THE BEAT » Blog Archive » But the kids DO like it!…

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I think it’s odd that people with much different tastes should be expected to pal it up simply because they read stories that are done in a common medium. This is such a clubhouse mentality, and I think it’s one that keeps comics a niche industry. It creates a perception that even if your story is one that can have a more culturally mainstream or literary audience, because it is done in comic format, it somehow must be associated with superhero comics, which dominate the medium. Usually this association comes as being defined as “the Other” rather than being an independent entity, which is ironic to say the least.

I mean, thank goodness that isn’t so. Why should an artist like, say, Alison Bechdel be expected to make nice with the cape-and-cowl crowd when they’re not her audience? Why should there be any emphasis on converting superhero readers to indie readers or vice versa? Personally, I wish that indie comics and literary comics (please note that I use “literary” not as an adjective of quality but of genre) could be free of the shadow of superhero comics and allowed to blaze a trail on their own merits, without the constant disclaimer that, “Hey, this comic ain’t about superheroes!” Thankfully, that is happening more and more. Perhaps someday we’ll have a market like the prose fiction market, where readers of thrillers and classics and new literary fiction and romances, etc. go about reading the books they like and don’t feel particularly compelled to think about each other if they don’t want to.

Sure, there is always crossover, with indie comics that play with conventions of superhero comics and superhero comics that experiment with the sensibility of indie comics. I think that’s healthy and hopeful for the industry. But comics readers and artists should not feel compelled to do it.

I also had several collections of Peanuts comics that were favorites. After that, it was the standard drug for women of my generation who are into comics: Sandman.

What held the industry back was a) stores not carrying indie stuff, and 2) not putting more of a variety into books like DHP. I miss that book.

As far as what got me into comics in the first place? That would be Star Wars. Which led into Transformers/GI Joe, and the Transformers issue with Spider-man got me into Spidey. From there, I fell in deep with comics.

That is What Civil War sells. Or Sold.

And yes, there is a genuine audience for the big crossover event. It seems to me that the weakness is that during these events, there are few mainstreamy superhero books for those who aren’t that audience. Everything gets ties up in these tales, which can be off-putting to those who just want to follow the character they’ve been grooving on.

I think you may be right though, that those who seek out the stuff beyond what’s easily available have a tendency to feel as if they are elite, as if they are better lovers of the medium – evidenced, of course, by the fact that they seek out that which is beyond the easily accessible. I’d imagine that if you visited a Techno Music Appreciation Club and, when asked who your favourite artist was, responded that you really loved Moby’s Play – I’d imagine your credibility in that crowd would be ho-hummed.

And I think that in some respect, they would be right to diminish your credibility – if all you had ever heard was Moby, some Apollo 440, and that Fat Boy Someone or Other. Though Moby is great and you might have FANTASTIC reasons for adoring his work, it will be hard for you not to seem ignorant if you are, in fact, ignorant of what else is out there. I think this is probably why a lot of indie-lovers may poo-poo the opinion of those who do not stray outside the boundaries of Marvel/DC fare.

Again, I’m basing all this not so much on any observable reality (as I don’t really know any comic readers), but simply upon my own trajectory as a reader. I began with superheroes (Power Pack, X-Men, Micronauts, and GI Joe) and gradually filtered in more and more diverse reading experiences (European books, independent fare, and finally Asian books). I still read superheroes. Walt Simonson’s Thor is still amazing to me and I loved Bendis’s run on Daredevil more than is probably reasonable. But I have this whole other bucket full of comic experience to inform my superhero comic experience.

And I think, if I had to guess, that is where the snobbery may come in. Readers of indie stuff, more than likely, have read piles of superhero stuff as well as the indie stuff they’ve grown to prefer. Most people who prefer superheroes may not really have that much experience with what all’s out there. Therefore, it may not be so much a matter of the indie-snob vs. the mainstream non-snob, but simply the well-read vs. the not-so-well-read. Just a guess. And of course, a huge generalization.

That said, I read it all. Superheroes. Indie drama. Non-fiction. Manga. Eurocomics. So long as the book does a good job keeping me interested, I’ll enjoy it. I probably read less superhero stuff now than I did when I was in highschool – but that’s more a matter of a limited budget to spend on comics than any statement of what’s “better.”

That X-Men cartoon is the main reason the X-Men movie did as well as it did.

Since you asked: http://lilrivkah.livejournal.com/214405.html

And in a nutshell: “Garfield, Calvin & Hobbs, Sailor Moon”