Anchorage Daily News

I remember loving to attend trips to Carrs when I was a little kid. It was not because I liked to walk around and shop for my family's everyday needs, but because I would plop down at one end of the magazine section and start reading the assorted comic books while my mother shopped.

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Gambit and Sonic the Hedgehog helped define my identity as a young person. Without the knowledge of how Knuckles the Echidna defended the Master Emerald -- it was a responsibility granted to him by his father and his father before him -- I might have been a bank robber by now.

As I grew older, however, superheroes no longer appealed as much as before. Calvin and Hobbes wedged themselves in years later, but the place that Batman and Spider-Man had hollowed out was never filled again.

We all know about the big names, and for me that's what I always thought of as comics. When someone says comics I think of Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, The X-Men -- and I think of the two big companies, DC and Marvel.

I have noticed that Carrs no longer seems to carry comic books, and I assumed that it meant they weren't selling as well anymore. After all, how many people read comics? I then started to think.

Questions started to pop up in my mind:

With the recent increase of superhero and other comic-based movies being created in Hollywood, has the popularity of comics also increased? Are most classic comics still the most popular, or have heroes like Superman and Batman been replaced by new heroes? Do comic artists still target their product toward an all-ages audience, or have comics become more mature, dealing with more mature subject matter, adult themes, and darker content?

I then realized my biggest questions: Are comic books still even around? Do 9-year-olds beg their mothers for a few dollars to purchase the new Spider-Man? Do comic collectors still spend hundreds of dollars to have as many issues as possible? Superheroes certainly are a thriving part of our culture -- are their origins as well?

I decided to investigate.

SEARCH FOR CLUES

I went to Bosco's on Spenard Road with my questions and asked to speak with an informative source. I had to wait a while, which gave me time to wander around the store.

One of the first things I noticed was that most of the comics were divided into two sections. The first seemed to be all Marvel and DC with all the familiar names, Aquaman, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Thor, etc. The second, however, was labeled "indie" and had a much larger assortment of comics. I had no idea that Mickey Mouse, the television series "24," the band Kiss, and the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" all had comic books.

They also had rows of graphic novels and boxes upon boxes of older comics. I noticed that any comics that seemed like they might be fairly graphic, like "Friday the 13th" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," were placed in a plastic sleeve with a big sticker that said "mature." Another thing that surprised me was the sheer number of people who came into the store and purchased comic books.

Finally, the mysterious man who I had come to see introduced himself as owner John Weddleton. I first asked him whether he thought superhero movies made more people come in the shop to buy those comics. He said that for the most part they weren't getting larger sales from those movies and that he believed that the popularity of the comics was making the movies become so successful rather than the reverse.

I asked whether classic comics were still the most popular or if they were being replaced. Weddleton said that while classic superheroes were certainly popular, they only account for a few percent of the overall sales.

This confused me. I asked him what the large sellers were. Archie? He said that it was much like Harry Potter.

"Harry Potter is probably one of the biggest selling books of all time, correct? It's probably the most popular book series being sold in stores," he said. "But even though Harry has completely ingrained itself into book stores, his sales are still a very small percent of overall book sales."

I began to realize my questions weren't the best and that I really didn't know much about comics.

I finally asked whether comics have become more mature, dealing with adult themes and darker content.

He then simply told me he was going to give me a tour.

TRUTH REVEALED

He first showed me the section with Marvel/DC comics-- "classics," as I had put them. While many writers have begun to inject their personal views about politics, culture and life into their work, the books remain readable for most people. Superman still faced off against villains but he also felt the emotional turmoil of wishing to be Clark Kent more or wanting to retire.

However, The Big 2 also had many other nonsuperhero books, some dealing with adventure, others relating to everyday life.

Then we went to the other side, where we saw all the other publishers and a large variety of topics. Some comics, like "Spawn," were about superhuman adventures, some dealt with everyday life, and others, like Bart Simpson's "Tree House of Horror" series, were just for fun.

Looking at the graphic novels, Weddleton showed me more examples, like "Concrete," about a man whose brain is transplanted into a stone body. "300," the comic adaptation of the Spartan battle of Thermopylae written years ago, recently became one of the most popular movies at the box office.

He then answered my question, along with my original big question I never was able to voice.

"The big difference now between comics being made today and comics made 10 to 15 years ago is that now there are more publishers and a broad variety of topics," he said. "You can find a comic about anything now. People already know Spider-Man and the X-Men, and while some lesser-known comics such as Ghost Rider and Sin City get minor boosts, comics still are selling predominately the same, if not better.

"The wider varieties of comics reach a wider audience causing the comic industry to increase. There is your run-of-the-mill Donald Duck, Sonic the Hedgehog and Archie that are appropriate for any age as well as comics that are for a more mature audience. Just like how movies have different ratings, comics do as well."

He then placed in my hands a book by Scott McCloud called "Understanding Comics."

It was a comic book about the art form of comics and what they mean to people in modern life. It is a very eye-opening read that dispels the stereotype of comics being something for 8-year-olds. McCloud happens to be coming up to Anchorage later in the month to give a talk about comics.

My question -- What happened to comics? -- was answered. They have become broader and have gained more mainstream acceptance. They still fight for a definition of what exactly comics are, but they predominately are becoming more advanced. Superheroes, Archie and other classics will be around for years to come as will new topics. Comics certainly aren't going away anytime soon, and they still have impact on culture. Just look at movies like "The Matrix" and TV shows like "Heroes" if you want evidence of it.

Tommy Connor will be a junior at South High in the fall.

SCOTT MCCLOUD, author of "Understanding Comics," will speak on exploring sequential art through comics, 7-8:30 p.m. June 18 at the Wilda Marston Theatre at the Loussac Library. The event is free.