THE FAIRY TALE OF YOUTH

I recently chanced upon a fantastic comic book. I can't afford to read comics as proliferantly as I used to, so my reading is very restricted lately. Yet, over the weekend Mrs. Agent M and I sauntered into the comic store "just to look" and came away with a few issues whose art spellbound us into buying.

It wasn't just the art, in my case. It was the story.

The comic is called "Namor" and is based on the Marvel character of the same name. Set in the 1920's, a young Atlantean Prince named Namor comes to the surface world and meets a girl. He's mysterious about his origins, and she is unafraid of his enigmatic demeanour. They have an instant connection; the kind you only find in fairy tales.

Too, they're young; when they first meet, they're only ten years old and every bit of their meeting is carefree abandon and innocence; six years later they still have their innocence but now at the gateway to adulthood are more curious about each other, and more aware of the taboos of society-- which injects an element of the Forbidden into their meeting.

This is what fascinates me and, I think, every other fan of fairy-tale mythology out there. The themes are constant throughout humanity: Youth at the Brink of Adulthood, that magical time of discovery that is still coupled with innocence.

It's riveting. Mesmerizing. It draws the eye-- we see young people on the cover of a book, we're curious to know more-- we read a bit and see that the story is about first times and self-discovery, we buy it-- we take it home and enter the characters' world and see bits of our idealized selves and perhaps fond memories of similar times that we have had.

The story speaks to us, even if we are not charming Atlantean princes or winsome girls on beaches. We remember the years of discovery. We remember first times. Bitter or sweet, the Mythology of Youth beckons us all to remember-- and when we are young, it entices us to imagine the potential of what could be.

The art is amazing in this comic; it captures the pensiveness, awkwardness and puckish spirit of Namor and Sandy. It makes us interested in them. We want to know, as adults, what path they will choose for themselves and as youth, we want to see how this is going to turn out, because ANYTHING can happen.

These are some of my favorite stories. To those of you that think comic books cannot be "true" art due to their nature, I challenge you to read of characters like Robin, Impulse, Superboy; Wonder Girl and Arrowette. Within each of these four-color hero characters lies the seed of the Mythology of Youth, enduring and real and part of every culture on Earth.

This story was a real find, because it isn't just a story. It's magic. And it touches all of us.

Namor, a miniseries by Marvel Comics. Issues 1, 2 and 3 still available at your local comics store.

Posted by Agent M at September 03, 2003 12:02 PM