The Most Fun I've Had

The most fun I've had in a long time was when I gave a presentation to my son's class.

He's in a grade 4-5 split and the whole class was doing a unit on comic books. Everyone had to review a graphic novel and answer a whole bunch of questions about the book (what kind of reader is it targeted towards? what does the cover say about the book? can you write a different ending for the book? etc. etc.)

Because I know an embarrassing amount of stuff about comic books, I asked his teacher if it would be possible for me to do a presentation to her students. She thought it was a great idea.

And then, wanting to do something informative and yet creative, I let the ideas percolate. I stewed them over. I let it all simmer and gently boil.

Eventually I came up with a framework that I liked, mapped it out in my mind, did some research, scribbled it out on paper and eventually pulled it all together.

I had my beginning. I had my conclusion. And I even had a great title for the whole thing. Most important of all, I liked what I was going to say.

On the day of the actual presentation I had the opportunity to write on the chalkboard and highlight every point I wanted to hit. I also took in samples of comic books -- a modern comic, a copy of a comic I read when I was a kid, some graphic novels, a copy of the script for the first issue of 'The Walking Dead' and even an original page of artwork from "Sandman". Oh, and to impress the kids I took in a copy of "The Art of Bone" that was signed by Jeff Smith -- it's always important to remember who your audience is.

When doing any sort of presentation I think there is always a risk that one might rely too heavily on a script -- if there is a complete sentence written on a note in front of a lecturer, it is guaranteed that they will stumble over the words as they try to read them. It's best to know what needs to be said and then allow the words to reveal themselves.

I wanted to make sure that my presentation flowed like a gentle stream in the quiet days of spring. (Repeat that simile quietly. Say it gently. Whisper it to yourself. That's what the presentation was to be like.) I had no notes other than those words that I had written on the board. I wanted to be able to move from point to point without feeling that I was trapped by structure.

Zen and the art of speech making -- the word will fall like the water drops from a dove's wing. And, if it helps, try to imagine that everyone is wearing frilly underwear.

My son introduced me to his class saying with a cheeky smile "This is my dad, Kevin", and that I had some things to say about graphic novels.

And then I started talking.

I told the class that I was going to talk about comic books. That I had been reading them for years and years, and that while I didn't know a lot about comic books from Japan or Europe, I would try to tell them about the history of comics in North America.

The first thing I did was ask them about the first word on the chalk board. I asked them if they knew what the word "geocentric" meant.

(Thankfully no one knew the exact definition of the word. In hindsight, had one little brainiac given me the answer it probably would have thrown off my just-getting-started rhythm.)

I explained that the word 'geocentric' is from 'geo' meaning 'earth' (as in geography) and 'centric' had to do with being in the center. The geocentric model of the universe had Earth at the center of the universe and the sun, the moon and all the planets revolving around us. And I explained how the model became more and more complicated as more planets were discovered and their moons were discovered and how eventually the whole model broke down.

And then I told to remember all of that because I was going to come back to it later.

And then I moved on.

I therefore started a presentation about comic books without talking about comic books. I started by talking about science. And I refused to tell them why it was important but that it was important and that we would come back to it later on.

And then I really got rolling.

From Sherlock Holmes and an audience demanding that a fictional character be brought back to life, to newspaper wars and immigrants learning to read, to Superman and the arrival of caped heroes, to funny animals and horror comics, to the crackdown because all teenagers are delinquents, the arrival of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four and Jack Kirby, and McFarlane learning from the tragedy of early creators, and the arrival of Alan Moore, and servicing the trademark versus owning the creation, and of course there was a mention of Bone.

And I watched for any shuffling of feet or roaming of eyes but I never noticed anyone being blatantly bored. I'm not suggesting that each and every one of them found it fascinating, but at no time did anyone yawn or start talking with a neighbor or try to interrupt me.

I kept it moving. I went from point to point and tried to make everything tie together.

How Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest creation out-lasted his creator and now everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is but most have forgotten his author. And the way that Sherlock Holmes is therefore a precursor for modern comic book heroes.

How Siegel and Shuster created the greatest hero the world has ever known, inspired an entire legion of imitators and made billions of dollars for the corporation that bought their character. And the way that Siegel and Shuster's fiscal error in judgment haunts comic creators to this day.

How after World War II comics started to mature with the readers who came back from the war and millions of comics were sold of all different genres -- westerns, funny animals, romance comics. And the way that the popularity of comics became their downfall when the violence and horror of some stories caused people to use them as a scapegoat.

And it all flowed from there. Bits and pieces from early in the presentation became more important as I talked. Sometimes I would think of something like the arrival and legally enforced departure of Captain Marvel and tie it into a certain point in history and use it to illustrate the power of a corporation protecting its copyright.

Siegel and Shuster would come back to the presentation as I spoke about Todd McFarlane and Alan Moore.

And Sherlock Holmes would return as I spoke about the never-ending, on-going nature of the stories and their heroes. How writer Grant Morrison would create his own characters but also create brilliant stories with Superman and Batman because he knew those characters, like Sherlock Holmes, would outlast us all.

I spoke with a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of insight and, most important of all, with enthusiasm.

At the end of the presentation I answered their questions as best I could and one of the students was kind enough to ask why I had written on the chalk board "Why Can't Johnny ______ Superman?"

And I thanked him because I had forgotten one thing that I had wanted to discuss and it was an economic and marketing problem for the entire comic book industry: Why Can't Johnny Buy Superman? And that led to a discussion about comic book distribution and graphic novels versus comic collections and why a local variety store doesn't carry comic books anymore.

I wrapped things up. The bell rang. Some students headed for the exit. But most of them came up to look at what I had brought to class and ask me questions.

Afterward I asked the teacher what she thought of the presentation. She said that with her class they would let you know when they were bored and that when the bell rang they got out of there as quick as they could. But they had been quiet during the presentation and they stuck around to ask additional questions. She felt it had gone really well.

The highest praise I received was from Gee. We talked about the presentation and I asked him how he thought it had gone, he said that it had gone "really good" and that some of his friends had said to him that I was cool.

And I told him that it was nice that they had said that. And very quietly I smiled to myself.

After more than forty years of collecting, comics are finally cool. And at that moment, for my son, perhaps I was cool, too.