Graphic Novels — Marvel or DC?

What are you reading?
“I’m just looking at different things from Marvel Comics. I’m a big graphic-novel fan. I like the Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men series. I like the Marvel characters more than the DC characters. The Marvel characters, in the writing, they’re a lot more flawed, and their flaws give them the ability to conquer weakness. In the old times at DC, when the characters came out, they always knew right from wrong. When Marvel was coming out, they knew right from wrong, but there was always that gray area, and the writers seemed to like to get into it. Though, the newer versions of DC have gotten into it — things like The Dark Knight.”

What is Ultimate Spider-Man?
“First, there was The Amazing Spider-Man comic series, from maybe my parents’ day. They revamped it and made it more up-to-date, gave it a lot more issues. It’s more set in the current timeframe. But who Spider-Man is as a character has not changed.”

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Who is your favorite character?
“Spider-Man, because of his trials, what he has to go through. The death of his uncle. And every time they revamp him, they always start back in high school. Not only does he have to go through the high school drama — growing up from a boy into manhood, women, and everything — he also has to sort out right from wrong, like when he catches up with the person who murdered his uncle. Does he take his revenge? In The Amazing Spider-Man, I think he’s about to take his revenge when the police show up, and he thinks, Oh, I’ve got to do the right thing. It was the law indicating what was right. In Ultimate Spider-Man, I want to say he did the same thing, but it was more of a personal decision. What I also like about him is that when he’s fighting the bad guys, he’s always joking, always making fun of them. It makes it fresh and fun.”

Who is your favorite author?
“Ken Ham. He wrote The New Answers Book. He’s a Christian and a scientist, and he goes about in a scientific way, answering certain very well-known problems. Things like, ‘Do UFO’s exist?’ ‘Did God use evolution?’ ‘Did man and dinosaurs walk together?’ He won’t just say, ‘This is the Christian side, and this is where we get it in the Bible.’ He also takes the evolutionary side and makes it into a debate. He uses biblical references, but he also uses the scientific on top of that.”

What book was most life-changing for you?
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. The main character is called Christian — everybody’s character is their name. He talks to a person called Evangelist, and there’s another character named Doubt. It’s an allegorical image of the Christian walk and how the Christian sheds his burden as he walks the path. As he walks, he talks to different people who tell him about right and wrong. Some people show him the wrong path. Every saying correlates with the Bible. It strengthened my faith, and it also made me question things that I was doing. There’s the Swamp of Despondence. Despondence is like quicksand, always being down in the dumps, and he actually converts it into quicksand in the story. It’s where new Christians get stuck, and they don’t know what to do and they want to run away. It’s very self-examining.”

Do you read any magazines or newspapers?
“I read Game Informer. The articles are really well informed. They write about games that are coming out and also about the classic games — how they’re still fun even though they’re old; the storylines are still good.”

Name: JONATHAN SNYDER | Age: 24 | Occupation: UNITED STATES AIR FORCE MILITARY POLICE | Neighborhood: SANTEE | Where interviewed: BARNES & NOBLE IN GROSSMONT CENTER

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