If you haven't looked at a comic book since the Carter administration, you might be very surprised at how much the industry has changed. Not just the characters and stories, but the writers are at a whole new level in the industry.

Over at Marvel, for instance, we have Joss Whedon writing the Astonishing X-Men stories. You know, the guy behind Movie scripts like Speed and Serenity, and the creator/writer of TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angle and Firefly. That Joss Whedon. He is also working on the script for a live action production of Wonder Woman, for DC Comics.

Also at Marvel Orson Scott Card (author of Ender's Game and many more SciFi novels) has recently published a new Ultimate Ironman story that retells the origins of Tony Stark, the man inside the iron suit.

Not to be outdone, DC Comics has best selling mystery writer Brad Meltzer penning the current run of Justice League of America (JLA). He recently wrote the controversial DC graphics novel Identity Crisis which I believe is one of the great super-hero mystery stories ever written. It goes head on with some very difficult topics, and puts together a seriously heart pounding storyline. It asks the question "If super-heroes take the law into their own hands, how far might some of them go."

The bar has definitely been raised on comic book story telling. They aren't just for kids any more, if they ever were.

Not convinced that the comic book industry might have a few surprises for you if you were to come back? Take a look at this partial list of things that you may have missed since you were a kid:

* Superman Died (check out Death of Superman)
* Superman returned (check out Superman Returns)
* Clark and Lois finally got married (Superman)
* Peter and MJ finally got married (Spiderman)
* Gwen Died (Spiderman)
* Kansas was wiped out by some super-heroes (Superman alternate story line in Kingdom Come)
* Cap and Tony Stark are on opposite sides in a Civil War (Marvel Comics Universe)
* Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Peter Parker and Logan are on a team together (New Avengers)

Why am I writing this? Because I hope to tantalize you into going out and reading a comic book. If you haven't done so in twenty or thirty years, you may find a new love for an old flame.