COMIC BOOK REVOLUTION

Father's Day: The Spectacular Spider-Dads!

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Father's Day is here again and for a lot of people this is a big celebration. After all, our father was half of an equation that led to us existing in the first place! Everyone celebrates Father's Day in their own way though. We here at the Comic Book Revolution are no difference as we sit down at our computers and think about our dear old dads. But, as always, it comes back to comic books. So let's take a moment to reflect and say something about the guys that we all owe a moment of thanks to.

Andrenn: Father's Day snuck up on me like every year. I've never really celebrated it. Not fully at least. My father was never really a part of my regular daily life. He and my mother split when I was still very young and, while there's lots of photos of him and I playing together in my infancy I really don't remember it at all. So while other kids were making cards and buying their dads “world's best dad” cups to me it was just another day.

My father and I were simply never all that close through most of my life. He would stop by every now and then, a couple of years in between. We never really connected on much though. Whenever he'd call it would be long and awkward and little kid Andrenn had no idea what to say to a man who was basically a stranger to him. There was very few things we could talk about but one of them was comic books.

I was already into Super Heroes at a very young age. Cartoons like Spider-man and Batman: The Animated Series along with Video game heroes like Mario and Sonic excited me to no end. When my father saw I was a big fan of the Spider-man show he gave me my first comic book: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1. I held it like a precious treasure and it is still my most personally valued comic book.

While we were never really all that close still, we could still watch Spider-man cartoons and the Batman movies and for a time it was nice, I have fond memories of spending hours watching cartoons and movies like Batman Forever. But he was never around for long and he'd soon be gone. But he'd send me some comics in the mail and the next time he'd show up he'd have a big stack of comics for me to read. Ghost Rider, the Hulk, X-men, Superman, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Thor and a whole other world of heroics I had no idea existed outside of my cartoons.

While I don't still have all the comics he gave me, some lost, some sold, I held on to a lot of the ones I know he loved or the ones that meant a lot to me as well. I have half a long box full of comics he gave me. He gave me a ton of comics from the 90's but a lot older comics as well. While I never saw all of his collection I feel that my father's comics were a peek into his mind and the man he was.

Heroes like Thor, literally gods on earth. Hulk, a man with an inner demon which was something he could relate to in more ways than one. The Ghost Rider, my father's old desires to become a Biker. Spider-man, a hero all about taking responsibility. Then Superman, someone all about being the best he could be every day despite all the madness around him. Characters my father aspired to and loved dearly along with many others.

My father passed away in the Summer of 2007. Not long after I was getting into comics on a regular basis. A terrible coincidence that he would be gone just as we could have something to talk about more. While his death always saddens me I can't help but be eternally grateful to him for so much. For life, of course, that goes without saying. But if not for him giving me that Spider-Man comic one day I would never have met all the great people here at the Comic Book Revolution, the great readers, other reviewers, the creators even, I owe it all to him.

I still wonder what he thinks about recent comics. On a monthly basis I ask myself “Man, what would dad think about that?” from Secret Invasion to the DCU Relaunch. I'm sure he'd be incredibly opinionated on it all and I wouldn't be surprised if he would knock down DC's doors to have a word with Bob Harras himself.

So I wanted to take this time to say thanks to my father. I owe him so much and just one of the things I owe him has been a great time as a comic book fan. While I never got to tell him to his face I hope he knows, wherever he is, that he was a great father and that I'm happy to say Capricorn was my dad. Happy Father's Day, you crazy old man.

Jordan: Everyone has something or someone that gets him or her into comic books. It could be a movie, TV show, or their friends. For me though, it was my dad. At a young age, I can remember watching Batman: The Animated Series, X-men: The Animated Series, and Spider-man: The Animated Series with my dad.

We bonded together watching these shows together. That bond carried over into my teens where I watched Justice League Unlimited and the onslaught of Superhero movies. I originally started reading comics with my dad when I was 7 when a family friend gave me a stack of around 50 comics. Most of the comics were Image Comics, Maximum Press, Star Wars, and Heroes Reborn (half the reason I chose to do a Heroes Reborn month was because of this).

One was DC, though. That was Superman vol.2 #123,also known as the first modern appearance of Superman Blue. I have fond memories reading this comic with my dad the most. I don’t know exactly why this comic sticks out in my mind the most, but most likely it’s due to that me and my dad read it together the most. It was my very first comic and I loved it. I think I loved it the most from the fact my Dad and I shared time reading this together.

Of course, comic books themselves weren’t always the thing my Dad and I spent time together reading. We also read the comic strips in the Sunday funnies ever since I could remember. I guess what I am getting at was that my Dad was my driving influence into geekdom. I would even say that part of the reason I still read comics these days is to reminisce those moments with my Dad. It was a special time when I was still a kid and I looked up to him for everything. He was always there for me growing up and I enjoyed the fact we share the same love of nerdy things.

One day whenever I have children, I want to share with them my love of comics. If only so we can have something, we can share. This is why I am so adamant about the future of comics. I want to be able to have something to share with my future children. It’s also why I am all in about all-ages books. I want to be able to read a comic with my kids without worrying about the content in the books. I want to have that bond.

My Dad was the man that made me the person that I am. He made me the nerd writing this right now and I thank him for that. I wish I could write more about this but time constraints have limited me. All I can say is I love you, Dad. It should be noted that I will be spending Father’s day with my Dad watching X-Men First Class. It shall be awesome. 

Brandon: When I first began thinking of what I was going to write, it was all about how I became the type person I am in spite of the type person my dad was. This isn't bad, it's just that my father and I were completely different people.

My dad was 43 when I was born. I was raised in the 80s, my father in the Depression and WWII. We had completely different mindsets about things. My dad was incredibly blue collar. After all, he was the plumbing and gas inspector for the City of Fort Payne and the best plumber in the land for the surrounding areas.

All my dad knew was hard work. I was a nerd and an academic. All I did was read, play video games, and do homework. My dad liked to hit the lake to go fishing. I preferred to do it in Link's Awakening. There were many things about each of us that the other didn't understand.

However, the more I thought about things, the more I see that there was no roadblock there at all. My dad bought me my first comic while we were on vacation in Gulf Shores (a rarity, as we were quite poor). It was an issue of Sonic the Hedgehog. Afterwards, my dad would let me go into the drug store occasionally to pick one off the spinner racks. So the truth is, my dad got me into comics, and although he didn't understand my passion for them, he never stood in the way either.

The same thing happened with video games. I was a big NES fan, but my dad never was (except Dr. Mario, which I'm fairly certain he set a record with). I'll never forget the day my dad came home from work with a copy of Adventures of Lolo that he had picked up from a yard sale. I still have that game.

He eventually came around, and even put the NES in his room once I got my SNES. It got to be a ritual with him to beat Super Mario Bros. every day after work. I have many fond memories of helping my dad get past those "damn mine cart levels" of Donkey Kong Country.

I think I've ventured into rambling, but I say all this to say one thing: thank you Dad. Thank you for never turning your back on your nerd of a son, and for never stopping him from being himself. Here's a Fire Flower to your memory.

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