Like most moms, she encouraged me to read at a young age. When I was really young we struggled financially, so my big gifts were always books, and (I'm told) I loved it. Any good geek should enjoy reading, so making me an avid reader was an important, and seemingly innocent, start to it all.
Fast forward to one of my earliest memories. I was 6 or 7 and we were at a grocery store. They had a magazine rack which hasn't been moved in 20 years, and I remember browsing through it looking for wrestling magazines. I was a fan of Spiderman cartoons, so when I saw a Spidey comic I snatched it up and started reading it as soon as she paid for it. It was awesome, even though I had no clue what was happening in the story!
That started a long, though now dead, obsession with collecting comics. I had no idea what rarity meant, nor did I even collect them in a series for the longest time. As years went by I started choosing comics over wrestling magazines, and we soon discovered my first comic shop, Xanadu Comics. It wasn't near us, but it did happen to be on the way to places we'd visit at least once a month, so I'd often be able to talk her in to stopping there. I still remember the first comic I got from Xanadu... Bishop was on a futuristic motorcycle, and the series had something to do with mutants being hunted in the future. If my box o' comics wasn't buried in my closet I'd dig it out just for nostalgia (and so I could remember the name of the comic!)
At some point Mom made the mistake of talking to me about superheroes. She understood that boys liked superheroes, and she'd asked me about them here and there. She eventually started remembering things about them and could have actual conversations with me. That was all I needed to start chatting her ear off about Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Batman... you name it! She'd watch the older Batman movies with me (and we still argue over who was the best Joker), or she'd sit and read while I watched my TV shows.
Over the years I collected miscellaneous superhero stuff - cards and action figures mostly, but comics are where it's at. I even managed to get the first 22 copies of a Spiderman series (which I think were 2 or 3 comics per book, so let's call it an even 60!). Mom always taught me to be who I am, so I was never shy about my superheroes. I didn't come to school wearing a Superman cape, but people knew who I was and, middle school being what it was, I fell in with my fellow geeks and nerds.
Then 2002 rolled around, and that's when her coolness began its true ascent. She took me to see Spiderman, and like the rest of the world, she truly started to appreciate superheroes. Since then we've watched every single superhero movie together. And as most of you know, superhero movies are just awesome when people ask you to explain more about the heroes and villains of the movies. So at age 27 I will still talk her ear off about everything I know about a superhero. She would still never read a comic, but I suppose I can't hope for too much!
So to my mom - Thank you for helping me discover superheroes. You've proven to me that the strength, mercy, and bravery shown by superheroes don't only exist in fiction. Thank you for being an amazing example, and an awesome mom!
Fast forward to one of my earliest memories. I was 6 or 7 and we were at a grocery store. They had a magazine rack which hasn't been moved in 20 years, and I remember browsing through it looking for wrestling magazines. I was a fan of Spiderman cartoons, so when I saw a Spidey comic I snatched it up and started reading it as soon as she paid for it. It was awesome, even though I had no clue what was happening in the story!
That started a long, though now dead, obsession with collecting comics. I had no idea what rarity meant, nor did I even collect them in a series for the longest time. As years went by I started choosing comics over wrestling magazines, and we soon discovered my first comic shop, Xanadu Comics. It wasn't near us, but it did happen to be on the way to places we'd visit at least once a month, so I'd often be able to talk her in to stopping there. I still remember the first comic I got from Xanadu... Bishop was on a futuristic motorcycle, and the series had something to do with mutants being hunted in the future. If my box o' comics wasn't buried in my closet I'd dig it out just for nostalgia (and so I could remember the name of the comic!)
At some point Mom made the mistake of talking to me about superheroes. She understood that boys liked superheroes, and she'd asked me about them here and there. She eventually started remembering things about them and could have actual conversations with me. That was all I needed to start chatting her ear off about Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Batman... you name it! She'd watch the older Batman movies with me (and we still argue over who was the best Joker), or she'd sit and read while I watched my TV shows.
Over the years I collected miscellaneous superhero stuff - cards and action figures mostly, but comics are where it's at. I even managed to get the first 22 copies of a Spiderman series (which I think were 2 or 3 comics per book, so let's call it an even 60!). Mom always taught me to be who I am, so I was never shy about my superheroes. I didn't come to school wearing a Superman cape, but people knew who I was and, middle school being what it was, I fell in with my fellow geeks and nerds.
Then 2002 rolled around, and that's when her coolness began its true ascent. She took me to see Spiderman, and like the rest of the world, she truly started to appreciate superheroes. Since then we've watched every single superhero movie together. And as most of you know, superhero movies are just awesome when people ask you to explain more about the heroes and villains of the movies. So at age 27 I will still talk her ear off about everything I know about a superhero. She would still never read a comic, but I suppose I can't hope for too much!
So to my mom - Thank you for helping me discover superheroes. You've proven to me that the strength, mercy, and bravery shown by superheroes don't only exist in fiction. Thank you for being an amazing example, and an awesome mom!
And to the rest of you - See you tomorrow!
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