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 looks at some current comic-based TV, and some upcoming comics he's anticipating.

I keep insisting that I want to write about comics, but there are weeks when that's harder to do than others.  For instance, I knew I couldn't not comment when I saw the cover (1 of 2, "Collect Them Both!") of the current issue of TV Guide which bore the headline, "How Comic Books Conquered  TV."  The article inside, "Warning: Graphic Content!" naturally deals with the high volume of comic books which are being adapted for TV.  It ends with the question, "With so many comic books on TV or headed that way, how much is too much?  Are audiences burning out?"

It's one I've repeatedly asked myself.  Answering it was The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman who I believe got it just about right when he said:

"That's like saying there's a danger of burnout from people adapting novels.  Honestly, I think this trend could be here to stay.  Comics are idea-generating machines, and once that starts going, it doesn't stop."

While I'm on the subject of television I know in the past I've heaped scorn on the Marvel and Disney XD animated series Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--We Don't Want Girls") for their tween sitcom approach to the Marvel characters.  But there were actually several points of interest in last week's episodes.

For example in S.M.A.S.H, "The Big Green Mile," the gang is locked up with a bunch of supervillains in the supermax prison, The Vault.  This gives The Hulk the opportunity to say things like, "They may be criminals, but no one's all bad," and "Everyone deserves a chance to change."  He even tells The Absorbing Man "…you're not a bad guy, you just do a lot of bad stuff."  This sort of moral nuance is unusual in a series where the good guys are good and the bad guys bad, full stop.  And since The Hulk routinely delivers morals and bromides straight to the audience I have to believe the producers were deliberately delivering a message to the 7.4 million children in this country who have a parent in prison, jail or under correctional supervision.  If so, they are to be commended.

And to quote from the press release in Avengers Assemble, "Downgraded," "When he's stranded without his gear in a dangerous realm where his technology doesn’t work, Falcon must prove to himself and skeptical Hawkeye that he's still a hero--even without all his fancy gadgets."  It opens with The Falcon excitedly sharing information about his latest device and Hawkeye contemptuously dismisses it as "nerd talk."

In spite of the fact that this is a clichéd exchange I've seen hundreds of times, I instantly clenched up.  Because in spite of the fact we're supposedly desperate to get kids interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), they have to endure smart-shaming in their entertainment.  Most often in a kid series, instead of validation anyone who shows any sort of aptitude for anything, or even just knows anything, can expect to be abused and insulted.  Knowing, it's routinely made clear, is for nerds.

So it's gratifying to know in this episode this trope is completely subverted.  With some basic science and rudimentary engineering, The Falcon saves the day, Hawkeye is humbled and hopefully kids will have gotten a much-needed message.  I would like to think this will shame producers into giving these kinds of hurtful stereotypes a second thought, but what are the odds, really?

And, finally, we get to the comics.  There's a couple of titles coming out in March that I'm very much looking forward to.  First up is PastAways by Matt Kindt and Scott Kolins from Dark Horse Comics.  To show you just how magnificent my obliviousness can be, I've known the title for well over three months and have only just gotten that it's a play on "Castaways").  It's about five time travelers who end up in our present and must defend it from the dinosaurs and robots (among other things) pouring through a space-time rift.  It got my attention from the premise alone but I finally got to read the prologue that appeared in Dark Horse Presents #6 and it looks like it’s going to be a fun adventure book which actually has some heart.

Then there's Joe Frankenstein by Graham Nolan and Chuck Dixon from IDW Publishing. It's an action/horror/adventure story of a boy and his monster and, well, that was more than enough to sell me.  Chuck Dixon is a master of his craft; he's best known for his work on Batman but I've been a fan of his since Airboy, and I've followed Graham Nolan's incredible work for nearly as long.   And I'm frankly a sucker for just about anything featuring the Frankenstein Monster (in my list of "Always Cool Things" Frankenstein is always in the Top 5, below robots, apes and dinosaurs but above cavemen, super spies and knights).  And may I say, that is one fine looking logo.

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.