As a total comic girl, I saved my pennies to get new comic books as they came out. I loved Teen Titans and X-Men were my favorites. No matter that the other girls looked at me, Barbies in hand, with expressions of utter bafflement on their faces. I loved my comic books. (Though not so much that I'm not selling them off slowly to pay for Otto's college education!)
So when Otto came along, I wanted to suck him into the comic universe. I found some really cute or weird comic books intended for very young children. Once he stopped drooling on them and using them as stepstools, I set him free to read and pick out his own. His favorites were OwlyArchie. But of course I also had him read plenty of X-Men. Our weekly trips to the comic book store, Otto still in his stroller, were met with curious glances.
So it's no wonder that these days he's often elbow deep in his own comic book wonderland. Granted, that isn't very high, but comics are quite thin. So, yeah, that's a lot of comics.
These days, his swirling vortex of entropy (i.e., his room) is filled with a different kind of comic. I was concerned for a while that the comics Otto chose to read were giving him a ridiculously stilted view of life and interpersonal relationships. So I took away his Archie comics and bought him some Manga. Manga has been around for a long time, but I'd never read it when I was a kid. But now... the Japanese certainly know how to entertain the geeky masses!
Watching Otto get lost in comic books made me nostalgic for the days when my face was buried in the newest issue. So he's re-inspired me, and I've found some really fantastic books that appeal to me as a grown-up. So now I curl up with a mug of tea, Earl Grey, hot, along with books such as Mouse Guard or the Marvel Illustrated series.
And maybe someday I'll "borrow" one of Otto's books so I can figure out why he's so obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist. I hope it has to do with alchemy and not the fact that the story involves cute girls in skirts that are WAY too short. Just so long as he doesn't pass it off as a science book. I know better.
and, strangely enough,
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