"graphic novel" is just hiding from the truth...

...they're comic books and no amount of fancy-boy talk about novels will change that. And in an unpleasant development some of my favorites are missing from the Justin Archival Library of Books in My Apartment. Those of you acquainted with the JALBMA will no doubt understand that such a development will make me very upset and likely drive me to drink. Some recent unpleasantness has deprived me of some good ones. And not just the glossy Batman stuff. Some of the F'd up Dark Horse and Vertigo titles...Fables, Hellblazer, and a delightful few issues of X-Men. I'm also missing Crisis On Infinite Earths. That was a blow. DC is significantly more to my tastes than Marvel...the characters aren't as consistenly good, but when they are good, they are much better. Let's simply be honest here: Batman would kick Daredevil's ass and it wouldn't even be close. I'd feel bad for the blind bastard. But then I would remember how just plain crappy he is and then I would not feel bad. Captain Marvel and Superman, while both corny (SHAZAM!), are endearingly mid-century let's-lick-the-reds corny, not the weird Jack Kirby's Silver Surfer corny that can't be explained away as nostalgia or simply classic wholesome appeal, I mean Silver Surfer just sucks.
...I'll have to replace this all of course. It makes me sad, but it is time to man-up and make sure that my comics are no less than the best they can be.
I'm pretty sure that my early brand loyalty to Marvel (oh, the folly of youth) was largely similar to the phenomenon I simply refer to as "My Nike Years". That is to say that I was simply attracted to Marvel because it was so dominant, it was so prevelent that I was pulled into liking it. And the corollary to this is that X-Men and Spiderman are becoming played out--I'd like to see a Fantastic Four movie or TV series...too much exposure has taken off the pleasant sheen of disreputableness that comics must carry.
Now if you'll excuse me I have to scrape the nerd off of me with a putty knife. But, alas, comic book posting is fun and I shall return to write about more comics soon.