The Golden Age of Comic Books is 12

[woodwardiocom]

(In this post, Jon spins crazy theories in fields he has no degree in. I.e., much half-assed noodling follows.)

-The title of this post is an axiom from the comic book field. The comics that any particular person thinks are the greatest, are the ones he or she encountered around age 12. That happens with a lot of stuff. With me, it's giant robots. There was some imported anime on afternoon TV in New England, back in the early 80s, and I watched it religiously. It stuck with me.

-I have a theory as to why it's age 12. Back when we were living in caves, starting around age 12 there was a chance you were the proud parent of a new kid. And, if there's one thing babies need, it's a lot of watching. If your parents kept a close eye on you -- were fascinated by you, and thought you were the coolest thing around -- you grew up to have kids of your own, and get fascinated by them. Part of our brains evolved to get "hooked" on whatever new stimulus was around, at the time we began puberty.

-Ergo, the reason I'm into giant robots, is because part of my brain feels paternal toward them. Frankly, this is kind of a disconcerting conclusion . . .

Comments

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Twelve's a bit early to have completed puberty, especially with pre-modern diets; the field of science fiction has been claimed to have a "golden age" 14 (among others), which is much better fit to reproductive ripeness. Personally, my "golden age" year for science fiction was 10, 13 for comics, and I ripened about 15.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Hm. Onset of mearche at 14, and a continuing fondness for ElfQuest and Darkover that persists to this day despite having encountered better stuff since.

I have most definitely gotten over my fondness for the Elric books, though, even though I loved them then.

And I'm pretty sure I read Amber a little later. Still close on around there, though.

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

Based on this, I'm paternally bonded to men with adamantium claws
and women who can walk through walls.
My God! It all makes sense now! Oh wait, no it doesn't.
Nevermind.

The Summer Of 1984

[(Anonymous)]

I feel this theory applies to music/movies as well. The summer of '84 rocked, man! I think it has something to do with the fact that age 12 is the best year of a boy's life. All the advantages of childhood, none of the drawbacks of puberty.
---Nathaniel