Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett talks about the attention given to the Superman and Wonder Woman coupling and the lack of attention to the new Arab-American Green Lantern.Usually when I skip a week writing these things my excuses are mostly of the "I'm tired" or "couldn't think of anything to write" variety but last week's unmarked absence was due to the fact Google Drive ate my Confession. I've been using Drive without incident for well over a year now but last week I wrote my column, saw it had been saved (Drive does that now automatically without being prompted) but when I came back hours later to do a final proofread it was just... gone. No, that's not exactly accurate; in my column's place was a previous week's column, one that I (as far as I know) had never backed up. Usually when these sorts of things happen I blame myself (I am after all the original Unusual Suspect), but there was no "wrong button" to push or possibility the file had been saved under a different name. So I am once again forced to face the fact this was yet another thing that could only happen to me.*
Not that you missed much, but better late than never, here are a couple of the topics I was going to cover:
The impending Superman/Wonder Woman love connection (see "Supes' New Flame"). When someone flat out asked me my opinion without hesitation I replied, "Yeah, OK," and I stand by my relative indifference. If it actually generates stories I've never seen before I'm all for it and if brings in some civilians into comic shops, so much the better. What I did however mind was the Maxim magazine approach a supposedly mature mainstream press took with the announcement; "Superman Hooks Up With Wonder Woman" said the headline from The Hindustan Times, "XXX-Ray Vision: Superman and Wonder Woman get together" trumpeted the UK's Daily Mail, etc. If you missed the subtle theme going there at least The Beat website had the guts to come out and flatly say it, "Superman and Wonder Woman Have Some Sex." Time and again it wasn't the relationship angle or the romance it was sex, which is disappointing but not unexpected. This is the prurient approach the media always takes whenever any attractive "power couple" (most pieces went out of their way to use that phrase; I suppose we're lucky nobody trotted out "Super-Friends With Benefits") start seeing each other publicly. Even, apparently, when they're fictional.
Last Friday was Super-Fly Comics and Games 5th Anniversary and while the party started at 8pm, I of course came unfashionably late, but luckily just in time to hear the last song from the night's entertainment, Nerdcore hip hopper Adam Warrock's "Waka Flocka Ron Swanson." This is of course was a tribute to the character from the NBC sitcom Parks & Recreation) and while I cannot give expert testimony from my perspective it did indeed rock. It was the best sales day the store ever had and I was told there had been a line outside when they opened and substantial crowds all day. But just as important (to me, anyway) was who showed up.
It was the legendary young millennials, aka Generation Next, the demographic everyone in the entertainment industry is busily chasing and their presence put a lie to the "ugly boy store" stereotype that continues to haunt the comic book medium (see any episode of The Big Bang Theory). Hell, even I think of ourselves being like that sometimes. But instead of the usual assortment of socially awkward, arrested adolescents in their 40s that night at Super-Fly there was a mostly attractive group of young people, including a good number of actual young women, many sporting spectacular ink. And instead of bored or jaded they were involved , engaged and actively interested in comics--and having a good time, of course. The only sad, old and tired thing in the place was me.
They're the future of not just our little lifestyle but the medium itself and it's their energy and enthusiasm that are producing the next generation of comics that will keep our doors open. And seeing them there didn't really make me feel old; in an increasingly doom and gloom world it made me feel hopeful for the future.
* For instance, recently a possum dug through concrete to get inside my apartment and as well as decimating my entire supply of Honey Nut Cheerios promptly ate the stains out of my dirty laundry. It also completely consumed a 64 ounce bottle of skin cream (and when I say "consumed" I don't mean it took a dainty taste or played with it; it ripped the bottle open and devoured the entire thing down to the last drop) and chewed up the $5 copy of Speed Racer I got at Wal-Mart.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
