10 Comics You Should Re-Read As An Adult
Comics you loved as a kid, but are in urgent need of a fresh perspective.
There are few experiences as transforming to a young mind than reading their first comic book. Whether you started with the big two, Archie, IDW, Dark Horse etc. Everyone remembers their first one. Or at least they remember the first one that made them start really getting into the medium and taking it seriously.
Conversely, there's nothing quite as guaranteed to make you reevaluate your entire personal identity than going back to something you love and finding the spark that it lit in you before is gone. You're older now, more experienced - what wowed you before just doesn't do it for you anymore.
Being a medium primarily made for children, comics are one of the most common examples of going back to something as an adult and not being able to love it quite as much anymore. But they're also the biggest source for going back to something you disregarded or even adored as a child and finding something magical you never knew was there before. Now the thing you loved before means even more to you.
There are tons of ways going back to re-read a comic as an adult can go for you. Not all of them good, but it's always worth doing...
10. The Infinity Gauntlet
Sometimes you need to re-read a comic as an adult in order to reevaluate the quality thereof (and trust me, we'll be getting to those), and sometimes you should go back to it because there's a lot of underlying stuff that you missed beforehand because you were a child and probably assumed "symbolism" was a weird marching band based religion and kept getting weird looks when you went to join.
Oh, that was just me? Alright then.
A prime example of the latter is Infinity Gauntlet, the inspiration behind Avengers Infinity War. Having the movie to compare it to now would be reason enough to go back and re-read it to study the differences and the implications thereof. But there's a ton more to this story that most kids reading it the first time just didn't see.
The story is obviously an exploration of power and its effects on those who wield it, both how it can corrupt us but also how it can give us some much needed perspective. But watching Thanos interact with Lady Death reveals another thematic layer: entitlement, toxic masculinity and the self destructive nature of both.
The story is just as grand and epic as it was when you read it as a kid, but maybe reading it again will provide a deeper understanding and appreciation for this classic event comic.