It has occurred
to me recently that not all is right in the world. No seriously, innocent little things like comic
books and geek culture (one I’ve been a member of for nearly 30 years) is not
as innocent as I once hoped they were.
This thing that started with my buddy and I running down to the local
7-11 and Newcombs to get our books on a monthly basis (for .65 cents no less
but that’s a topic for another blog) and
trading books on the front porch of his parents house has turned into a
multi-billion dollar industry (with movies thrown in). Innocent ‘one and done’ comic books about
teen age angst (Spidey) and that taught us to care for all of humanity no
matter their race, sex, or power (X-men) or that anger wasn’t always the answer
(Hulk) were what the industry was all about.
Comic Cons didn’t exist and if they did they were a world away from our
parent’s front porches. Wolverine was
the best there was at what he did but all we really knew about what he did was
that it wasn’t pretty. This was how I
came into the world of Geekdom.
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| Cover Art by John Byrne |
Then
the internet struck and like many many things in the world things got….discombobulated….innocence
slowly melted away. One-and-done’s
turned into epic multi-issue arcs that gave way to company spanning events. Great covers gave way to foil covers and
small community center comic conventions where books changed hands for other
books turned into mega-cons!!! We lost
our innocence. Usually this isn’t a big
thing to me. It happens. Life will always move forward and that’s the
way of things so we have to deal with it.
Books will never return to .65 and we’ll be lucky if they stay at the
$3.99 mark they’ve been at for the past several years.
I grew
up and so did my comic books. I’ve had
kids who have been immersed in the culture.
More specifically I’ve had girls who are as much fan-girls as I am a
fan-boy. This has me nervous. I am alert to all of the dangers that face 13
year old girls. The internet, boys,
bullies, TV, eating issues, image issues, and puberty just to name a few. I never in a million years thought I’d need
to add comic books or anything else from Geekdom. I have made attempts to keep them from some
of the covers (Witchblade probably the most) so that they weren’t exposed to ‘those
kinds of images’ and while they’ve not really taken to comic books per se they’ve
seen them in the house. They’ve gotten
their toes wet in Geekdom by following Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent,
Adventure Time, Minecraft. On the surface
these aren’t too bad but they’ve led them to want to go to cons and one day it
may lead them to want to read comic books or continue deeper into their chosen ‘Geek
Path’.
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| Cover Art By John Byrne |
The
question that faces me is, ‘Do I want them to?’ After reading about all of the
hate directed at one individual who criticized a cover of a comic book I’m
wondering if this culture is really safe to raise 13 year olds in. Because a woman stood up and spoke her mind
the Culture with which I have so proudly claimed to be a part of lashed out in
some of the meanest ways imaginable. Do I
want my daughters exposed to this?
No I do not!!! Not even a little bit.
The anonymity of the internet
protects these ‘people’ from persecution and emboldens them to say things they’d
never say in public but it also means some of these comments were the true
feelings of the posters. These were the
first things that popped into their minds!!
For the first time ever I was embarrassed to be a male and specifically
to be a male in this culture. I wanted
to defend the males who would never ever think to say these things but I found
myself at a loss. I didn’t know what to
say. Honestly, I still don’t. I stand with the females who’ve stood up and
made the Culture aware of what’s going on, I stand next to the creators who’ve publicly
stood up and put these ‘fan-boys’ down.
I’ve favorite posts, and re-tweeted tweets to show some support. I’ve downloaded Podcasts and visited blogs to
show my support but it’s not seemed like enough.
Now I
look at the world I live in and realize I’m not a ‘cause’ type of guy. I live a quiet life with my family. I don’t speak out to often, I don’t donate
money to charity’s, I simply live my life the best way I know how and hope that
will be enough. I’m polite, I open doors
for people, and I wave and/or smile at strangers. So how do I help with the ‘problem’? How do I help ‘change the world’? The answer is I raise my children right. I also have two boys and I make sure they
grow up knowing it’s not okay, ever to say those things or even think
them. I teach them to stand up for
things that are right. I teach my girls
to overcome and to not accept the status quo.
I teach them that this is not the 50’s or 60’s and that they as young
women have as much right to protect the image of women and of themselves as
anyone else. I teach them that the
faceless masses of anonymous internet are wrong, that they are not humanity. I teach them to seek the truth no matter what
others say, no matter what the ‘common perception’ is. I teach them to be Women, intelligent-go-after-what-they-want
women who will rule the world in the end.
I teach all four of them the wonders of the comic book world, to look
deep through the title spanning arcs to see the beautiful truth and lessons
that are buried in today’s comics. I
teach them to appreciate the art and in turn to encourage the artists to ‘get
it right’ and not accept the stereotype.
I teach them to read deep and feel what the author is trying to express. This is how I can defeat the anonymous
masses. This will be my commitment to
the wonderful world which I’ve enjoyed for so long and which I hope to continue
to embrace. This will be my contribution
to the world at large. Comic books are a
beautiful medium and Geekdom is an awesome culture that has come together to
achieve some really spectacular things.
I hope it continues, I hope I am able to teach my children to continue
with it. And with that, I will return to
my room where I have stacks of books waiting to be read and return once more to
the great stories being put to paper by the wonderful authors and artists who
month in and month out are producing some of the most awesome story telling
available.
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