Comics fans of my ilk are now, it seems, kind of the ruling power structure behind current mainstream interest in comics, comic-related ephemera, and super-hero- themed prose. If you're between the ages of 22 and 40 and identify as even slightly geekish, then odds are the media world is going out of it's way to give you comics-related material to toss your shekels at.
I'm 38. I've been a fan of comics since I was about... oh, about four or so. Granted, while my time with comics didn't start with "Maus" or "Dark Knight Returns", a solid grounding in "Archie", "Richie Rich", "Casper the Friendly Ghost", and the rest of the non-superhero young readers offerings paved the way for a lifetime obsession that stays with me to this day.
I'm no rarity. And mainstream media producers are aware of that. So, we get comics movies. We get superhero TV shows. Cartoons are becoming slightly less interested in repackaging Japanese toys commercials, and are a little more likely to actually produce comics / super hero material.
And what goes with all of that? That's right - cultural self-analysis (this blog post being a stellar example of said - there's an extra free-fer-nuthin' level of meta to this post. It's significance is recursive - whoo!).
We love to talk comics, we geeks. Since the first proto-fanboy who crawled out of the primordial basement with the question poised on his lips... "Who would win in a fight between...?", we've always loved dissecting the whys and wherefores of our favorite pastime, pursuit, and passion.
An it's not just the fanboy (and girl) community that's in on the conversation anymore. Lately, it seems Hollywood has more than entered the discourse. In this case, "lately" has a given value of +/- 10 years-ish. Or more.
From stars to writers, to producers, to media pundits - everyone seems to be chatting comics like crazy, and has been for ages, it seems.
But I've noticed something. When asked, as they inevitably will be, what began their love affair (real or not) with comics, most actors, writers, media figures, and even comics creators themselves, will invariably give an answer speaking to the deeply significant moral/metaphorical/emotional/intellectual impact of their favorite works.
Be it the pathos-laden origin of Batman or Spider-Man, or the Man-and-Superman, Man-who-fell-to-earth duck-out-of-water origin of Superman, the answers try desperately to give strong intellectual validation to ideas many parts of media culture have labelled "kid's stuff". They try so hard. Spider-Man is the embodiment of western cultural guilt. Batman is the right-leaning reaction to the chaos of modern culture. Any way they spell it, their first foray into comics was first and foremost LEGITIMATE.
Which is kinda odd when you consider that a lot of us first discovered comics when we were wee nippers, barely able to complete a complex sentence let alone conceptualize the metaphorical implications of a mythical / fantastical creature such as a super hero.
I think there's some disingenuously stated ideas here. I think, like Spider-man making a deal with the devil, or the multiverse disappearing, only to re-appear again, some retconning is happening.
The thing is, the truth may well be just a bit too straight-forward and - and this is the sticky part - childish for prime-time.
You know why I got into comics? Specificaly super-hero comics? The answer can be told in two words: bright colors.
As a child, it was clear that the world of adult media was a bland, subdued- color-palette of boring-ness wrapped up in ideas and words that made no sense to my six- and seven-year old brain. But Superman? That red-and-blue adult who never talked about taxes or other boring crap? Yeah, he was cool.
Same with Spider-Man, AND he could stick to walls, which you gotta admit - is pretty kickass. Batman? When I was a kid, we were still pretty close to the Adam West era. So again - bright colors. Plus a utility belt.
I had the twelve-inch tall Superman figure as a youngster. Same too for the Mego 8" Spider-man figure. Both were amongst my most prized toys. They were prized not just because of their attachment to the cartoons that replaced the boring muted world of adults with something with some damn visual flair, but because they served that same purpose in the real world.
Like a torn-bodice-clad maiden holding a cross to ward off the vampire, so too did my primary-colored avatars hold the real world at bay, and let the color and magic of the unreal take its place.
Why did I get into comics? Because they're better than the real world. It was true when I was six, and sometime, just sometime - it's true today, too.
-g-
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