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myself from quoting classic song lyrics while searching for a good metaphor, apparently.

Anyway, after reading last week’s column, a whole bunch of earnest folks took time out of their collective days to send me emails all asking what they could do. You know, to SAVE COMICS.

Something that is effective and simple.

When I read the first one of these emails, I have to admit that my initial thought was, "Save comics? What the hell for? Let the rotten thing die a death with what dignity it has left, and let’s get on with the new show!" Comics as an art form aren’t dying; quite the opposite. In fact, I’d make the argument that there hasn’t been such a good time for quality comics in fifteen years. But the comic book industry and the misguided efforts to "save" it you hear so much about nowadays are like having a chimpanzee at the dinner table and worrying about its manners. "Look," these people seem to say, "the chimpanzee has his elbows on the table. We should try to correct that."

People. People .

The problem is not that Bonzo has his elbows on the table.

The problem is that there’s a chimpanzee at the dinner table.

You’re looking at the wrong thing to fix.

But then I thought it over a little, and I realized that there really are a few simple things that you can do to spread your love of comics around. And let’s face it, comics need help, right? No one is writing columns on the Internet about how to get folks to just try watching TV, for example… I think the first thing that comics needs, and I’m pretty sure we can all agree on what this is, is new people. An expanded readership. A greater audience reading the comics.

And believe it or not, looking to great big corporate comic book companies to deliver a wider audience is looking in the wrong place for help.

This is one of those things that all of those earnest cats emailing me have direct control over. If everyone who was concerned about the dwindling audience receptive to the good entertainment that only comic books can provide were to make it their mission in life to convert a friend of theirs to

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