All The Best Comics Have Daddy Issues - #1

This column is going to look at the comic gonzo Ryan K Lindsay. Sometimes it will look at certain comics but generally it is just going to look at the man himself. If you’ve dug his work here and wouldn’t mind peaking behind the curtain at the man pulling the strings to get those analytical words on the screen then this might interest you; if you constantly disagree with him then you might not care. Either way, he’s just become a father and he needs somewhere to vent and this is going to be the place. Kirk doesn’t mind and so we’ll see what you, dear constant reader, think of all this. Hit the jump to read Elliptical Introductions.

Elliptical Introductions: Ryan K Lindsay Talks About Ryan K Lindsay

Alright, I’ll drop from third person to the first and make things a little bit more personal up in here. This is an ongoing column where I’m going to detail what it’s like to be a nascent father and a rabid comic buyer/reader/gonzo. Perhaps sometimes I’ll give some tips that’ll help another man manage life with his wife, his child, and his comics; and hopefully still in that order. If I raise a pertinent issue, that’ll be good, if I get some help, that’ll be great, but if I simply get it off my chest, then that’ll be realistic and that’s all I’m after.

I wanted to take this introductory column to set the lay of the land round these here parts. If you’re going to understand what I’m talking about then you need to know what I’m talking about (you know what I’m talking about?). So, let’s get the main stuff out of the way.

My name is Ryan K Lindsay. I can remember reading comics as a child but I can remember reading lots of different things. I was always reading, a real book worm, but I had my reasons for escaping into fantasy, but that’ll probably be detailed in a future column (needless to say, it ties in well with the column title). I read whatever my brother had so I was a Marvel kid all the way, and those were the bad old days where you had to choose a side of the fence to fall; you were either Marvel or DC. There were no in betweens and this decision predated Image or anything else. I was a Marvel kid by default as it came through my brother’s DNA. I never read runs of anything, I just liked reading whatever I could find and he always had plenty of different things around in boxes. Then I found the first, reprint, issue of Vault of Horror and I was converted. From there I have experienced decades of novels and film and life and found that there’s plenty of room for everything.

I went off to university where I stopped imbibing any kind of periodic entertainment with any kind of schedule. I drank bag wine pretty frequently but I stopped watching The Simpsons. I saw maybe 5-6 movies a year but completely forgot about comics. I’d read all of my novels in the holidays breaks because once term started back up there was only time for pre-game drinks, post-game AGB’s and in between hangovers. I also studied and graduated on time, just.

I became a teacher and it would be early in my career that my brother would buy me the first trade of The Walking Dead. We love zombies, sample them in all genres and mediums, and so this was a present my brother came to via Amazon recommendations. I read the first issue in the trade and was underwhelmed; then I finished the trade and I’ve chased this rabbit down the hole of 11 more trades ever since. I’ve also read plenty of other trades of plenty of other titles in the subsequent years.

Strangely enough, I’ve also managed to get married in those subsequent years, and to a lady who is at least 3 points higher than me on the hot scale, every man’s dream (it also makes for interesting discussion; if every man wants to marry a lady hotter than him why do all women seem to settle for us schlubs as they get wedded?). She even handles my office full of comics and a laptop keyboard constantly clacking as I type reviews, think pieces, and even some creative writing. For the context of these columns she will be referred to as; the lady.

A more recent situation has been the brewing and percolating of life within the lady. It’s been 9 months and this means we now have our baby boy, Parker. I don’t profess to know everything about parenthood, yet, but I know that everything I know will be turned upside down. That’s where this column comes in; any issues I have (in life, not of comics, though it will have a decidedly comic related bent to it all) will be raised here, deconstructed, worked through and opened up to you all in the hopes of mutually helping each other. I’ll entertain you (maybe…) and maybe you’ll help me (either through explicit advice or simply just having the whole anonymous shoulder for me to lean on available at all times). For the context of these columns Parker will be referred to as; the little fella.

Parenthood excites me, scares the crap out of me, intrigues me, and ultimately seems like it might be the best thing I’ve ever been suited for. Finding out we were having a baby was like reading a solicitation preview, except for 8 months in advance, and now I’ve scripted my Hype Machine of it all and I can’t wait to write some reviews of the whole experience. I hope you don’t mind reading them, and maybe you can even comment just to let me know if I’m on the right track.

Oh, I should also mention the banner image you saw upon entry. That bad boy was made just for me by artistic legend, and my good pal, Sean Hartter. You probably remember him from his amazing Comic Movie Posters that I covered a while back. If you head to his site you can even buy some of his prints, so don't be shy, go say hello.

Conclusion

This is a column about a comic reader/fan/journo and it’s going to try to toe the line between comics and fatherhood and just the big fat slice of life between those two in general. It’s going to be personal and something different and I hope y’all enjoy it just a little. So, here’s an introductory question; how many viewers of this site are fathers, and how many kids do you have, how old are they, and what intro advice can you give me?

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