The Joy and Sorrow of Comic Books

I had read comic books before 1974. Archies, Richie Rich and the like. However, in 1974, on a cross country trip my father bought me my first “real” comic book. 

Halfway through the state of Nevada he grew tired of my incessant chatter and when he stopped to fill up the car, he went inside and bought a handful of comic books from the spinner by the cash register. One was Thor. Another was Captain America. Then there was my love for the rest of my life, Wonder Woman. Cap and Thor were my first Comic Book boyfriends. For a year after that trip I insisted everyone address me as Diana, and I carried a ratty old rope on my waist and my dad made me some blue leather bracers to wear. Yes, I was indulged and had an active imagination.

I read comics from then until the early Naughties when it was obvious that no one cared any longer about art or story.

Then, the X-Men movies came out and were a huge hit. X-Men was my book. I had an encyclopedic knowledge of the books from beginning to current. I knew characters most people had forgotten. I was pretty much the same way with The Avengers, except I couldn’t stand Ironman, so there was a distance involved. Which is weird because I loved Force Works, because of Spiderwoman and The Scarlet Witch.

I didn’t talk about it, I just quietly culled my pull list at my Local Comic Shop until there was nothing on it. I didn’t go into my LCS for over a decade. I started going back when my youngest son came home from the wars and we share a love of comics and began looking at the trades that had many of the stories we loved. We both spent quite a bit on those books. My collection is extensive, and it was a nice way to fill in knowledge gaps for books I didn’t have in certain story lines.

Then, I stopped curating my collection, stopped getting the bi-annual appraisal and even went so far as to drop the insurance. They were kept in their bags with boards in their boxes and stored in a cedar closet. I haven’t opened those boxes in years. My son pulled a few books to get them signed at various Cons. It’s all going to be his when I die, so that was fine by me. I’ve had pals in the business sign other books as a surprise for him when he gets the collection appraised after I die.

About a year or so ago, maybe two, time flies… I found Diversity & Comics on You Tube and through his channel, discovered Comicsgate and Ethan van Sciver. I’ve bought many of the books offered by many of the writers and artists that are part of Comicsgate. I’ve been guiding many friends through the Marvel and DC movies with my knowledge of the characters and stories. I will be honest, I’ve loved the movies. I have been entertained.

I’ve picked up a few books, here and there and have been bitterly disappointed by all of them with the single exception of the Mr & Mrs X book from Marvel.

Now, to give you the why of how my disgust with the business came to a head in the past two years.

Pushing of the SKW agenda was the biggest thing. Making Ice Man gay was a huge deal for me. I knew and loved the character so much and it just was a shot out of the blue, and then they turned Bobby into a 90s sitcom gay man who spends his entire day on Grindr. The writer of the Ice Man book should be seriously slapped until he stops being an idiot. Sina Grace, I’m looking at you.

The endless Number 1s is disgusting. The variant covers are nothing more than a cash grab because you literally cannot sell your books. Doubt me? Look at videos from TheUmbrellaGuy and Just Some Guy about comic book “sales”. The reports show the number of books shipped to comic book stores, not the number sold, and they never, ever release digital sales number. Ever.

When you walk into a comic books store, you will see the shelves, regardless of construction, and you will notice the latest copy in front, and then a stack of unsold older copies the store cannot sell, with all of their variant covers. The stores cannot send back unsold copies, they are stuck with them and they will usually lose money as those books will end up in a dollar drawer or inside Free Comic Book Day packs. The number of LCS in the entire country over the past two years has been halved by shops shutting down because they cannot sell the books.

Why is this? Because the books do not reflect the movies they get their interest from. If you have seen the Avengers movies and think going out and buying the latest edition of the comic book will be anywhere in the same universe, you will be sorely disappointed and simply stick with the movies and forget the books from whence they came.

Why is that? Because Bobby Drake MUST be the most ridiculous gay man ever in any medium, asking a second-rate character who was killed off in the 80s about her feminist agenda, and completely forgetting the origins of most of your long-standing characters would be the biggest complaints. Why am I paying more for shit I don’t want to read?

How did this happen? Honestly? Women ruined comic books. I’m pointing directly at Gail Simone and her ilk. Then there is hiring females with no talent, no experience and no knowledge to write and edit books because they are women, not because they have the ability to do their jobs. Heather Antos, this part is about you. When anyone points out Heather’s lack of talent or ability, she goes on Twitter, just like Gail, and whines to her followers and brigades her detractors. It’s the same reason that DC Vertigo are already regretting hiring Zoe Quin to write Goddess Mode, possibly the ugliest, wordiest book out in the past year. It’s awful. Bad, bad terribad, as Zack would say.

Then they openly attacked the people who pay their salaries. They insulted the readers of the books they produced that no one wanted to read. We took them at their word, don’t like it? Don’t buy it. No we didn’t buy them. So, they attacked us further as Philistines who refused to accept the beautiful messages, they were trying to impart to us via our preferred entertainment mode.

The comic book readership was invaded by people who had no connection to the “community” they had invaded and pretended to love. It was clear that these people had no knowledge of the things they purported to support or even the agendas they were pushing. When a comic book writer publicly attacked a man, who was a very good critic of the industry, and then worked hard to subvert a deal he’d made with a comic book company and bragged about it online, it was a watershed moment for the fandom. The fans showed they were clearly on Zack’s side. Money poured in for his legal fund so he could seek justice. He’s not just fighting for himself, he’s standing up for every person who loves comics and is gutted by what’s happened to the industry.

Many have joined the Comicsgate group. There is a lot of support for the people trying to publish in the indie channels. The books seem to be doing well. Some of the books have raised record amounts of money for just one issue of the book, selling more with one issue than an entire run at Marvel has been able to even print in years.

Back when I was in the business, in the Stone Age, things were very different. When I hear some of the artists talking today about receiving royalties for movie stuff for characters they had a piece of, it astounds me. That didn’t happen back in the day. It just didn’t, regardless of the amount of influence you had on character creation at all. Only if you were like a Chris Claremont or Jim Lee type. Jack Kirby had to beg for his fair share in his late life.

I do miss comic books. I miss getting immersed for just a little while into fantastic worlds where people did extraordinary things while trying to live normal lives. I have seen these normal people within this community be doxed, have their lives and the lives of their children threatened by the loons within the industry who always try to justify their terrible behavior by screaming Nazi! And Homophobe! Whenever their caught out in their stupidity.

I don’t miss being preached at. I don’t miss reading stories and situations that make me ill to think about, that have no business in a comic book. See the awful Chelsea Cain book Man Eaters for just a glimpse of the insanity that now passes for writing in the comic book industry.

It’s easy to sit back from my distance and poke fun at what’s going on, knowing I will never again spend a dime on the traditionally published books sold at local stores. Yes, I’m part of my LCS going south and putting more and more Funco Pops up instead of comic books. They won’t even order decent books. That’s not my fault, no longer my problem. See how many copies of X-Men Red you really sell, my dude.

We’re tired of being called names, being harassed, being doxed, insulted and the whole kitchen sink because others can’t deal with reality. So, we’re out. We’ll pull out our old copies and re-read old stories that were good, that made sense to us and the rest of the world before people lost their minds because of who won an election.

Take your politics and I’ll read about Cyberfrog and Rainbow Brute. I’ll enjoy Jawbreakers and Iron Sights. Yeah, I’m paying a lot of money for the books, but it’s worth every penny not to be preached at or called names because I don’t see things the same way someone else does. I’ll pay extra for good stories that keep me engaged, unable to wait for the next issue. I’m looking forward to opening a comic book and not putting it down right after the splash page because it’s already so bad I can’t stand to look at it.

My joy in comic books is now found in older stories and hard to come by books that cost me more. But I’m liking he experience better than I have in the past twenty years. Goodbye Marvel and DC. I’m happier with indie books.