50 27 February 2021 | The Guardian Weekend
Back Romesh Ranganathan
Scenes from a midlife crisis
My wife rolls her eyes at a grown man reading comics in bed. But I think it’s sexy
GYM CLASSStephen Collins
One of the things I have found myself doing a lot
more of during lockdown is reading comic books, or
graphic novels – whatever you want to call them. If
you think that’s not a suitable activity for boys over
nine, let me nerdily explain that there is a world
beyond The Beano and Marvel and it is defi nitely for
grown ups. I urge you to read something like Saga
by Brian K Vaughan : an example of world-building and beautiful
artwork, alongside fi ngernail-whitening cliffh angers that make for a
remarkable read.
I normally do a lot of reading on the train, which I do feel a little self-
conscious about. People look at me quizzically, as though I am reading
comics because I haven’t made the step up to adult books yet; or perhaps
I still live with my mother ; or I’ve never had any human contact at all ( I
can thank The Big Bang Theory for this).
So I try to read them at home. But even then
there is a danger of being embarrassed. If we
decide to have a bed reading session, my wife
pulls out a book, while I pull out my graphic
novel and wait for an inevitable raised eyebrow,
because she doesn’t realise how cool I’m being.
I do read books without pictures when I’m
feeling conformist, but comic book reading
is a very diff erent experience. The best play
with the medium. Alan Moore’s Watchmen
is notable for many things, but in its Fearful
Symmetry chapter every page in the fi rst half
has a symmetrical page in the second half ; they
meet in the middle of the chapter. As I read
that back, it sounded exactly like something a
comic book nerd would say, but regardless, it is
impressive. I fi nd them completely immersive.
I remember getting a train a while ago for a
meeting in London, only to become so drawninto a Spider-Man storyline that I looked up and realised I was an hour
beyond my stop.
I have felt the discomfort slip into conversation. Somebody will
see a book in my bag and ask what I am reading, and I explain that it’s
set 200 years in the future and follows a number of animal/human
hybrids trying to assimilate into society (Elephantmen). Then I watch
the person react as though they’ve just discovered I once murdered
someone. Similarly, when I discover that someone I ’m talking to is also
a comic book fan, what follows is excited and hushed conversation, as
though we’ve just discovered we’ve both murdered someone.
More recently, I became obsessed with the Kieron Gillen and Jamie
McKelvie title The Wicked + The Divine, a story about modern-day
deities. I was lucky enough to be invited to write a one-off story for
their “funnies” issue – a special anthology edition that focused on
humorous shorter strips. It gave me an insight
into how much work goes into every page. Not
only are you writing a story, but you are shaping
the best way to present it, with the panels
dictating the pace at which the reader takes on
information. Delivering comedy in this medium
is something that takes time to master, and I
certainly didn’t feel I’d cracked it.
Lockdown has allowed me to dive back
into my comic book obsession without fear of
judgment, save from my wife – I am desperately
trying to convince her that reading comics in bed
is incredibly sexy. I’m hoping that I will now feel
more comfortable reading them in public once
we head back into normal life. I anticipate doing
this with some of the other things I have got
into during lockdown, which means that later
this year you can expect to see me on a train at
9am, eating pizza in my pyjamas while reading
2000AD. I implore you to do the same