Jim Shepard shares the books and people who had an impact on his life “Phase Six” author Jim Shepard is the author of multiple books of short stories, novels and nonfiction. Got any recommendations for me? Please send them to and they might appear in the column. So if you like reading and you like swag, check out your local branch. And a former colleague shared on social media that she’d just signed up for a late summer reading challenge. Or join the Los Angeles Public Library summer reading event, which is still seeking readers because I just got an email about it. You might, like one reader you know, earn yourself a coffee mug like this: This cool reading challenge swag also holds my coffee. How about going to the library? I previously wrote about summer reading events, and here’s a thing that surprised me: They still are going on. Speaking of loving to read, this might be that part of the summer where you or your kids are getting a little antsy and need a distraction. May they have a good time and come away with something they love to read. So, back to reading and comic books and Comic-Con: I’m hoping the kids there this year find some great new titles, as well as maybe some I’ve enjoyed, like the Amulet series or “Zita the Space Girl” or “Dragon Hoops” or “Stickman Odyssey” or “Sheets” or “Bone” or the Three Thieves series and plenty more. Some very good books sometimes have pictures. When I think about the masses of people at Comic-Con who interact so well, change seems possible. Changes need to come, as many have, from within the industry through fans speaking up and being heard. No hero is just going to swing in and make it all better. Or, as someone recently bemoaned, the seeming inability to make a single Batman movie that you can take a small child to without worrying it’ll be too dark and violent. Of course, there are lots of ways the larger comic book culture fails: inequality of representation and pay lack of diversity in its content and the industry troll-like fans who make it an unwelcoming place for women, people of color and the LGBTQ community. On our way out of WonderCon, my kids and I stopped to thank Darwyn Cooke for his great “DC: The New Frontier” series, and the artist and writer, who died not long after in 2016, drew pictures on our badges in return. I’ll see you again next year, pal.” It was lovely.Īnd I’ve had wonderful interactions with writers and artists there when just running into them on the floor, like writers Tom King and V. On the last day of the convention a few years ago, I remember seeing two men awkwardly embrace, saying something like, “I can’t believe it’s over already. “I love the joy of seeing everyone here,” a San Diego doctor told our reporter Peter Larsen yesterday. People are happy to be there and generally pretty nice to each other, which is a feat in crowded convention halls that always feel crowded, sweaty and hot. While the event can be seen as a catch-all punchline for jokes about nerds or an example of media conglomerates taking over formerly homespun fan events, the best thing about it is how so much of it is a display of good-natured fun and camaraderie. I’m writing this as San Diego Comic-Con is taking place this week, returning to relative normality (but with masks and vax cards and other attempts to stem the spread of COVID-19 at the event). Visitors during the first day of Comic-Con in San Diego, CA, on July 21, 2022.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Fury and his Howling Commandos definitely fueled my interest in history. Sure, I probably learned more about World War II than say, the Constitution or Reconstruction, but Sgt. Weirdly, there was a Sheldon short story or excerpt in one of our middle-school readers and I thought, I wonder what else this fella has written about? Embarrassment ensued when adults wondered about my interest in the work of the author of sexy 1970s paperbacks like “The Naked Face” and “The Other Side of Midnight.”īut something that gets lost in the discussions about comic books is that they can be an excellent referral system to discover other writers and books, films and TV series, and historical events. My parents didn’t seem overly interested in what I read, though they were a little concerned when a librarian told them I’d requested some Sidney Sheldon – which, to be fair, was totally true. I needed a place to escape and comics, and later books, provided the getaway vehicle. I had parents who either supported or modeled reading as an activity in a house full of kids (5!), dogs (5!), cats (3!), other animals and various long-term houseguests. I’m fortunate to have found something I enjoyed and that I was allowed to enjoy it. Some graphic novels from more recent years.
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