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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1447
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| Posted: 01 February 2025 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | 1
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With the huge interest in blockbuster movies from comic fans and the general public, I wonder what the current perception of comic book readers is these days..?
Here in the UK, I suspect that comics are still considered juvenile entertainment for young children (or virginal geeks). I continue to champion the cause for comics wherever I can (IMO, it's just another medium for telling stories).
Maybe TV shows like The Big Bang Theory (of which I am a fan), don't do enough to dispel the myth. Perhaps, also, any credit that was earnt with the better comic book movies has been eroded by the plethora of average or very poor cinematic releases.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 01 February 2025 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | 2
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Civilians still see fans as the Comic Shop Guy from THE SIMPSONS. Stroll around a convention and you’ll see little to dispel that concept.
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11330
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 3:04am | IP Logged | 3
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Saw a news item of a guy in full combat gear carrying some
kind of assault rifle (later found to be fake) on The Tube
in London. He was on his way to a Comic Convention, he was
lucky not to be shot by armed police.
But yes the perception still remains, although it appears
to be more acceptable to openly be a fan of comics based
movies and tv.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 3:31am | IP Logged | 4
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Armed police? In England?
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Michael Roberts
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Joined: 20 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 4:25am | IP Logged | 5
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I think comic book readership has become more mainstream (and if you include manga, very mainstream.) The stigma and stereotypes in the thread are more applicable to comic book /shops/ not comic book fans. I know more than a few readers who enjoy comics and will happily consume them through Amazon or Barnes and Noble or digital, but they have never set foot in a comic shop and are too intimidated to.
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7951
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 6:24am | IP Logged | 6
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Armed police? In England?
————-
Yes, we have specialist teams that are called to incidents.
They don’t patrol, as a rule, but certainly do exist.
You will also see armed police outside places like Downing Street.
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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member
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Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1447
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 12:40pm | IP Logged | 7
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I visited my sister around Christmas time, and one of our chats revolved around what movies we had seen recently.
My sis mentioned that she didn't watch comic-book movies but then went on to disclose that she'd was a fan of the Fast & Furious franchise & spinoffs. I thought it was strange that she would happily watch a popcorn action flick with overblown set-pieces, but that superheroes were just a step too far, no matter how well they were done.
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
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Location: England
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | 8
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Yes J.B. we have armed police units, and after the 7/7
bombings in 2005 on The Tube and the shooting of an
innocent civilian in the aftermath, to dress like that and
carry a weapon, even a fake one is a foolhardy thing to do.
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David Miller
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | 9
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I don't think the perception of comic fans specifically is
all that dire anymore. The smelly basement dweller
stereotype persists, but has broadened to obnoxious nerds
across many genres and media.
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 02 February 2025 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | 10
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Civilians I encounter often seem surprised comics still exist. They thinks it’s all movies and television.
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Dave Kopperman
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Joined: 27 December 2004
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| Posted: 03 February 2025 at 12:17am | IP Logged | 11
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It’s also a generational thing. Baby boomers were ground zero for the Kefauver/Wertham impact on the medium, and I’m sometimes shocked how much disdain people now in their 70s & 80s have for comics and those who read them. Anyone who came of age after the 1980’s cultural shift on the medium is, as a rule, not actively hostile. Gens Z and Alpha seem to have even gotten past the gender divide on them, to which I attribute the popularity of manga reprints.
As far as American superhero comics and those of us who love the canon and its masters, I don’t think there’s ever going to be the same kind of polite society normalization of it. Maybe that’s fine; a thing that always made American comic books such an exciting medium across its different cultures was the pulpy energy that came from that same lack of genteel propriety.
Edited by Dave Kopperman on 03 February 2025 at 3:21am
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Steve Coates
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Joined: 17 November 2014
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 03 February 2025 at 12:19am | IP Logged | 12
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Comics are no longer visible to everyday people, living every day lives. Newsstands no longer exist. What book and magazine racks there are in markets are too small to turn any space over to comic books.
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