The other day, the S.O. and I stopped by a comic shop I'd never been in. As I was rifling through the back issue bins (they were having 1/2-off sale -- I finally completed my run of 1990s Namor) she was browsing the new indie racks, and came across Ed Brubaker's and Sean Phillips' Fatale. It intrigued her for whatever reason, and she was asking me where to start with it because they had issues 12 and 13 on the rack, plus what looked like a reprint of #1. I flipped through them (never having actually read much about them) and saw an ad for the first trade paperback. I stepped over to the indie TPB shelf and there was the book in question. We bought that (and a few things for me) and we were on our way.She started reading when we got home. After a little while we had to leave to meet some friends, and she took the book with her, finishing it in the car. She then talked about she really liked it and was really, really impressed with the story.
Now, let me back up a few years. When I first met her in 2008, this was her opinion of comic books...
I'm just being honest here! I never got into comics. The closest I came to like one was watching Sin City in the theatre. Even then it reminded me of the reasons why I couldn't stand comic books. A lot of misogyny and racism. Even as a kid I caught on to it. Maybe things have changed, but that ship has sailed for me.At the time, I told her that not all books were like that and she was open-minded enough to try a few things I suggested. She's seen how interested and invested I am in the medium, and has been really supportive of me in that. (Much moreso than my ex-wife, I should say! She was, at best, kind of tolerant with my comics hobby.) The S.O. has even read several books I suggested, and said she actually enjoyed them. But Fatale was the first one I think that she's REALLY gotten excited about.
Yesterday, she evidently spent some time at work doing some research online, and found that, yes, there was indeed a second TPB out there. We weren't able to get to a comic shop, but she was still super eager to read it. So I purchased it on comiXology so she could read it on her ipad. She started last night, and stayed up well past her intended bedtime, only stopping when she realized just how late it had gotten.
She texted me this afternoon to say that she may have put off some of her work today to finish reading the book.
She's now quite eager to get back to the story, but noted that she didn't think she'd prefer the shorter chunks in a pamphlet format, and would rather wait until the next TPB comes out next month.
I don't know how you measure success, but considering she's gone a full 180 from five years ago, I'd call that a win for Team Comics!
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