Showerthought: I realized I was gatekeeping comic book knowledge for years

For a long time, I'd correct my friends on small details, like the exact year a character's costume changed. I thought it made me a better fan. Then, at a con in Chicago, I saw a kid get super excited telling his dad about Spider-Man, even though he got half the facts wrong. The dad was just happy his kid loved it. It made me think: is being a 'true fan' about knowing everything, or just about loving the stories? I've been on the 'knowledge' side, but maybe the 'joy' side is more important. What do you all think defines a real comic book fan?

3 comments

3 Comments

grayc271mo ago

Remember my old roommate who only read trade paperbacks and hated single issues? He said waiting a month for 22 pages was a waste. We argued about it for years, calling each other fake fans. Then his kid was born, and he started buying those cheap, old single issues for the baby to look at the pictures. He sent me a photo last week of his kid holding a beat-up X-Men #1 reprint, just gumming the cover. All that stuff we fought about seems pretty stupid now. What were we even trying to prove?

patricia_schmidt141mo ago

That kid at the Chicago con probably knows more about having fun than you ever did with your encyclopedia brain. Maybe just let people enjoy things.

blairtaylor24d ago

@grayc27 your roommate's kid probably has better taste than me and I've read every issue of Crisis.