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A Hamburglar’s Eye View
Recently, a
friend and I were hanging out on our day off. He was driving
and I
asked if he'd go to the comic shop with me before we went to my
house(it
being Wednesday and all). He looked at me with an amazed face.
"Comics?
You still read comics?".
I almost felt like telling him I was joking, but why, why am I
now
trying
to hide the fact that I love reading comic books? Instead of denying
it
like some kid with a mouthful of cookies, I told him flat-out that I was
a
comic
fan and, quite frankly, I think he should be too.Well this li'l column
is
going to deal with the stereo-type of comic books and comic fans and why
it
has such a negative impact.
Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, X-Men. Everybody knows who they
are,
they've
heard of em, maybe seen a movie or cartoon about em, but most people
don't
read. It's weird, adults have no problem seeing Tim Burton's Batman or
X-Men,
still, to most, it would be almost socially unacceptable to go into
their
local comic shop and pick up those same characters in funny book form.
What
is it about those thin, magazine-like books full of carefully placed
pictures
and word bubbles that scare people away? I have a couple of ideas.
There's a stigma attached to comic books. Comic book fans are
perceived
rather
poorly. Some see them as pimple faced, geeky, prepubescents who get
way
too involved in a fictional work and might argue for hours over who is
stronger,
Hulk or Superman. Some are seen in the same vein as the comic shop
guy
from The Simpsons or maybe
as some forty year old guy in a trench coat
who
sneaks into the comic store as if he were trying to buy some really
freaky
porno magazine. For some reason, comic books are seen as childish and
therefor,
those who read em aren't acting like mature adults do. It's just
plain
silly to be reading about the same character featured on li'l Bobby's
pajamas,
right?
No matter who you ask, if they don't read comics, they'll tell
you
that
the medium is still about some guy with super powers saving the day with
enough
time to get home, eat dinner and say a prayer. Either that or they'll
tell
you that comics are just a bunch of pages featuring some female with
giant
breasts and very little clothing. While there are comics that fit that
description,
these days, it's the exception.
From a guy with the voice of God who had to deal with a guy who
'loves'
fish
too much to kids under twelve who offer sex acts to eat food and buy
drugs,
comics aren't what most people think they are. In reality, comics
are,
and have always been, cutting edge entertainment. They feature alot of
stuff
yet
to be experimented with in movies, sitcoms, TV dramas and novels.
Why is it then, that reading authors like Tom Clancy and Micheal
Crichton
is seen as intellectual while reading Alan Moore, Frank Miller
or
Garth Ennis is still seen as low brow kid stuff?
Besides the suspense of
waiting
a month and getting to look
at incredible artwork, what's the
difference?
Both deal in fiction and are designed to excite the reader while
making
him/her think a little. Does an unrealistic power or supernatural
occurance
discredit the work? Then why are Steven King and Anne Rice so
popular?
The same with movies. Often times the best, most popular movies
are
science
fiction, horror or fantasy. ET, Jurassic Park and Star Wars gained
the
hearts of fans by taking them away for a few hours. Allowing them to let
go
and get immersed in a world unlike our own, a world created purely by
one's
imagination. That's what comics do. Except, they do it every thirty
days
and they make sure to keep you coming back for more.
We fans, creators, writers, artists and industry people all need
to make
an effort to
end the goofy stereo-type. People from Marvel, DC Image and all
the others have
to advertise, let everybody know what's really out there and
make sure that
they make non-readers realize that they're missing out. We
have to spread
the word, lend out our best stuff to friends , family and
co-workers and
make sure people at least give the notion of funny books a
second thought.
In the mean time, I'll be just fine walking into my local
comic shop to
pick up Powers, 100 Bullets, Kabuki Scarab and Hellblazer,
stigma or not.
If
you were wondering about my friend and his attitude towards comics, we
eventually went
to the comic shop. About five minutes in there, I couldn't
pull him away
from the Star Wars trades, he said something along the lines
of "Oh
my God. Dude, you never told me they made Star Wars comics!".
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