What If Wednesday – True Fan Edition

I have enjoyed comic books since I was a little kid. I always loved reading and this was just one more way to stimulate my imagination through the pictures and stories. And, as I wrote in my very first article on Comic Booked, I love collecting comics as well.

I spend a lot of time reading websites and reviewing Facebook groups, both to recruit new writers and to collect ideas and information. Once you get past all the “Who would beat Who?” questions and the posts about how superheroes have sex, there is a deeper thread through many of the fanboy posts lately. Whether on Facebook, in the letters to individual comics, or a responses to many comic related articles, there seems to be a deep seated hatred of any form of change at all. This is sad, because the world changes and comics would not be interesting if they always remained the same.

This brings me to my What If Wednesday question… What If I am the last person who really likes comic books?

Now, before you start sputtering and puffing up, as you are wont to do, think about this. I am not talking about loving a character. I am not talking about loving a super team. I am not talking about having a favorite writer, artist, or comic book company. I am talking about a love of comics that allows me to pick up anything and read it and look at it separately from other books along the same vein or with similar characters. I read a book and enjoy the story, no matter how much it might change the overall comic continuum of a certain series, character, or company.

What I am worried about is that the true joy of things is lost to so many people. Just the wonder of seeing our heroes and villains on the big screen should be something to marvel at, but instead there are scathing emails, letters, tweets, and posts. Has the fan community degraded into a group of snobbish old ladies that will forever think that no one could ever sing like that Frank Sinatra?

It was an interview with someone the other day that talked about the revelation that a certain web-clad individual would be making their reappearance in a certain universe. He stated that they received death threats  from people after this person was killed off. Death threats? Really?

I understand that there are people out there who make the comic worlds their religion and for most, not all, any change is enough to send them careening over the edge. It is probably why Deadpool is so popular. He is the perfect example of the person that most fanboys try to hide from the real world until they get behind their computer screen. The biggest failure in our society is the development of a culture that depends on the anonymity of the screen, an idea that as long as they are typing something to someone, they can say whatever they want without repercussions.

Maybe I am just a different type of comic book fan. Maybe I have a more open mind. Or maybe, like Detective Murtagh, “I’m too old for this $#!+!” By the way, if most of the references in this article are way above your head, look them up. And please comment and tell me why I am not the only one who loves comics and thinks that Batman will not always win or that Peter Parker should just stay dead. And join me next week for more thought provoking questions. Until then, Comic Booked HO!