I’d like to make a suggestion to comics fans everywhere. Or at least on the internet. Actually, probably most fans on the internet (comics or otherwise) could benefit from this suggestion.
But first, some background.
I’ve been trying for a few weeks to register to comment at DC’s official blog, The Source. Or rather, I’ve registered, but the original message never arrived, so I’ve been trying to get it to send me a password. No luck — only about 1 in 4 password resets actually show up in my mailbox, and I have yet to receive an actual password after confirming one.
But clearly someone is able to register, as you can see from the high quality of commentary on this Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance preview. (Be warned: there’s some swearing if that sort of thing bothers you.)
The Commentary
is it just me or is DC beating a dead horse with release after release of Final Crisis Aftermath mini series??? Enough all friggin ready.
For the love god, ANOTHER spin-off from a failed mini-series? DC, when you host your retailer summits, do you even listen to the retailers? Do the retailers stand and say, “Hey, Dan, can you please flood the market with a lot of junk and we’ll ’see-what-sticks’? And while you’re at it, how about dismantling your core characters to the point where they are no longer recognizable using rotating creative teams who constantly mess up continuity?”
I’m done.
There’s actually a point in this one (dismantling core characters), but it’s buried inside the “how dare they publish something I don’t want!”
gay. really gay. fuck final crisis and fuck all 4 of its “after the shitty job we did” mini-series.
Gee, not only swearing, but using “gay” as an insult. Obviously someone with discerning taste here. 🙄
From the DC Comics Corporate Offices:
“Our target demography is picking up Manga over comics, so if we create a team of young Japanese superheroes. It’s really going to change to comic industry!”
“And hey, let’s introduce them in Grant’s FANTASTIC summer event, he’s such a great writer! By the way, has he killed Batman the second time yet?”FAIL.
Red Kitty Rage Alert!
I do agree with mambazo, who says:
The ridiculous fan entitlement in this comment section only serves to show that the average comic fan has the maturity level of about an eight year old.
The Suggestion
So I’d like to make a suggestion to comics readers everywhere:
If you aren’t interested in a comic, and have no stake in the characters, JUST DON’T BUY IT. Don’t waste everyone’s time whining about how DC/Marvel/YoMamaComics is putting out some product that you personally have no interest in.
I can understand if you actually read the book and didn’t like it.
I can understand if you’re a fan of SuperUltraGuy, and you don’t like the latest take on the character. (Trust me, I understand!)
But if a publisher decides to print a comic book that you have no interest in whatsoever? A book that features characters you don’t care about in a story you don’t care about, that doesn’t interfere with books you are reading? Why get angry? Why take it personally?
I don’t read Superman, but I’m not going to get on message boards saying that DC is stupid for publishing it.
DC publishes dozens of comics that I have no interest in. So do Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, etc. So what? I couldn’t afford to buy every comic published. And if I did, I wouldn’t have time to read them all. I don’t have time to read all the comics I am buying — I’m about five months behind on Buffy and two on House of Mystery and Farscape, and I still haven’t read anything from this week or last except for Flash: Rebirth #2.
As long as there are comics I do want to read, why should I care that there are comics that I don’t want? As long as someone wants to read it, and as long as it’s not screwing up (IMO) characters and stories that I do care about, what’s the problem?
Thanks Kelson… this is really necessary… I completely agree. And people calling comics that they dont read gay? Comeon I thought we were better than that.
Totally and completelly agreed. I couldn’t say it better than you did, is just something I don’t understand about comics fans. Why buy something that you are sure you won’t like it?
Hurm. I just registered, got my email immediately, and logged in. Zero issues. Used a gmail account. Mayhaps try adding the bot-email to your address book, and give the reset thing another go? Assuming you haven’t already tried that. It’s such a standard solution, I expect you’ve been there done that already though.
Yeah, the level of conversation on The Source is pretty lowest common denom’ on average. It makes me pity the guys running the blog. I’m definitely with your sentiment. If I’m not interested in a title, I generally just ignore it. DCU is -ultimately- a business. Money speaks louder than “Nerd Rage” ever will.
And wouldn’t you know it, on the 27th try (okay, I haven’t actually been counting, but that’s probably close) I finally managed to get a password email.
Similarly – I registered with comicbloc on Feb 1st and while the site allowed me to log on – access to the forum was blocked while I was logged in. I sent messages to the admin via comicbloc messaging and email 12 times without a single response. I had heard from people that frequent the site that they had been hacked and were also very busy over the course of the two months that I tried to contact them. Keith Dallas told me my circumstance was unusual and that he personally talked to someone over there about the problem – but nothing ever came of it and I never heard anything from anyone associated with the site.
Well put, Kelson.
Well said sir,
BTW I’ve had a password ect for the geoff johns boards for a couple of weeks but every time I log on its says I do not have permission to access this page I’ve e-mailed them but still no luck any ideas?
Hear, hear.
Fandom in general needs to realize what they sound like, and then take that information to heart.
I don’t completely agree that people shouldn’t comment on comics that they don’t buy … they could be complaining *why* they’re not buying them, for example. Your examples above I thought were all fine*, for example. (especially complaints about Final Crisis; who can argue with those?)
* Except for the needless vulgarity. You certainly have a point about that. But that seems like a separate point from your other criticism.
Okay, for comparison, here are a few negative comments that were up at the time I wrote this post, but which I did not feel were unreasonable:
Blunt, but at least he’s actually talking about the content of the book. He didn’t like the Super Young Team in their previous appearance, and isn’t interested in reading more about them. And he doesn’t make the leap from “I don’t care” to “Nobody cares.”
No drama, just simple economics.
There’s a big difference between saying, “I’m not interested in this” and extrapolating that into “FAIL.” There’s also a big difference between saying (for example) “I’m uncomfortable with the idea of Westerners appropriating Japanese culture’s appropriation of American culture” and “This has Final Crisis in the title, therefore it’s going to suck.”
Appropriately enough, today’s word of the day is querulous KWER-uh-luhs; -yuh
, adjective:
1. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining.
2. Expressing complaint; fretful; whining.