But something strange happened. With all that freedom, I got lost among the piles of unread comics. There were times when I would literally waste hours flipping through the collection looking for what I should read next. I was paralyzed by the question of should I read more in Walt Simonson's epic run of Thor or start at the beginning of Wally West's run as Flash that as a kid I picked up part way through or maybe more miniseries that I've never read or maybe... what's this Agents of Atlas I've never heard of? Hours would go by and I'd have flipped through a dozen comics with that big fat #1 on the front, but I hadn't really read any of them. This is the exact opposite of what I wanted. The goal in shutting down the blog was reduce my time wasted in comics, but now it seemed to be increasing.
Once again I attempted to pass off the comics. I was ready to sell them all or just throw them out. But in an unexpected turn the answer to the ultimate question can front and center: Does God like comics? And to my surprise, at this point in my life the answer was given to me as a crystal clear YES. I tried to take them off the table, but He seemed to be putting them back on as if to say "Why fight your enjoyment of comics when there's still things to be gained from them?" I often circle back to these two posts when I start to feel like comics aren't worth it:
But Superman is dead. Where do I look for a hero? Well that is as anticlimactic as this death of Superman in New 52 Superman issue #52. The answer was there before the problem even came to a close.
Perhaps it's just an interesting coincidence that this "old" Superman (which was the first comic Superman I ever read about) was also balancing the family life of a wife and son. Or perhaps not.
It gave me an interesting pinch at the possible connections, but...whatever.
But if I'm gonna do this, the plan needs a revamp to provide direction but minimize the time I was wasting:
Rule 1: The original goal remains: to collect and read the Bronze Age run of Action Comics with a focus on grading art, storytelling, and the theology that emerges through it.
Rule 2: Its about releasing content, not perfecting it. I'm not going to write an exhaustive story recap if the story isn't even that good to begin with. In fact I won't even be over-editing my posts so don't be surprised to see more mistakes in spelling, grammar, and missing words. The message will be clear but not necessarily perfect.
Rule 3: A maximum of 1 post a month will focus on the Action Comics stories. In addition, a maximum of 1 post a month will focus on anything else comics related. I'm thinking this will be a few updates in my Action Comic collection status, but also I'm adding pseudo-review/musings on other comics I'm reading.
Mm mmm! That's as good as Superman eating a burrito!
As they used to say in comics, no one stays dead except Uncle Ben, Bucky Barnes, and Jason Todd. Of course they don't say that anymore because both Bucky Barnes and Jason Todd were resurrected.
So perhaps it's time for another resurrection.