Interviewing My Older Cousin About Comics
His perspective on comics, the industry, and its overall importance
This past week one of my older cousins came to visit family and I decided to interview him. Mainly because of how nerd savvy he is in comparison to other members of the family.
His name is Michael Sayre, and yes I’m aware of the whole first name/last name thing, and he is by far one of the most influential nerds I’ve had in my life and am happy to call family. He’s played the original 1974 Dungeons & Dragons, has read comics and graphic novels his whole life, and even had DC Comics action figures as cake toppers for his wedding.
Regardless, I wanted to ask him about his opinion on comics, the industry, and what it all really meant to him in the long run.
Mike has read comics practically his entire life starting all the way from the Richie Rich, to Fantastic Four and Spiderman, to Hellboy. As he got older he much rather enjoyed reading graphic novels where the story arcs could be condensed into a singular issue, unlike the multitude of plots in both Marvel and DC universes. That being said, one of the biggest draws he had towards the medium was the variation in design of creator art stylization to heighten the experience of the story.
When I asked him what his opinion would be if he didn’t read comics and/or it didn’t exist at all, he stated that it just wouldn’t be possible. He elaborated by saying that in the case of if the medium didn’t exist at all, it more likely than not would happen that someone else creates it later on for people to enjoy.
For himself personally, he shared that it would have been way to unbelievable for him to never read/experience comics due to him initially being drawn to the medium by pure interest. Additionally, he shared that one of his best memories in first interacting with comics was when his father read the dialogue and sound effects out loud made him really think about how incredible the format of the piece truly could be used.
This prompted me to ask whether or not he thought that comics/graphic novels had a definitive impact on his identity as he grew up. He responded with an absolute “YES!” and further elaborated with two of his favorite characters: Spider-man and the Thing. He really resonated with these two characters in particular due to how “self-effacing,” “dependable,” “funny and supportive,” and just overall were the good guys in their stories that helped everyone else out. He gave examples of how Spider-man had to overcome many of his personal obstacles while he was still a teenager, and how the Thing had so brutally been beaten up but still did not give up for the sake of everyone else.
We then changed pace with focusing upon the industry itself, rather than delve into more personal narratives. The topic I wanted to get his insight on in particular was why and what the industry published for consumers to take pleasure in. His short answer was that “the companies want to make money,” in fact a lot of money in general.
He elaborated upon how many of the mainstream superhero movies that have been released in the past decade mainly are blatant cinematic adaptations of the comics he had read as a kid. He continued with how the comics that are created have now just become the base screenplays for the movies of the future focusing on that particular story. Additionally, it’s the exertion of power for the big companies over the smaller ones in regards to proprietary ownership and licensure management for the specific story arcs and characters.
Mike’s collection is currently at a total of roughly 10 average comic storage containers with some of his prized comics being a few original printings of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Jack Kirby’s Kamandi, and a few Marvel comics. With such a diverse spread of comics the real connecting factor is in the art design than anything else.
It’s easy for him to add onto his collection with being located near Powell’s City of Books and several well known comic book shops around Portland. In particular, he has been adding more Hellboy graphic novels by Mike Mignola and Nick Fury Agent of Shield comics as well.
Overall, I had a lot of fun interviewing my cousin and learning more about his connections/opinions regarding comics and graphic novels. Especially considering I have a long way to go in immersing myself in comics and their history as a fellow nerd. Thank you again Michael for this interview and everything related!
