When many people think comic book fans or fanboys, pimpley faced virgins come to mind. Unathletic, bully fodder with delusions of their own existence sitting around on their duffs either burying their nose into the latest X-Men title while they sip a soda in their moms basement. It seems however that with the induction of comic book communities such as Comicvine and even company based sites such as Marvel & DC comics websites and the television show Big bang Theory have birthed an entirely new breed of comic fan. Now it seems that comic book fans have emerged from all walks of life, for instance on this very site, there are several female comic enthusiasts (Babs, just to name one) who are not only ladies but also not harsh on the eyes. This comic book reformation has done alot to dispel the idea of the sexually inexperienced, woman fearing stereotype that once plagued anyone daring to pick up the latest issue of Detective comics or wear an Iron man t-shirt, are slowly starting to fade. Even as I sit in my colleges cafeteria waiting for my Poli-Sci class to start, I thumb through the pages of 52, however it is not uncommon for me to still get the occasional "you don't seem like the type to read comics" comments. Which ultimately leaves me to wonder:
April and May not only signaled the start of the warm weather months but also the conclusion of DC's mega event Blackest Night and the start of its next big event the aptly titled Brightest Day as well as the end Marvels blockbuster The Siege and the beginning of The Heroic Age. As The Siege and Blackest Night ended, I found myself pleased with the products that the rival companies had put out. Ready to move on, I logged on to my usual virtual comic book water coolers (Shout out to COMICVINE.Com & The Green Lantern Corps) to see what the overall reaction was to the now ended events, assuming( very foolishly) that my fellow Comic Book Aficionado would have at east enjoyed them to a minimal degree. Much to my surprise many of the reactions and reviews were not only moderately negative but extremely negative. I saw phrases like "Geoff Johns is an Idiot" and "The Siege was Boring" over and over again. I began to wonder,"Am I just THAT easily amused?" or was it that the internet aged crowd is "Never Satisfied(Har Har Har I know cheap plug to the blog title)", whatever the case I tried to find out. I asked many what their complaints were and I heard the same answers for each. So for the Blackest Night aka "Geoff Johns is an idiot" aka"Geoffcon( a term used for plot devices Geoff Johns has put in place to make sense) fest" I was left with the impression that Nekron, the main antagonist of the story did very little and basically just "stood there". Flashback to events like Final Crisis, aside from "Omega Beaming" everyones favorite masked Vigilante Bruce Wayne aka The Batman through time and space, Darkseid sat on his gravel colored butt, yet many hail Final Crisis as brilliant. My problem with this is that, god-like characters shouldn't have to get up and get their hands dirty, they place all the pieces on the chess board and watch them play out.. Nekron is not the Rhino or The Mirror Master. A character that can raise a near countless army of undead soldiers to do his bidding doesn't need to get into petty and quite honestly uneven dust-ups with the likes of Red Tornado, Green Arrow and The JSA. Someone with ambitions of killing existence as we know it, has little else to do but watch his plan executed. Now onto The Siege, which many have labeled, "Boring" and "Predictable". No duh, it was the end of Norman Osborn's Dark Reign over the Marvel U, it was even advertised as such. You can't tell me that the average spectator thought Norman and the Dark Avengers would rule forever, that guys like Bullseye, Daken and Mac Gargan would hold the mantles of Marvel Icons Hawkeye, Wolverine and Spider-Man did you? If so, you're even stupider than you claim Geoff Johns to be. The Diege held many highlights such as: The Return of The Might Thor!, The death of Ares, The death of Loki, Norman Osborn felled, the passing of the Shield from Steve Rogers to his long time protege Bucky and ultimately Void defeated, all great happenings that leave the Marvel Universe in great shape to develop many great stories and story-arcs. It seems that at least in my opinion, that the average comic reader is hard to satisfy, their needs can only be met by stories they want to end "their way", which just isnt possible with millions of readers worldwide, I think its our responsibility as readers to thank the men and women who plot and pencil and word and ink and publish the books, rather than complain about things like Splash Pages and the occasional retcon here and there. I think its time to remember than comics are made to be enjoyed 32 pages at a time.
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