These Heroes, These Touchstones

Straight outta Yancey Street

Three into the void.

The Dark Knight rising in a rich bruised vein this summer, the amazing Spider-Man getting his cinematic web of narrative rebooted even though we all know Gwen Stacy died decades ago, the mythic Ka-THOOOOOOOM of Thor's hammer still echoing from what Joss Whedon did with those mighty Avengers …

Movies, yeah. From paper-based superhero comics, remember? The former exclusive demesne of only the most hopeless & derided geeks now transmogrified into economic and pan-cultural blockbuster gold. O alchemy of fashion, how swiftly you break a subculture's otaku mettle …

Or something, Brenner, you wordy fuck.

Back in the day – yesterday, even – there were some deep paper-based paradigms in effect. The stuff of life – or, at least, a life. Here are three examples, fully linked in chronological order. Because you, comics-loving citizen … because you're human. Because you might know. Because you might have missed them before:

Journey Into Clarity #83:
Sibling vomit and a boy's comics-flavored childhood.
Bonus: In the jungles of West Africa.

Me, Ange, and the Interlocking Shadows of Trees:
When your own child introduces you to her favorite comics,
the world shifts just a little on its axis. Bonus: Manga.

Deep in the Adamantium Heart of Texas:
Because waiting tables on a graveyard shift can lead
to some weird bits of kismet in this complex life.
Bonus: Weapon X.


[Note: You got time for just one? Check out those interlocking shadows.]