CEDAR FALLS - To the untrained eye, Paul Siddens doesn't look like an avid comic book collector.

The associate professor in communication studies at UNI holds a PhD - and he also has more than 10,000 comics taking up residence in the front room of his house.

"As an adult, people look at me kinda funny," said Siddens. "…'You read comic books?' Yeah, I do, and I still enjoy them like I did as a kid but I appreciate them on a different level too."

Siddens started collecting comics as a 5-year-old, then, like a lot of comic readers, took a decade-long break from the genre. In the early '80s, though, his interest piqued again and he hasn't stopped collecting since. It's even filtered into his professional life.

"It's not just a hobby for me … Last (fall) I taught a course on comics and how they relate to society and how women and gender and race are depicted," he said. "They're interesting on a lot of different levels. The story lines of comic books have matured a great deal."

As comic material has gotten more adult, it has also broadened its scope. No longer are the inked pages full of just superheroes and cardboard cartoon characters - though they still frequently roam the comic landscape.

Real-life issues like lung cancer ("Mom's Cancer," Brian Fies), murder ("Stray Bullets" series, David Lapham) and the Vietnam War ("The Other Side," Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart) are now tackled in comics. Beloved television and film characters (Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series, multiple "Star Wars" incarnations, an upcoming work penned by Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert), live on through comic pages.

Even the superheroes are changing. Captain America is dead - and looks to be that way for at least a while - thanks to the Superhuman Registration Act, which is causing trouble for other characters in the Marvel universe including Spider-Man, who recently bent to the super-government and revealed himself to be Peter Parker.

Best-selling author Brad Meltzer changed the DC heroes' world as well with "Identity Crisis," and other well-known authors frequently moonlight as comic geniuses. Perhaps the most well-known famous-author entry is horror guru Stephen King's "DarkTower" series.

"Because of "Dark Tower" and "Buffy" I've seen a ton of new customers come in that have never been in a comic shop before," said Mike Blanchard, owner of the Core comic store. "What we're seeing is customers who have never read a comic before getting into 'Dark Tower' and want to know what else is like it."

And any time a superhero hits the big screen, interest in the starring character's comic turns gets a boost, said Blanchard. With the release of "Spider-Man 3" Friday, the Core will see an increase in non-regular customers.

Though they still represent just a fraction of comic readers and creators, women also are starting to jump on the bandwagon. Blanchard has seen that audience increase, and female comic creators including best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates and award-winning illustrator Jill Thompson are receiving raves for their comic creations.

"I think that there's a growing awareness that this is an amazing medium that is lacking the female perspective," said Caroline Boehmer.

Boehmer was introduced to comics - mostly "X-Men" and "New Mutants" - at the age of 10 by her comic-loving brother, who went on to create his own works and create a comic book company in his 20s. As an adult, she and her sister, Holly, both gravitate toward graphic novels and comic series with deep story lines like Neil Gaiman's work and Terry Moore's "Strangers in Paradise."

"That little more complex story line and the connection between the characters I think draws especially female readers in," said Boehmer, who co-owns Pandora's Box, a gaming shop in Waterloo, with Holly.

When Pandora's Box first opened, the sisters saw mostly guys come through the doors. Now, more and more females are joining the fray - and ordering comics. Boehmer said that despite the stigma that women are objectified in comics, there are great examples of powerful women in comic history dating back to Wonder Woman.

"We have Free Comic Book Day this weekend and that's when we really pick up female readers," said Boehmer. "We're sent a ton of comics and we have girls looking through the catalogs and getting really excited. It's a really cool way to let your imagination fill in the gaps, which is what the comic medium is to me and what's always attracted me to it."

The biggest misconception among those unschooled in the world of letterers, pencilers and inkers is that comics are just something for little kids, said Blanchard. It may have been true in the past, but around 1986, when Blanchard was still just a comic consumer, the funny pages became a lot less funny and a lot more grown up. The two stories that made the biggest impact, said Blanchard, were "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller of "Sin City" and "300" fame, and Alan Moore's "Watchmen," which is slated to hit the big screen in 2008.

"('The Dark Knight Returns') was a grim and gritty series. Batman was kind of a lost cause back then and no one cared about the character. But Miller blew everyone out of the water," said Blanchard.

"('Watchmen') was the first comic book series that took the superhero concept and asked if superheroes actually existed in the real world what would it be like. It's like what we're seeing now on television in 'Heroes.' That came from comics. Everything came from comics."

Though the characters are always interesting, and getting deeper with each turning of the page, it's the story that keeps comic lovers coming back for more.

Fans of far-out superheroes like Superman, Ghost Rider and Wolverine used to buy anything their favorite character appeared in - even if the story was horrible - but no more.

"Pretty soon the customers said, 'That's it.' Now people are following writers around," said Blanchard.

And those writers are dipping their toes into increasingly widening pools of imagination.

"I'd like people to realize that there's a genre for everything," said Gary Fitz of Waterloo and a 30-year comic fan. "If you like horror there's a horror book. If you like crime noir, there's a crime noir book. There's funny animal comics, swords and sorcery."

But comics do something an ordinary work of fiction can't - paint pictures to match the words.

"People want good stories, but other people look at (comics) strictly for the artwork. There is beautiful artwork in comics today that reaches a whole new level - and sometimes there's a good story and good art," said Blanchard.

"… People that read comic books enjoy three things: a good story, good artwork and being entertained. If you enjoy those three things, then comic books are for you."

Contact Kelsey Holm at (319) 291-1464 or kelsey.holm@wcfcourier.com.

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{M3What: Free Comic Book Day

When: all day Saturday

Where: The Core, 1926 Valley Park Drive, Cedar Falls and Pandora's Box, 1010 E. Mitchell Ave., Suite 9, Waterloo

Details: Some free comic titles this year include "The Amazing Spider-Man," "Little Archie: Legend of the Lost Lagoon," "Justice League of America: Who's In?," "The Umbrella Academy Featuring the Murder Magician," "Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero" and "Transformers: Official Movie Prequel Issue No. 1."

More info: Call the Core at 277-1835 or Pandora's Box at 287-9387