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 the new comics initiatives coming from BOOM! Studios and DC Comics.

Don't get me wrong, it's certainly nice that "Geek Culture" (I'm afraid for me that phrase will always come bracketed by quote marks) is everywhere and in everything.  The same way I really don't mind how the Internet pauses to parse the significance of every single teaser trailer or who was just cast as what on what.  I'll even admit there are some announcements where this sort of attention is entirely justified (see "Spider-Man to Join Marvel Cinematic Universe").  I'll even cop to the fact that some of it is actually worth commenting on here.

For instance, when Mehcad Brooks, a bald black actor, was cast as Jimmy Olsen in the upcoming Supergirl TV series it naturally made some headlines.  But most of the stories buried the lead: he'd be playing Supergirl's love interest.  According to a recent Gallup Poll, 96% of blacks and 87% of whites now approve of interracial relationships, though you wouldn't know it from watching prime-time television.  But what makes the casting particularly interesting is according to the same poll older Americans are least likely to approve of them, and the show will air on CBS, where the average viewer's age is 58.2.

And as the World's Self-Appointed #1 Astro Boy Fan I honestly don't know if I should be pleased or filled with horror by the prospect of a live-action Astro Boy movie (see "Live- Action 'Astro Boy' Movie Announced").  But it's definitely surprising given that according to a piece on the Cartoon Brew website, "'SpongeBob,' 'Boonie Bears' and 'Big Hero 6' Are Big at Box Office" the 2009 CGI Astro Boy movie was the "lowest-grossing animated feature ever released in 3,000-plus theaters."

All of that stuff admittedly is fun, and it's been fun writing about them.  But I find I want to write more about the actual comics.  More than that, I want to feel energized and enthusiastic about comics again, the way I did back when I was a full-time retailer and was surrounded by them every day.  When I fancied myself their fervent champion and apostolic advocate, a firm believer in the chief tenet of my faith: there was a comic for everyone.  Because as the late Harvey Pekar once so memorably put it, "Comics are words and pictures.  You can do anything with words and pictures."

I wrote that I want to feel that way because I find feeling that way now isn't as easy as it was in my 20's and 30's.  So I was happy to discover that other people feel the same way, thanks to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter, "Boom! Studios Aims For More Diversity with 'Push Comics Forward' Campaign" by Graeme McMillan.  In it BOOM! Studios Founder & CEO Ross Richie explained his campaign this way, "The medium of comics has never been more on the forefront of driving pop culture, and as fans of this art form, we have a rare opportunity to take that interest to the next level and embrace an entire generation of potential fans who don’t read comics right now."

Richie pledges BOOM! Studios will "promote the campaign in the press, through social media and at comic book conventions throughout the year."   And, of course, also by publishing strong comics, like the hard-edged science fiction story Cluster, by Ed Brisson and Damian Couceiro, and the fantasy Feathers, which is being published under the Archaia imprint.

I'm on record as having been mostly under-impressed with DC's "New 52," but I took it in stride because, well, things change.  Being something of an old hand at comics I knew all I had to do was be patient and things would change again, maybe to something I'd like better.  I assumed this would take at least a decade but obviously I didn’t take into account just how quickly things move these days.  Because just three years later the "New 52" is officially done and, as I’m sure you've heard, DC Comics will be releasing 24 new titles (see “DC Announces New Summer Books, Creative Teams”).  And so far DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Dan DiDio has been saying things about them that I want to hear.

Like that he wants these new titles to be "…even more inclusive and accessible to a wider group of readers as the publisher continues to evolve comic storytelling for its new generation of fans."  And, "In this new era of storytelling, story will trump continuity as we continue to empower creators to tell the best stories in the industry."

I have to admit I'm still interested enough in superheroes that I want to see Eisner-winning comics creator Gene Luen Yang writing Superman and a Justice League of America title written and drawn by Bryan Hitch.  Not to mention the apparent rehabilitation of Starfire.   But I must confess that what I'm most interested in seeing personally is Bat-Mite and the revamp of Prez.

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.