This one hurts.
When you're a physically disabled kid with a mentally/verbally abusive father, you don't really have a social life outside of school. Instead, you try to find ways to escape your life. For me, that was through toys and cartoons first, then video games and comics.
Marvel had the rights to the G1 Transformers comics, so I started with those. When I was around 10 years old, we went on a family vacation to the Yellowstone area (my asshole father's idea, although I've learned to enjoy and appreciate the area despite his influence). That's 5-7 hours in planes each way. So, mom bought me a ton of comics. The X-Men were my gateway drug. It was when the team was split up... Colossus was living in the sewers with tentacle arms believing he was an artist, while Storm had been transformed into a child and was rescued from Nanny and the Orphan-Maker by the brand new Gambit. It was so wild and weird, it blew my mind. I was immediately hooked.
I was a heavy Marvel reader for nearly a decade. All of the X-books, plus some others. Some of the 90s cartoons, too, even though I was 'too old' for them. After that, the live action movies and shows.
It's hard to estimate how much the imagination of an individual I've never met has impacted my life. Stan Lee created the X-Men. He created Spiderman. He created The Fantastic Four. He created Iron Man. He created The Hulk. He created The Avengers. And the list goes on and on.
I've always said that the Transformers were my religion growing up, but that's only partially true. During my junior high -> early college years it was the X-books. And they had a profound impact on my tastes, and even, to some extent, how I view the world.
So, yeah, this one hurts a bit. Excelsior, Mr. Lee
When you're a physically disabled kid with a mentally/verbally abusive father, you don't really have a social life outside of school. Instead, you try to find ways to escape your life. For me, that was through toys and cartoons first, then video games and comics.
Marvel had the rights to the G1 Transformers comics, so I started with those. When I was around 10 years old, we went on a family vacation to the Yellowstone area (my asshole father's idea, although I've learned to enjoy and appreciate the area despite his influence). That's 5-7 hours in planes each way. So, mom bought me a ton of comics. The X-Men were my gateway drug. It was when the team was split up... Colossus was living in the sewers with tentacle arms believing he was an artist, while Storm had been transformed into a child and was rescued from Nanny and the Orphan-Maker by the brand new Gambit. It was so wild and weird, it blew my mind. I was immediately hooked.
I was a heavy Marvel reader for nearly a decade. All of the X-books, plus some others. Some of the 90s cartoons, too, even though I was 'too old' for them. After that, the live action movies and shows.
It's hard to estimate how much the imagination of an individual I've never met has impacted my life. Stan Lee created the X-Men. He created Spiderman. He created The Fantastic Four. He created Iron Man. He created The Hulk. He created The Avengers. And the list goes on and on.
I've always said that the Transformers were my religion growing up, but that's only partially true. During my junior high -> early college years it was the X-books. And they had a profound impact on my tastes, and even, to some extent, how I view the world.
So, yeah, this one hurts a bit. Excelsior, Mr. Lee
"I was thirsty for everything, but blood wasn't my style" - Live, "Voodoo Lady"
