I guess I expected something else. What's the point of being a superhero if you let the government regulate you?
Actually, I think that is exactly what the government would do. Can't have people with super-human powers doing good walking about. That is the government's job. And its a common theme in many of the books I think of as "great"
As for comics/graphic novels, I had the same opinion till college. I had a room mate who had a huge collection, and kept pestering me to read
"The Dark Knight Returns" - I was thinking Batman- The Cheesy 60s show and kept throwing him off. Finally I read it, and all I could say was WOW. The Dark Knight Returns is the inspiration for the recent movies. The original Batman in the 30s and 40s was also very dark - and Frank Miller returned to that - only now Batman is over 60 and coming out of a retirement. Amazing stuff, and the images still stick with me, not to mention that it has only become more relevant as time wears on. The main theme is an investigation of Good Vs. Evil, and the necessity of becoming evil in some ways yourself in order to fight it.
From there I started reading my roomate's copies of
Cerebus by Dave Sim and continued to read them long after college. I still re-read them every few years or so. A lot of good humor,parodies of other popular comics (including Dark Kight) and a lot of interesting political commentary, and much to be offended by if you are the sort to allow it. (It does take on a bit of a train wreck appeal towards the end, where Dave Sim obviously starts to get a bit "mental", but after following the little grey beast for 15 years already, I went and pushed to the end. I felt it was a worthwile excercise, but I would understand others not finding it so. Stop after Church and State II if you ust want funny and entertaining, and not "wow, this guy is loosing it, I wonder how far the insanity will get?" - spolier warning- the answer is ALL THE WAY. )
My roommate also had
Sandman by Gaiman and
The Watchmen - but I didn't get around to reading Watchmen till much later, and Sandman, well, its still on my list. Watchmen also deals with that same government theme - of regulated Superheros, and really is probably the BEST "Graphic Novel" ever written. If you only read one in your lifetime, that should be the one. The movie adaptation was decent, and while many complained of the change of the ending, I personally thought the movie ending was better. But still another work that will have you thinking about it long after you are done reading, and dealing with the real liberal/conservative divide, and like Dark Knight, it has only become more relevant since it was written.
Finally, I ordered
Bone because, like Firefly, Amazon just kept recommending it and wouldn't leave me alone, and I found my old roommate had been Reading it as well. It is the second longest comic produced by an independent ( Cerebus is the longest by a wide margin) and really a quite enjoyable story, but it lacks the deeper social commentary of the others listed above.
My old roommate really had superb taste, and quite frankly the books he had were the ones that all of these newbies (Civil War) are trying to emulate (and usually failing)
