Yesterday on my way back from the doctor's office, where I filled out paperwork and did not yet meet my new physician, I debated on stopping in at the comic shop. I made the requisite turns, still pointed in a home direction, and finally decided I'd stop if there was a convenient parking spot. And there was and I didn't even have to parallel park.
And then, upon making my selection and taking it to the counter, I met him, the Comic Nerd.
There was a time when this label would have applied to me. And to the casual observer, noticing my comic book spinner rack, green lantern ring and black-costumed spider-man hoodie, it still does. But I can tell you that I am not so immersed as this guy.
It began when I asked the man behind the counter, as he rung me up for my The Mighty Thor #3, whether or not Fables was being cancelled. (To explain: The biggest story in comics' news these days, unless you count the death of Gene Colan or the arrest of a man on child porn charges at the Canadian border, is the big DC reboot. In September, DC Comics is restarting their entire line, including Action Comics which is currently at over 900 issues, with a new #1, including in many cases a re-telling of the character's origins. Barbara Gordon shall walk again and Superman shall be unmarried (probably). Oh, and there's going to be more minorities, but pretty much just African Americans. I'm digressing into straight editorializing, though. Back to the narrative.)
The man couldn't say conclusively whether Fables would be cancelled or not. Fables is published under DC's Vertigo imprint, which exists kind of separate from the mainstream, super-hero universe, so it should be safe, but I haven't seen an article stating this for a fact.
The Comic Nerd assured me it was okay. He stood in the alcove of new releases, over 6 foot O and sweaty, overweight and stubbled. He'd just gotten off from work as an EMT, I could tell, from the unbuttoned navy shirt with appropriate patch over the breast. And he was as certain about Fables as anything else.
A question I'd meant to put forth to comic shop worker, who read the news and works in the industry (as far as I'm concerned) had now been co-opted by the man who lives and breaths four colors. The universe shifted in the tiny shop and for a moment I lamented that this behemoth of geekdom had come between me and the door.
DC likes to reboot. I wouldn't say they never tell an original story, but it seems as if whenever they feel stuck in sales or overall direction, they go back to square one, number one. And this wouldn't be anything to complain about except that it has happened so often in recent years. It is tiring to me and I have strong opinions about it. Just like The Comic Nerd, comics are a big part of my life.
But it's something bigger for him and there in lies the distinction between my casual readership and his comic nerdery.
The conversation navigated through the issues of the reboot. I cited Aquaman in an example and something magical happened.
When the Comic Nerd talked about Aquaman, King of Atlantis, it was like he knew him. Like they'd just been out bowling and scarfing down corndogs at the Sonic on Conley RD. Like Arthur Curry let him take a spin on his dolphins and they prank called the JLA satellite together. The Comic Nerd said to me, "Aquaman is the quintessential American hero."
"Really?" I'd held my tongue several times, but this was too much. Aquaman? Aquaman is the hero everyone loves to make fun of. He's instant hero, just add water. But the Comic Nerd knows better. He knows.
He knows everything good about Aquaman. He knows that comic book writer Alan Moore just needs to chill out. He knows how the fans just love to argue on the internet. He knows comics and he knows that with this reboot maybe we'll see some new readers.
He's got old friends and friends that are old that are getting back into comics. And he knows that for the industry to survive it needs new blood and he is all in favor of that and whatever it takes to get it. And he will read those stories, too, and he will love them or hate them passionately.
I, however, am feeling pushed away by all of it. I go into the shop and look at the DC comics and think to myself, "They're rebooting in September, so I know how pretty much all of these stories end. And I just don't have room to understand a new Superman origin." But it has also had a strangely crystallizing affect. I'm more dedicated to the good series I know of, like X-Factor (Marvel) and Fables. I've gone back and forth on comics in the past, guided by my frustrations, but for the first time I feel definitely like a part of a different generation of readers.
The difference between me and the Comic Nerd is that I no longer have the fight in me. We both believe in heroes, but he still believes in the fight. He thinks the good fight can be saved and I'm just waiting for the day when it all goes digital and print as we know it is a thing of the past.
Or, to put it in comic nerd terms, I'm like Golden Age Superman flying off into the rift to stop the Anti-Monitor at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths and he's the Modern Age Superman still kicking Lex Luthor's butt after John Byrne's Man of Steel reboot. And just like Superman, some Superman, I hope the Comic Nerd will always be around to fight that good fight.
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