Comic Books Are Not Just For Kids Anymore

Though comics are still considered kids stuff in some circles, the majority of comic books produced today are not really aimed at children but rather adult readers, which is not surprising when examining the history of the medium. Before they appeared in magazine or book form, comics were the domain of the newspapers and were read and enjoyed by all age groups. Even the kids who lost themselves in the first big superhero boom in the 1940s continued reading comics as they went off to college and into the working world, enthralled by troubled, iconic characters like Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk. In the following decades, comics storylines and artwork grew continually more sophisticated, so much so that it seems ignorant to separate comics from other storytelling mediums like novels and films. Now, for all the fanboys and fangirls out there who are really more like fanmen and fanwomen, there is a book club that meets at the Washington Park library to discuss some of the most important work in contemporary comics. This installment’s subject: Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days, by Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris.