The Comic Books

Zombies were my biggest fear in my teens and early twenties. I would lie awake and imagine my world crumbling under the corruption of death. My recurring nightmares were always of me running away from a hoard of biters who had once been my family. I’d imagine zombies in the woods when I went upstate, I’d imagine zombies in basements, at work, at school, at home, etc. I’d shut my eyes and wrap my arms around the nearest friend/boyfriend and have them tell me over and over that it was all OK, there were no zombies to be worried about... all that stuff. 

Two years ago, if you were to tell me that I would be buying 75 dollars worth of comic books about Zombies, I would have given you the weirdest look and told you that I didn’t read comics and I especially didn’t read about Zombies. Yet, here I am in 2012 devouring book after book of “The Walking Dead.”

It’s funny to me now that I can sit and read about the terrible plight of these characters I’ve grown to admire and fear in this series. I’ve never considered myself a comic book reader, or even a person who could read comics without getting a head ache. I used to look at the nerdy kids in high school and college as they drooled over their Batman books and exchanged excited glances as they read during lunch break. That sort of entertainment never meant anything to me. I was too busy reading Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter to really care about the Avengers or Superman. 

I felt the first inkling of curiosity for graphic novels when the Movie “The Watchmen” came out. I wasn’t particularly enamored with the movie itself, but I was fascinated by the world those characters lived in. Could that be a stuffing for the hole left behind after LoTR ended? Yes. I read “The Watchmen” graphic novel and enjoyed it, much to my surprise. 

I guess the summary of what I’ve come to discover is that not very deep inside of me exists a nerd of epic proportions that seems to grow stronger and more courageous each year, now to the point where, in a conversation with my room mate as to the best way to survive a zombie attack here at home, I calmly explained that according to the “Zombie Survival Guide” by Max Brooks, Zombies have very poor coordination and can’t climb stairs easily. Therefore we have an advantage being up by the roof and could therefore escape through the window so long as neither of us was bitten. My room mate looked at me for a minute before laughing and declared that I was: “such a nerd.” 

It was a proud moment. I’ve come a long way.