“Read AstroCity,” they said. “It’s a classic superhero comic,” they explained. “It’s by your favorite comic writer,” they enticed.

And then THIS STORY HAPPENS. (“The Voice of the Turtle”, if you want to rip your still-beating heart from your chest).

The story of the little kid who read too many books and decided he was going to find the way into Narnia. So he ran through mirrors and hid in wardrobes and tried to get himself lost down back roads. And he didn’t have any friends because they weren’t the people inside his books, though he WANTED a partner so bad, like Lucy and Edmund had each other, or Jesse and Leslie, or Robin Hood and Little John. Because ALL the best stories had partners, had someone to watch your back and go on adventures with.

And then as he got older he became a mathematician because that world is filled with just as much wonder and magic and discovery.

And then, when things suck? When he’s at his lowest? Who does he think about? Who keeps him going and gives him hope? The kids he grew up with–not the real ones, not the pale imitations of righteousness and loyalty. The Pevensie’s and Gamgee’s of the not!world. They gave him the strength to keep going.

And I just need… a minute. Or a day.

I can’t believe how close the themes of Tarnished Angel (the 4th collected Astro City book, where this issue is from) are hitting me. It’s like, there couldn’t have been a time in my life more appropriate than right now for me to read this. And it kinda sucks. But I guess it’s good, too. Maybe. 

My eyes are going to be all swollen tomorrow morning.

What the serious hell.