Why comics matter

Our design correspondent Daniel Benneworth-Gray has recently been drawn back into the world of comics. Here he muses on the difference they have made to his life, and his work

A couple of weeks ago, director Duncan Jones tweeted some tantalising tidbit about his planned Rogue Trooper adaptation. Within seconds I was throwing my details at 2000AD’s subscription page and just like that, comics have fallen back into my life. I can go months or years without reading any, and then all it takes is a nudge in the right direction and I find myself surrounded by piles of the bloody things.

So now I get a delivery of science fiction through the door every week, and it’s wonderful. Half the appeal is the predictable slowness – I could make comics appear on my iPad in an instant, binge my way through all the cliffhangers in one sitting, but where would be the fun in that? The anticipation of getting the next instalment of a story in the post is one of life’s little pleasures. I may be a very-late-30-something, but I still get excited when I hear the midday clatter of letterbox, the sound of adventures being fed into the house.

Despite all the explosions and chaos and dystopia, sinking into the latest issue of 2000AD is strangely calming.