It's just a comic.

So this man is Judge Dredd, the guy I've been spending a lot of time watching, reading and sometimes dreaming I am. He's a total git, and not a very nice guy, but as I said before, he does his job well and he's just trying to make Mega City One a better place.

But one thing that keeps making me laugh, and I'll probably never stop laughing about it, is his hatred of Batman.

He really hates the guy, because he's a vigilante and because Judge Anderson who is perfect stole him instead of him doing time because Dredd was being a sulky bitch and refusing to actually help him save Gotham. The first time they meet, they actually spend the first few pages fighting and insulting each other. I could have read an entire comic about it. There's a picture some way down of their meeting.

Today, I wandered downstairs for breakfast and tea, and there was another Dredd and Batman comic waiting for me, and I swear - and this is a show of how they feel toward each other - that the plot is Dredd cutting across universes to get revenge, because he's still bitter that Batman didn't serve his time. He really hates vigilantes.

I didn't open the comic, because it's in a plastic sleeve, and there's old yellowed tape holding it shut so dust doesn't get on it. The comic itself looks to be in pretty good condition, and the tape doesn't look like it's been touched in years. So yeah, it's probably there for me, but I can't be sure. My brother came downstairs and asked if it's mine, since it wasn't his. I'm guessing dad left it there, or some wonderful being heard I like Dredd and left me a gift, either way.

From 'Judgement on Gotham'. They really have issues.

When I explained why I haven't opened it, he said the tape isn't that well put on, so why not. He doesn't get that stuff like this, it's special to me. I want to protect comics. I have two or three original Thor comics that are in dire need of being put in some sleeves, and it worries me to think about them.

His words, and you may have guessed them from my title were 'it's just a comic'. Really offhand, like there was nothing interesting about the book on the couch.

But to me, it really isn't. Like everything I love, a comic is a way to escape for a little while. It's a way to find out more about a character I adore. Dredd's a right bastard, to be sure, and we're not supposed to really be on his side, because although I don't break laws, he's probably hate my outlook on life. Batman compares him to the Gestapo at some point, which is probably more accurate that I'd like to think about.

But it isn't just a comic. It never is. People have put a lot of time and effort into every comic that comes out, scripting it, plotting it, drawing and inking. The epics, the stories that cover months, they take careful planning. Calling it that, like it's nothing, is not only disrespectful to the way I had been laughing and voicing my thoughts minutes before-hand as I tend to do when overrun with emotions about something, excited as I looked at the cover and murmured 'Joe what the fuck do you think you're doing, this isn't how a Judge is meant to behave, you're such a git', but it's also disrespectful to the people that put the work into it.

I have a lot of feelings for comics, for the way they transport the reader for a litle while, and how safe and comfortable I feel when I'm in a comic store. It's quickly becoming a small hope of mine to work in one when I move. Brighton has to have a comic store. If it doesn't, I'll try for Orbital Comics in London, I don't mind.

So it's never just whatever it is that somebody is claiming not to be important. It exists because people put care and time into it, and that makes it something.