Introducing… FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS
The greats go by one name: Cher… Madonna… Beyoncé… Franco.
FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS! By FRANCO So what if you like nerd things? I like nerd things. It’s fun! I have fun with all that stuff! And if you have fun, why not enjoy yourself? Sometimes I’m not sure, but my wife gets that I like these things. My wife is an enabler for my nerdiness. Here’s a picture of my son and me. I’m in the Aquaman hoodie if you couldn’t tell. I remember asking my wife if these were silly. She said, “Yes. You look like an absolute dork.” Then I remember asking if I should get them. To which she replied, “Yes, they look adorkable.” Again… I like being a nerd. So why are you telling us this, Franco? Good question! It’s a bit of a reach — but you’ll get my point… and you get to see me in an Aquaman hoodie! Don’t be jelly! OK. So. Long-form storytelling has benefits that enriched my life growing up. Why do I like characters like Aquaman or Spider-Man (or heck, any number of characters)? I was thinking about this one day. A long-form story allows for deeper character development, more world building. I became more attached to characters on a page with just the written word, or by reading comics, words and pictures over years of reading. I so identified with Spider-Man as a young kid, because he was a young kid. I think I got my sense of humor from Spider-Man too. I got bullied a lot as a kid. My parents didn’t really believe in violence and fighting in school so I was usually the one that got beat up because I didn’t fight back. But I kind of did fight back in my own way. I would use words. I’ve been told I’m pretty funny. So I would say things to people sometimes. And as the fist was flying toward my face, I would sometimes question the thing I said that resulted in said fist flying toward my face. But I got that from Spider-Man. The quips. Not the superpowers. But I also got deeper meaning from those stories. Perspectives I had not considered before. A higher purpose and morality in life. A kindness for my fellow human being. Impactful stories that instilled in me a sense that I can be a good...
FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS Meets ROBIN WEEK! — Welcome to ROBIN WEEK! One of the greatest heroes in comics history debuted 85 years ago, on March 6, 1940 — and we’re celebrating with a series of features saluting the Boys, Girls and Teens Wonder. For the complete index of features, click here. — By FRANCO Robin’s 85th anniversary! That guy looks younger than I do! Why does everyone like Robin? In all the years I’ve been around comics I’ve rarely heard anyone say they hate Robin as a character. Well… except when you’re a kid and you’re with your cousins and you all decide to play Justice League and everyone is older than you and then they pick which character they’re going to be over your protests that you (OK, I) want to be Superman, but you are told no because you’re not tall enough and too young. And then you’re told you couldn’t be Batman because you’re not tall enough, and you’re still too young, AND not cool enough, because Batman is cooler looking. Or at least that was the argument between Superman cousin and Batman cousin. So you’re not Superman or Batman or any other League members, as they are summarily taken over by my cousins (I have a lot of cousins). So, in order to play Justice League, we decide to raid the linen closet in my aunt’s house so we could all find the appropriate color towel — uh, I mean cape — to wear. This, as you could imagine, was another argument: Green Lantern doesn’t wear a green cape, just a ring, and you argue with your older cousin that “he does now” is not a valid argument! Skipping to the end, Green Lantern gets his green cape. Many arguments later about a number of different things: The Wonder Twins are Super Friends, but NOT in the Justice League. And we don’t have any twins here anyway. I don’t want to be the twins. I especially do not want to be Gleek. And so on. They go all the way down the roster and ultimately you’re relegated to being Robin. But guess what? Your aunt doesn’t have any yellow towels (but she had green for Green Lantern?!) and all you get is an off-white — “That’s not yellow!” “Yes, it is!” — bedspread that is queen-size...
The greats go by one name: Cher… Madonna… Beyoncé… Franco.