Dealing With A Fractured Fanbase

My love of writing began in the mid to late 70’s with the discovery of Spider-Man. His antics on the kids show THE ELECTRIC COMPANY sparked something in me. He would fight bizarre villains while never speaking. I found out later that he had his own comic book alongside the tv show. I don’t remember what I said to my parents to get them to do this, but they bought a 4-issue subscription to that comic and my life’s destiny was set in motion. Comics have been a large part of who I am. Reading, collecting, and absorbing every bit of comic book information was a large part of my youth and into my early 20’s. It’s not a stretch to say that comics made me the man I am today. That is why I am devastated to see what has become of them. Comic book characters that I grew up with and enjoyed reading have been given to writers who do not understand or care for their history. They see them as tools to push an agenda that is directly opposed to what I believe. They have run the comic book industry into the ground and when confronted by this news, they turn and blame everyone else.

Modern comic book writers don’t understand reality. They are stuck in “living their truth” which is another way of saying they have traded really for a fantasy world. The bubble they live in allows them to continue in this perpetual state of dilution. They are ignorantly oblivious, and this leads to the garbage writing we are subjected to. They keep talking and writing about things that do not exist in reality and expect those they are talking to understand and agree. Unfortunately, there is a small group of people who will condone their insanity and help amplify their voices. The minority is trying to convince the majority that their delusions are reality, and we are the insane ones. This is a textbook case of the inmates running the asylum.

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This creates a counter movement which comes in the form of independent comic book creators. These indie creators have been around long before this, but the pushback from them against mainstream comics and the delusional writers writing them has increased. This is causing new indie comic creators to appear and while their intentions are good, more times than not, their writing is just as bad, but in a different way. They have never written anything before and think that they can do better than the writers from the Big 2. This is not the case. While the diversity hires on one side have their enablers, the bad indie creators have their own group. These people will buy anything they put out just to get one over on the other side. Now, instead of having a small number of bad comics in the world, we have much more. I can’t blame them for doing what they are doing. My books are also, in part, a reaction to the mainstreams butchering of comic books. Yet these indie creators seem to make it personal while I simply offer up an alternative and leave it at that. My books are superhero fiction, but not something in direct competition. The indie creators put their work up against the mainstream and declare war on them as if putting out one comic a year is going to bring the big 2 down.

There is a razor thin line in the middle where both sides are putting out good comics. They are hard to find and have limited runs. The good is far outweighed by the bad, and I’m afraid it isn’t going to get better. The only way it can is to have an honest and open discussion about what is truly good and what is being created just to fill the need for comics. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

I do see another way to fix this, but it is the nuclear option. Both sides need to be destroyed and after an undetermined amount of time (3-5 years feels right) maybe something can rise from the ashes. Something that will feel familiar, but not quite what we remembered from our past. Let the old heroes stay buried and start over with new, fresh ideas. Heroes that will not only reflect the times they are created in, but also tell fun, escapist stories. Tales that will find a young person and ignite a fire in them that will burn so hot it will compel them to want to join the new storytellers and write the stories people need to hear. Not just things created because you can, but because you should.