The Four Comics I Can’t Live Without

A few years ago, when I was counting down to my hundredth post on this site, I profiled the four comic books I’d found since my return to reading comics which had become indispensable to my reading life.  These were the comics that, even if I stopped collecting comics again, I couldn’t imagine putting down.  They showcased, for me, the best of what a comic could offer while doing things I never imagined a comic book could.  They were (in the order I wrote about them in my countdown), Marvel’s Ms. Marvel, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, IDW’s Ghostbusters, and Marvel’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.  Thinking of those titles now, I can still feel the burgeoning excitement and awe that accompanied my return to comic reading.  They also make me think of impermanence.

So…let’s all try to be Champions

The opening page of Champions #5 shows a mosque in flames.  As this angry, ignorant, intolerant hate crime burns, the Champions arrive in Daly County to help.  Sure, they’ve had traditional superhero skirmished before.  But their focus is on something larger.  They honestly believe they can make the world a better place.  Guided by that belief, the Champions are working to honor the vow they made in issue #1.  Ms. Marvel told Spider-Man and Nova, ” All the ‘grown-up’ heroes broke the world with this dumb war…and they don’t seem interested in putting it back together!  Somebody has to!”  That’s the Champions.