“Mainstream" fans of comic book stuff are not only a valid part of the community, but a crucial one to the resurrection and survival of the genre in general.
So you know what I was thinking about earlier and it just kind of spiraled into a whole thing? People are bitching that all the girls are going to be Harley Quinn for Halloween because, and only because of the new Suicide Squad movie. There are many things about this that I wanna talk about but the first is; where have you been? No seriously. The people who are mad about this have clearly never gone out for Halloween or been to parties. Harley has ALWAYS been a really popular choice for girls to dress up as for Halloween. It started out with the classic Harley,
And we have the Injustice Harley
The all powerful Doctor Harleen Quinzel
Variations and fun cross overs
And recently the newest addition, suicide squad Harley
So the idea of people being Harley isn’t a new one. She’s a fascinating character with many different faces and personas depending on WHICH Harley you’re looking at. Not all versions of each character are the same. Reboots and remakes and different interpretations are what make the world go round. So liking one Harley more than the other is natural, but still subject to your own opinion. And people who say that liking suicide squad Harley is just because it’s “cool” or “edgy” to do so don’t really see the benefit of these new reboots.
I’m not going to pretend that every new version of a comic book movie is good, or that it sticks to source material, but things have to change. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse, but change is inevitable. And honestly, the fans who want things to remain as they always have, and you KNOW the ones I’m talking about, just aren’t seeing big picture.
So here I am to spell it out for the people in the back who think that comic books belong only to those who have, “Been around since the beginning” and nice try kiddo, comics were around in the 40s so unless you’re my grandfather you’re not a purist either. I’m about to tell you exactly why “mainstream" fans of comic book stuff are not only a valid part of the community, but a crucial one to the resurrection and survival of the genre in general.
I am a 27 year old female who loves comics. I love everything about them. I love the action. The costumes, the secret identities, the relationships, the psychological aspects that drive the characters, the gadgets, the villains, I love comic books. And do you know what got me invested in comics? YOUNG JUSTICE. Yep. Young Justice. It was on when I was younger, but, fuck, I wasn’t a comic book geek yet. I was too into anime at the time to worry about comics. They just weren’t my thing. I never understood why people liked a man who wore the underwear on the outside or why a brooding bat gained anyone’s attentions. And honestly the movies I saw did nothing to change my opinion. But then Young Justice came along. It was on Netflix, a wonderful medium that is fucking great for getting people back into shit they’d missed lemme tell you, and I liked the art style and I’d heard it was good so I decided to give it a chance. And boy howdy lemme tell you I’m glad I did. The characters and the relationships were so dynamic and amazing and REAL that I fell in love. And so what was the next step? Well I bought teen titans of course. Not young justice, but it had Kon and Timmy in it and hey it was close. I really liked the “Sidekicks” more than the hero’s anyway. But then what happened? Arrow came along. And I was late, admittedly I didn’t watch it live at first. But Matt raved about how good it was so, I figured I liked Arrow in YJ why not? And I started watching and fell for that too. (I still think Flash is better than Arrow but that’s a different topic) This is the age of comic book/ genre rebirth. And why? Because people, the masses, the big majority of people out there who maybe have never picked up a comic in their life, are watching. They’re watching Captain America, and Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy and Arrow, Gotham, Flash. People are watching. And that makes some comic fans mad. “They’re not real fans. They only watch the show. They don’t know the characters like us. We’ve been blah blah blah.”
They are fans. People get into things at their own pace. We can’t all be doing every single thing at the same time we’d go mad. Plus, maybe people don’t want to read comics. They don’t care about the artwork, or just don’t have the energy to expend in reading. Or they can’t afford to buy the comics just to read a few pages of a story arc before waiting 2 weeks for the next installment. TV shows are EASY. They come on once a week. They tell a gripping story, they leave you wanting more, but you can watch at your leisure. You watch it live. Record it and watch it later. Binge it all on Netflix. Catch up on Hulu. Why NOT watch the TV show. “But the comic-“ Is good and valid and STILL THERE. Having a TV show doesn’t dismiss the comic. In fact, having these TV shows HELPS comics. Without this renewed interest in comics, where would comics be? Still around of course, but no the variety or accessibility that they are now. They’d be harder to get. Probably more expensive. With more people liking comic book characters there is a market to make more, produce more, make it easier to get, sell, have. I like to have stuff. And when I’m into a character that’s not very popular, Midnighter for example, I don’t have anything for him except his comics. If he were “Mainstream” that doesn’t devalue him, but you know what it would do? Open him up for a movie. Or a fucking poster, or a pop figure or something. We comic book fans get to have SO MUCH MORE SHIT because of the everyday casual fans. They may not read the comics but they watch arrow, so now they have shirts, hats, belts, toys, you name it. You can wear or have anything with his insignia on it. When has that ever been the case before?
It used to be a secret club that, “nerds” only liked comic book stuff. But now anyone can get it. And how do we repay people for broadening our merchandise and endorsing or favorite characters? “They probably don’t know who Barry Allen is and only got it cuz of Big Bang.” Ok first of all, get your head out of your ass. Even people who don’t watch Flash know who he is. Second, why do you care WHY they’re wearing the shirt? Does it hurt you in some way? Does it make you wearing the shirt seem less special? You’re not as retro or unique as you thought you were? Get over it. I’m so excited comics are more popular now. I get MORE of the shit I love. More comics. More pop figurers. More TV shows. DC Legends, Gotham I’m just so excited and if the “mainstream” people weren’t watching them? I would have NONE of this. There wouldn’t be an audience for it and they’d go to the next thing that will make them money. These fans who act like everyone is a liar or fake fan trying to impress someone else need to realize that without the majority we’d lose everything. And just because you don’t have a shrine to Nightwing, like I do, doesn’t make you any less of a comic fan than me. Even if you only watch the shows, the shows are fucking good, so let’s talk about them. You’re a fan too. You’re not obsessed, and that’s good, have variety and a life, don’t be like me. But people who say that certain stuff is “common denominator” are stupid. It’s like people who used to say if you watched Inuyasha or DBZ or Sailor Moon you weren’t a real Anime fan because that “didn’t count”. Who are you to say what counts? Let people like what they want to like. And they don’t have to be able to name all the actors who played Batman or the Joker to be a fan. Let them watch what the fuck they wanna watch. Read what they wanna read. Buy what they want to buy and dress however they want. I applaud and welcome more people into my fandom. More fans means more shows. More shows means more characters I love. And more merch for my greedy hands to have. More people who I can talk to about this stuff even if they’re not super fans.
Superheroes aren’t a special thing that you can only have if you’re some geek with no friends who lives in your mother’s basement. I happen to live in my mother’s upstairs bedroom thank you. Superheroes are for everyone. There are no stereotypes. Not anymore. A buff bodybuilder could love Superman. A dainty Elle Woods girl could be obsessed with Gotham. Believe it or not people are diverse and interestingly complicated creatures who don’t have to like one thing or another. They can like MANY things. Sometimes even at a time.
So the next time you wanna bitch about Halloween and how girls are just, “Following a fad” remember that it benefits you for her to do that. Maybe she knows nothing about Harley Quinn. Maybe she is a “fake fan”. But she spent $60 bucks for that costume and the costume people know it and pass it along to the producers who tell them it’s still popular so we’ll still get comic shit. Make no mistake. Comics in “mainstream tv” is a fad. It will tapper out eventually. All things have their time. And when people get bored with Superheroes for now they’ll move on to cops again, or monsters, or whatever the next new thing is. And you’ll miss being able to walk into a Spencer’s to buy a new Superboy shirt. Or going into Hot topical and getting that new Penguin Pop figure. We’ll have to go back to getting everything online where you pay $30 for an old Supergirl shirt that’s only a size Small because that’s all there is. So let’s enjoy this while we have it. I know I will. You want to stay in your corner and cry about to many people liking comics? You were never special even before the shows came out. Just because you like something before everyone else isn’t something to brag about. I liked TMNT before my cousin George. Because he’s only 9. So, yeah. I had a bit of a jump on him, you know with being the correct age to watch it when it came on Saturday mornings and whatnot. It’s almost as if being a certain age at a certain time can impact what you know about and what your options are to like something. Had TMNT never had a reboot George may never have truly known about the turtles at all. And would that have made me more special than him? Does my mom watching the Brady Bunch before me make her special? No. Guys. Come on.
I personally am super excited for the reboots and the rebirths and everything they have to offer because I wasn’t around in the beginning. I am still a relatively new fan, being only a few years has it really been so few, so I welcome the ability to learn more about people maybe I didn’t know about before. No I didn’t read, “Classic Nightwing” But I did get the New52 and rebirth and you know what? I love him. And I didn’t have to deal with his mullet hair or crazy patterned shirts. So :P
I should be watching something right now. Something…..not quite Natural. So I’ll just leave this here. But Just saying, “Mainstream” it all up guys. Watch all my favorite shows. And then come talk to me about them. Because this nerd is all about exploring different opinions and new ideas and fresh eyes to a subject maybe I missed while I was drooling over Barry’s smile or Felicity’s sass. (Yes I mean SASS. Get your minds out of the gutter.)
Uh….That is all. Enjoy this picture of all the DC rebirth characters.
