Well, the summer movie season is upon us. In my youth, there were times when I honestly considered this to be the highlight of my year. As I grew older, wiser, less naïve, I became painfully aware of the fact that groundbreaking special effects typically equate to plotlines as thin as the paper the scripts are printed on.

However, in recent years, I’ve cooled on my harsh outlook on summer flicks due largely to the insurgence of comic book movies. Particularly Spider-Man. With the sequel now upon us in just over a month, I feel compelled to wistfully revisit my childhood in a brash exhibit of nostalgic fervor.

Translation: I’m catching up on my long overdue comic book reading.

Y’know, hard as it may be to believe, I was a geek during my formative years.

Please… withhold the overwhelming yearning to humor me.

What can I say? Some kids were all about sports, some all about music or art, I was all about comic books. Having said that, I have no shame in admitting that I was collecting regularly up to my senior year in high school, and I have the sizeable collection to prove it. But unlike a lot of money-hungry, flavor-du-jour collectors, I actually read a large portion of the books in my collection, and once again, I have no shame in admitting this. Nor do I have any shame in admitting that I am to this day drawn to the media as a true art form, and in many respects, a more legitimate escape than film ever could be.

Oh, sure, I’m not able to peruse the shelves of my local comic shop as often as I’d like, and even if I were, I have, shall we say, more mature expenses to deal with nowadays (e.g., gas, phone bills, and the like) that bar me from spending big on my once-beloved hobby as much as I’d like to.

But still, once every few months, I go on major Amazon and eBay shopping sprees, scouring for trade paperback bargains. I still love reading the damn things, and if you asked me why, I’m not sure I could give you a straight answer.

I would respond the same way if you were to ask me why Spider-Man holds rank over everyone else. Truth be told, I always gravitated to Spidey and Batman for some strange reason. For the longest time, I even neglected to touch anything involving the X-Men or Spawn, even during the “X-and-Image Boom” of the early 90’s. And forget Superman. I never liked Superman. With the exception of the first two films starring Christopher Reeve, I can honestly say that I have no fond memories of old Supes growing up. Yet I can still remember most of the storylines from old issues of The Amazing Spider-Man and Batman that I bought when I was a kid. Issues that I read so many times they literally fell apart, aging tenfold due to frequent readership.

It was an addiction. It was an obsession. It was freakin’ beautiful.

I mean, I can relate to Spidey and Bats. Peter Parker is just an average Joe trying to get by, be as much of a family man as he can, care for his friends and loved ones while balancing a job and fighting giant lizards and a whole assortment of “Goblins” riding jet-gliders. He’s the everyman. Clichéd as it may sound, Spider-Man stood for every blue-collar cat trying to make ends meet. As for Batman, Bruce Wayne was the epitome of the brooding introvert. He took the most visceral aspect of mankind’s id, and transformed himself into a walking fear factory for criminals who are, by his own definition, “a superstitious, cowardly lot.” But he had no superpowers. He didn’t come from the planet Batulon, nor was he bitten by a radioactive bat. He was just a human, plain and simple.

How the hell can I relate to a guy that not only has x-ray vision and can fly, but also is stronger than any mortal man? The answer is simple. I can’t! I suppose I can understand why people go gaga for him… I mean, who wouldn’t want to fly and be stronger than Dick Cheney’s body odor after a game of tennis? But I still can’t relate to the character…

And don’t even get me started on X-Men. I knew why everyone loved those books. “Wolverine’s got wicked cool claws, w00t!” Well, I’ll give ya that. And there were a few other solid characters in those storylines, but man oh man, were those continuities ever butchered time and time again. I find it very funny that the height of the X-Books’ popularity during the 90’s was synchronous with some of the most bizarre, convoluted storylines ever. If it wasn’t for the whole Spider-Clone fiasco, stuff like the Onslaught and Joseph would’ve gone down as the worst stuff in recent Marvel history. I’ll give the movies this much; they are doing a tremendous job of treating and condensing the best of the old X-storylines for Hollywood.

But man, the Spider-Man movie was just great in my book. It did so much to really bring the character into the limelight as it should be.

And it’s a beautiful thing, ‘cause it’s something I can share with my dad, my friends, and my ten-year-old cousin.

And now I find myself in love with an amazing, beautiful, fun, hilarious, brilliant, artistic, soulful woman, and guess what? She digs comic books, too. I’m surprised she didn’t come right out and say, “Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!”

OK, if you recognize that quote, you’re almost as lame as I am for putting it in that context…

But it is the jackpot, and it’s an incredible thing. She makes me feel like a kid again. She makes me wanna eat ice cream in the middle of a hot summer’s day. She makes me wanna watch over-the-top blockbuster movies. And yeah, she makes me wanna read comic books.

I’m not sure where I’m going with all this, as I’ve gotten more tangential than usual. How about we just leave it at the fact that I’m so bloody happy now, it’s all kinds of amazing.

Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.