Editorial - The Impatience Of Comic Book Fans
This post was written by staff writer, Michael Worthan.
We are not a patient society, instead of the long term fixes we want to be shown something that will work immediately, whether or not it will be a long term deal doesn’t matter, the here and the now matters. This is seen in anything nowadays, whether it’s sports, business, or in this case comics and comic book related things.
Photo credit: Mark Patton
People wanted to cancel Supergirl before it even aired on TV, the complaints from the first commercial were apparent that the society of nerds that has taken over is no longer the fun, enthusiastic nerd that my generation came from. No, they are the angry, trolling, attention ridden people that feel they could do it better, yet never lift a finger or write a word to prove it. They are part of the entitlement society of “fans.” Making it difficult for movies that are different than the Marvel method to gain good press, or for great shows such as Constantine to garner enough popularity to be a success. If Arrow premiered in 2016 rather than 4 years ago as it did I don’t feel it would even remotely have been a success. It was a slower paced, dark, and violent show that today may not have made the impact it did.
It was brought up online by an author I follow Blake Northcott that had Alias the comic book been made in this day and age there is a huge probability that it wouldn’t have made it, it probably would have been pulled from the shelves after issue one or two. I don’t disagree at all, and to be honest look at comics that we consider great additions to the genre and think would they have made it in this day and age? Or would today’s “fanbase” be so jaded and mad at everything that they would have shut them down?
Comics as whole are struggling, have been for a while to be honest, to make a solid impact. Marvel and DC both keep rebooting and feel that the answer is to constantly mix things up rather than try their hand at creating new characters, or revamping C and D-listers like what was done with Moon Knight. It’s fear driven situation that is costing them true fans, because all they see is the angry majority complaining about one thing or another.
Instead of waiting for stories and characters to develop they are working towards the here and now, the immediate payoff rather that the slow building fire of a story. When I look back at my comic collection I start to realize that the best stories I’ve read as of late are either creator owned books, or 7-10 years ago from the Big Two.
It makes you wonder.