At this point in time, everyone in the country (and around the globe) has been isolated and quarantined far too long. The COVID-19 crisis has threatened our health, disrupted our lifestyles and generally turned the world upside-down.
Not to diminish the importance of the pandemic, but maybe--just maybe--there has been a way to cope with this right under our noses all along. I can't think of a better way to occupy my downtime--stuck in my house and trying to maintain my "social distance"--then catching up on my reading. And what better place to start than with the four-color fantasy of comic books?
Now, I may be slightly biased--having been an avid comic book fan for more than a half-century and a comics professional since the 1970s--but nothing beats spending a few quiet hours with a stack of comics or (in the case of Hyper Epics) with a laptop, scrolling through a few of our three-page masterpieces.
Think about it. I'd be willing to wager than most of us--men, women and the occasional ET who may be reading this--have fond memories of thumbing through well-worn copies of our favorite comic books.
I can't be the only one here who read and re-read comics as a youngster until the covers were ready for fall off. And that was, usually, when our well-intentioned mothers insisted we toss them.
I vividly recall, lo these many decades later, when my mom threw out an old issue of Wonder Woman while I was at school. It was a classic comic from the '50s that had committed only one fatal crime: it had lost its cover and so, in my mom's eyes, had lost its value. I think I may have cried that night. I wasn't finished re-reading that comic yet.
Maybe this is the perfect time to combat the evils of this pandemic with the inherent goodness of comic books. Or, at least, with the joy of reading our little Epics on a computer screen.
Try it out today. Read one (or more) of our original stories. And then try to tell me you don't feel better for it. The real world can wait. The world of the imagination is calling.
Enjoy.
Peace,
Thomas A. Tuna
Managing Editor