The Way I See It: Comic Book Jerks

Through my almost thirty years of reading comic books I have read a lot of comics from various publishers and genres. It would be hard to pinpoint which ones are my favorites because my tastes and interest change over time. As a kid I read a lot of Teen Titans and Dreadstar as well as Transformers and Elfquest. Throw in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Amazing Spider-Man and Sable and Whisper and you’ll see that there was little that I didn’t read. Why? Because I love comics even at an early age because I got a lot of enjoyment out of reading those comics. And while I enjoyed as many of the “indie” titles as I did Marvel and DC titles, I got a lot of flak because I was reading titles my friends had never heard about or just thought I was trying to be “better” than them since they only read Marvel and DC books.  I got a lot of ridicule, but it really didn’t bother me because I was reading the books I liked and if those kids didn’t like those books (or had even heard of them) than that was their loss, not mine. I wasn’t about the change my pull list because of their narrow minded view of what comic books people should and should not read.

In comic book fandom there will always be those people who think they know better and that they know what comic books should and should not be read, and if you read those “other” comics then you’re stupid and just don’t know a “good” comic book if it hit you in the face. A perfect example of this was brought to my attention today via Twitter – ah, yes, good old Twitter. Raven Gregory who writes a lot of books over at Zenescope pointed out that there were some people over at the Bendis message boards giving Zenescope and their fans grief over the kind of books that Zenescope publishes.  This thread started out because of a preview image of a new series Zenescope will be publishing next year based off of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. The thread started out with some legitimate questions about “who” and “why” but quickly spiraled into insults and trash talking about Zenescope, the books it publishes, and the fans who read the books.

I will admit I don’t read all of what Zenescope publishes because it just doesn’t appeal to me, plus I can’t read everything that every publisher puts out there.  I have read the Wonderland Triliogy and the related one-shots and miniseries and I have really enjoyed them. Those comics introduced me to Daniel Leister’s artwork and re-introduced me to Raven Gregory’s writing.  Because of Zenescope publishing those comics I now pay a lot more attention to Gregory and Leister’s names when I see them attached to new comics because I enjoy their work. Leister is the current artist on Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash series at Image Comics and Gregory is the Executive Editor at Zenescope plus is writing some really good comics there like Fly, The Theater, and The Waking.

The posters over at Bendis’s message boards are the typical people I grew up with listening to how if I read something they feel is inferior to what their reading there’s something wrong with me and not with them. How many Witchblade readers listened to these kinds of insults and trash talking about that series? Not to mention the creative teams involved with these titles?

This is not to say that these books are for everyone. They’re not. I don’t think even the creative teams can say that the books over at Zenescope are for all audiences, but that’s fine. Not every comic book is going to be someone’s favorite or made for every reader, but they’re out there to be enjoyed by those that find them on the shelves and that’s why the creative teams work hard to make these comics. They want people to read them and to look at them and to enjoy them.  What pleasure to people get out of insulting people or publishers for the kinds of comics they read and publish? To me it is just a waste of breath and only done to try and be funny.

Don’t think the book is any good without trying it out first? That’s your choice, but shut up and let everyone else enjoy what they’re reading in peace.