GUEST WRITER: Sebastian Rodriguez
When freshman Liam Dalrymple walked into Fanfare Comic Books for the first time he had no idea it would change his life forever.
Unlike most high schoolers who rely on their electronic devices for entertainment, Dalrymple finds amusement by reading comic books.
Dalrymple has a little over 50 comic books. Although he hasn’t read all of them, he still enjoys collecting them. Dalrymple is much like Adam Hosler, the precalculus, calculus and AP calculus teacher at Loy Norrix High School. Like Dalrymple, Hosler got into comic books at a young age and has been collecting them ever since.
“I probably have 10-15 thousand comic books worth almost $40,000,” said Hosler.
While Dalrymple’s collection is much smaller, he hopes to someday grow his collection to resemble Hosler’s.
Both of these individuals are very similar although they were brought up in different eras.
Hosler grew up in the 1980s and relied on comic books as a way to escape the real world. Dalrymple sees comic books in the same light and uses them for the same purpose Hosler does.
Hosler and Dalrymple both prefer Fanfare to fulfill all of their comic book needs. Fanfare is a locally owned comic book shop located on the corner of Westnedge and Kilgore.
When it comes to comic books, Hosler and Dalrymple both prefer paperback comics to digital comics.
“They [paperback comics] are a lot more collectible and have a better value and worth,” said Dalrymple.
Hosler agrees. “I still have to have the actual paper in hand. I have some digital stuff, but I just like the feel of the comics themselves,” said Hosler. “My favorite superhero is Batman because he [Batman] doesn’t have any superpowers but he still manages to take down some of the strongest villains,” said Dalrymple.
Batman is an orphan billionaire who handles Wayne Enterprises by day and fights crime at night. Batman was created by DC in 1939.
“My favorite hero would have to be Captain America, I just like the look and the stories,” said Hosler.
Captain America is a World War ll hero who has super serum injected into his body in order to become a super soldier and fight the Nazis and Hydra. Captain America was created by Marvel in 1941.
Two of the main comic book publishers are Marvel and DC.
Marvel was founded in 1939 under the original name of Timely Comics by Martin Goodman. The first comic published by Marvel Comics was called “Marvel Comics #1.” Marvel has undoubtedly grown into one of the biggest corporations in the world, all thanks to the comic book publishings that Hosler and Dalrymple both treasure dearly.
DC was founded in 1934 by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson under the original name of National Allied Publications. The first comic released by DC was “New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1,” which was released in February of 1935.
DC has also had a lot of cinematic success with movies such as The Dark Knight (2008), which is often regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time due to Heath Ledger’s breathtaking portrayal of The Joker. His performance is often seen as better than Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of The Joker in the 1989 Batman movie directed by Tim Burton.
Comic books are an integral part of American History as they have always been available when the American people needed a hero figure.Prime examples of this are Captain America and Superman who were available to the American people during World War II.
Superman and Captain America gave the American people hope that someday the world might be a better place and they continue to instill that same hope in Dalrymple and Hosler today.
