I've decided what to get her: Greg Rucka's novelization of No Man's Land. I haven't read the book, but I loved the comics, and it's essentially what she wants: comics in book form. Maybe it'll help ease her into the world of comics by allowing her to get to know the characters in prose form.

I'd recommend Strangers in Paradise for her: it's easy to understand visually, and sometimes there are even lengthy text sections. And I second Strega's Why I Hate Saturn rec.

Rucka's No Man's Land novel is pretty good. He did a lot of the writing on the arc for the comics, after all.

My sister in law has the same problem with comics. Gianormous fan of Buffy and Angel and a voracious reader, but she just couldn't GET how to read comics.

Hell, she doesn't even like comic strips. It seems to be a thing.

I find it interesting (and occasionally frustrating). I don't think of comics as that far off of, say, Where the Wild Things are, but there seems to be a gap there for some people.

Following the narrative of sequential illustrations may be like understanding higher math, though. If you can understand how to do it instinctively, it may be hard to get how it's just nonsense to some people.

Me: And yet you do not actually want to read them.
Her: I want to want to read them.

It seems like maybe you are correct here and she doesn't want to read comics. Is she actually asking you for recommendations?

I might say "I don't really enjoy musicals; I wish I did." That doesn't mean I want to be given a list of musicals I should see. Because, well, I don't enjoy them.

It seems like maybe you are correct here and she doesn't want to read comics. Is she actually asking you for recommendations?

No, I've just been making suggestions since she brought up Free Comic Book Day. I'm sending her a bunch of free comics—she doesn't have any stores conveniently located, and she couldn't make a special trip on Saturday because of Shabbos—and the NML novelization, since she does want to read about the characters, just not in comic form. I looked back at some old conversations we had, and it seems that she dislikes everything that makes comics comics. As she put it, she's reading, but she doesn't get the benefits that come along with reading, i.e. getting to use her imagination since the drawings are right there.

But she still wishes she could get her free comics and keep trying, so she shall have them. Maybe one day it'll click for her, and maybe one day she'll finally give up. Who knows.

Blogger harshes on Storm. I don't see how Storm is a much more unattainable fantasy than Wonder Woman or Power Girl or Wolverine. We don't look like that, we don't do those things.

I still think she rocks.

Storm is one of the greatest and most influential characters in the history of superhero comics. She's had more great stories featuring her as the lead than any other female hero.

For Amych: The unaired Batgirl pilot from the sixties with Yvonne Craig. I had forgotten that her skirt reverses and converts into her cape, and that her mask can be disguised as a hat.

Bonus: Batgirl song with annoying chorus of "Whose baby are you?"

I just finished re-reading No Man's Land.