Because I'm a self-avowed lover of superheroes and superheroes stories, you might expect that I'd be a big fan of superhero comic books and, perhaps, comic books in general. And in fact, I've tried to be a fan. I tried the Sandman series and the graphic novelizations of beloved stories like Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Joss Whedon's Buffy. I recently picked up a few issues of I, Zombie, a comic with a fantastic concept that I dearly wanted to embrace. But I have the same problem with all of them: I can't figure out how to read comic books.
I get confused, you see. I find it hard to follow the order of the panels. I can't decide whether to look at the pictures first or read the words first. Sometimes I just plain don't understand what's happening. I look at comic books and my very linear brain -- trained to read plain text left-to-right -- just completely spazzes out. I end up having to scrutinize and study each page just to get through the story, at which point the rhythm of the story is completely broken.
I thought I might be alone in this, or at least in a small minority, but I recently listened to a great podcast about this very thing that shows me I'm not the only one.
The podcast comes from one of my favorite blogs -- Monkey See on NPR.org. The blog's weekly Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast features a warm and witty crew of NPR contributors from various pop culture disciplines, including the site's resident comics writer, Glen Weldon. In last week's podcast, Weldon convinced the other contributors to read two comics of his choosing and give their reactions.
The ensuring discussion is lively and interesting for both fans of comics and for the uninitiated. And once the comic book discussion is done, be sure to stick around for references to heroic librarians and a hybrid animal called "Chicktopus."
If you get hooked on this podcast, as I most certainly am, be sure to check out the archived episodes at npr.org/pchh.
Ellen Henderson is a novelist and web strategist. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband and son.
