Comic World News | Past the Front Racks

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Enough Already

Accept that not everyone will love comics

All too often I see message board threads and columns devoted to getting significant others into comics. And I cringe every time I think of some well-meaning but clueless comics fan handing his wife or girlfriend a copy of Birds of Prey. Comics are important to you, yes. But they don't have to be important to those you love. As long as your partner is not threatening you and your precious long boxes with eviction, you should be able to co-exist without sharing your intense love for the medium of comics.

Two things moved me to write this column this week. Kate and I did a little experiment with comics. Well, not regular comics, but mini-comics. The experiment would have failed miserably if I had asked her to buy mass-produced comics. What I had her do was buy $30 worth of mini-comics that caught her eye at SPX and then post her thoughts about them at the SIZE MATTERS blog. I didn't do this to transform her into a comics reader; she did it for me to provide a different perspective on mini-comics for the blog. We thought it would be fun to share something that I enjoy and it sparked several lengthy conversations between the two of us about comics and why people might not be "comics people." It also got me thinking about "non-comics people" and what seems like an endless stream of opinions on our part about how to convert others into comics readers. As I was writing this column, I noticed a link to another one of these pieces at CBR. This one had a twist though: a woman telling men how to get their women to read comics. It doesn't matter; it's just one more misguided volley in the never-ending crusade to get "non-comics" people to become comics people.

After my conversations with Kate, and after thinking about the many attempts by others at explaining how to hook people (usually the fairer sex) with comics, I've really only got one thing to say: Some people, and it's really not a gender issue, just don't like comics as much as other people do. It's that simple. Everyone can appreciate comics on some level, I think that's a given. But not everyone is going to appreciate them enough to take the time to track them down, wade through the ever deepening river of shit that is comics to determine what's good, and then pay hard earned money to read them. I think we'll all be happier if we accept that.

Let me backtrack a bit to our SPX experiment and then go from there. Kate spent thirty dollars on twenty mini-comics. Out of the twenty mini-comics, there were seven that she enjoyed and felt like she got her money's worth after reading them. That's not a bad ratio, but it didn't turn her into a comics reader. She was pleasantly surprised that the people there didn't fall into her preconceived notion of the comic book guy from The Simpson's.

(Thank god I didn't take her to Wizard World; she probably couldn't have stomached it long enough to find twenty comics that appealed to her at all before running screaming from the building. Mind you, I probably would have been just in front of her tearing my own eyes out.)

Anyway, she enjoyed SPX and liked several of the mini-comics that she purchased and she's a bit of a stickler when it comes to her entertainment dollar. She's appreciated comics that I've handed her in the past, and we took an interesting "History Of Comics" class together in college. She's read many comics and graphic novels, including Maus, Strangers in Paradise, Jimmy Corrigan, Sin City, Kabuki, Goodbye Chunky Rice, Watchmen, and Sandman. Guess what? She fucking hated Sandman. Let me repeat that: She fucking hated Sandman. She was bored to tears by Strangers in Paradise, appreciated the craft of Jimmy Corrigan, and loved Maus for its historical perspective. Strangely, she really dug Kabuki and begged me to find the next several issues from the closet. She's used comics in the classroom as a middle school teacher and even had kids make their own comics telling the life of an important historical figure. But she's not a comics reader. She can appreciate them when they're done well, but she's also enough of her own person to resent some dumbass (me) trying to shove comics in her face all the time.

Her conclusion after reading her SPX haul was that while she can appreciate the truly great comics that might be out there, comics just might not be the medium that clicks for her. She'd rather spend her time and money on a good novel.

You might think that since I've written a weekly column on comics for over two years that I might constantly try to push them on the one person who means the most to me. I don't. It's very rare that I put a comic in front of Kate and say, "Read this." It's got to be exceptional. Instead I realize that she has her own thing. I don't think, "Ooh, she loves LOST, maybe I should give her Planetary to read." That didn't work when we picked up the horrible Buffy comics after becoming briefly addicted to the TV show. It's not that you haven't been able to find the perfect comic to match their favorite TV show or movie; it simply doesn't always translate. It's not a matter of "Oh, they like that show or book, so give them this comic." You won't always be able to transform them into a comics fan. And that's okay. Celebrate your differences.

I understand that comics are important to you, I really do. I love them too or I wouldn't spend so much time writing about them. But this crusade to get others to like comics is beginning to feel kind of sinister. It feels a bit like the scary people that knock on your door and ask you if you know Jesus. If you live and breathe comics, if it's your passion, just be thankful you've got someone in your life that tolerates you and your love. Let them be and quit trying to force comics down their throat. Be happy that you're getting laid for once. If you go leaving copies of Sandman and Strangers in Paradise lying around everywhere, she's gonna think you're a wuss. And she's probably right.