Facts of the Hobby: Comic Fatigue VS "Fanboy Fade"
CageNarleigh
Posts: 729
Historically, when posting on this forum, I've been at work or on a random internet browse. My comments, be they within another topic or when creating a new topic altogether, can often seem jumbled or even illicit debate towards a point I wasn't even trying to make. So, with that in mind, I came up with the idea for this topic "genre" as it were as a place for those relatively new to the hobby to ask for the advice of those more steeped in the tradition.
Facts of the Hobby, I'm calling it. Feel free to use that moniker as you please.
I've also elected to allow myself time to "sort out" my thoughts before posting, so hopefully what follows is a more concise representation of EXACTLY the notion I intended to broach with this audience.
Onto the main event. (forgive the wordiness of this post, I tend to be more loquacious and long winded when I've put my mind to the task of writing)
In my wanderings about the comic community, I've heard tell of comic fans who've simply (at one point or another) "fallen out" of the hobby, only to be entranced by its colorful pages once more in their future. Usually this individual is a person who began reading as a child, fell out of it around the teenage years and returned as an adult.
Secretly, I've always been worried that this was a merely an inevitable "fact" of the hobby, a rite of passage all comic fans must endure in their tenure as a comic fan.
As someone who only started reading comics regularly with 'Rage of the Red Lanterns: Final Crisis Special', that hidden concern has been squashed by all of the wondrous comics (and comic podcasts) I've discovered since then. Lantern titles led to DC titles, DC titles led to Marvel titles, Marvel led to Indy and soon enough, my comics consumption rounded its way back to the characters I had only a single issue of each as a child: Nexus, Union, Ms. Marvel & Modred the Mystic
When I thought I had no further to go, Fredric Wertham was introduced to me and comics history became my girl Friday. Given that I've only been regularly reading comics since 2008, what I've learned is quite substantial. I'm a sponge of comics information, continuity and history.
But my concern has resurfaced.
I've made no secret, both here and on my podcast that DC comics editorial, creative and even business practices are of major concern to me. The direction they seem to be taking their characters and company seems to be one that values money over creativity and mass market ready storytelling (eager to be adapted someday to the larger audience) as opposed to occasional love letters to the fans that have been supporting the company for generations.
Although I still get excited to flip through my free PREVIEWS every month (shoutout to my LCS, Tribe Comics and Games) I worry that my interest in the hobby has become more habit than hobby.
So I put it to you, my fellow comic fans who enjoy dissecting every panel of a comic page AND every aspect of the comic life, is "fanboy fade" a reality? Is it a fact of comic geekery that, eventually, we all go through a "break" with our love of the graphic storytelling medium? Do you think I'm experiencing the tell tale signs of an upcoming break? Or is my despair over DC affecting my passion overall? (Remember, I love DC characters and history above all others.)
What about you? Have you been having the same internal struggle? Are you worried that your disinterest in the direction of so many comics is the result of your fading interest in the hobby?
Or have I just not been a fan long enough to know that, hypothetically speaking, the direction of comic storytelling is cyclical and, a few months or years from now, DC (and other publishers) will be putting out comics that I adore once more?
Facts of the Hobby, I'm calling it. Feel free to use that moniker as you please.
I've also elected to allow myself time to "sort out" my thoughts before posting, so hopefully what follows is a more concise representation of EXACTLY the notion I intended to broach with this audience.
Onto the main event. (forgive the wordiness of this post, I tend to be more loquacious and long winded when I've put my mind to the task of writing)
In my wanderings about the comic community, I've heard tell of comic fans who've simply (at one point or another) "fallen out" of the hobby, only to be entranced by its colorful pages once more in their future. Usually this individual is a person who began reading as a child, fell out of it around the teenage years and returned as an adult.
Secretly, I've always been worried that this was a merely an inevitable "fact" of the hobby, a rite of passage all comic fans must endure in their tenure as a comic fan.
As someone who only started reading comics regularly with 'Rage of the Red Lanterns: Final Crisis Special', that hidden concern has been squashed by all of the wondrous comics (and comic podcasts) I've discovered since then. Lantern titles led to DC titles, DC titles led to Marvel titles, Marvel led to Indy and soon enough, my comics consumption rounded its way back to the characters I had only a single issue of each as a child: Nexus, Union, Ms. Marvel & Modred the Mystic
When I thought I had no further to go, Fredric Wertham was introduced to me and comics history became my girl Friday. Given that I've only been regularly reading comics since 2008, what I've learned is quite substantial. I'm a sponge of comics information, continuity and history.
But my concern has resurfaced.
I've made no secret, both here and on my podcast that DC comics editorial, creative and even business practices are of major concern to me. The direction they seem to be taking their characters and company seems to be one that values money over creativity and mass market ready storytelling (eager to be adapted someday to the larger audience) as opposed to occasional love letters to the fans that have been supporting the company for generations.
Although I still get excited to flip through my free PREVIEWS every month (shoutout to my LCS, Tribe Comics and Games) I worry that my interest in the hobby has become more habit than hobby.
So I put it to you, my fellow comic fans who enjoy dissecting every panel of a comic page AND every aspect of the comic life, is "fanboy fade" a reality? Is it a fact of comic geekery that, eventually, we all go through a "break" with our love of the graphic storytelling medium? Do you think I'm experiencing the tell tale signs of an upcoming break? Or is my despair over DC affecting my passion overall? (Remember, I love DC characters and history above all others.)
What about you? Have you been having the same internal struggle? Are you worried that your disinterest in the direction of so many comics is the result of your fading interest in the hobby?
Or have I just not been a fan long enough to know that, hypothetically speaking, the direction of comic storytelling is cyclical and, a few months or years from now, DC (and other publishers) will be putting out comics that I adore once more?
Comments
Finally, I got back into the hobby in 2004 in a big way. And I was buying stuff like crazy. When the recession hit, however, I had to trim back, so I once again stopped buying the Big Two in monthlies. And Event Fatigue was also a factor. But I still read comics; I buy discounted copies of Fables and other non-superhero trades; I borrow from the library.
I don't think I'll ever abandon comics again. But I constantly adjust what I'm reading, based on several factors.
I'm in a funk right now. For the last several weeks I have had no desire to read anything. It's been feeling like work, I haven't been enjoying it and so I'm stepping out for awhile. My last break from comics lasted twelve years.
It wasn't until I moved to SE Texas that I got back into comics. This was March of 97. Once Preacher and Hate ended I stopped again.
Then in 2005 I discovered CGS and got back in. Still mostly reading older stuff.
Yes.
I never completely stopped buying comics, but there have been periods where I was buying very few.
Currently, my books are piling up unread.
I have been reading funnybooks pretty much from the moment I saw the purty pictures in my older sisters copies of Supergirl, and I'll likely be reading one on my deathbed in a hospital somewhere (God-willing, of course).
What fades and comes back is my love of particular companies, characters, and genres. While I'm a DC Nation Citizen through and through, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy Marvel, Image, etc. And the books that tend to stick with me the most are the indie titles like Zot!, Strangers in Paradise, Bone, and Elfquest (which I've only started reading but I can tell you right now will be in my collection for life).
The "fanboy fade" is something I feel from time to time. The reason I never leave the hobby, unlike when I was a kid, is because I have more access to many different comics..something that I didn't have in my youth. I know that as soon as DC pisses me off Marvel is publishing something awesome. When the big two suck there is Image, IDW, Dark Hoarse, and many many independent titles to keep my satisfied until I feel the superhero bug again.
I started reading comics here about 5 years later when I was up at UGA (2001). I wasn't real serious about it; I would pick up trades here and there (Preacher, Sin City, The Tick). Comics were never a huge deal to me until 05-06 (the best two years of comics since 85-86). I've been an avid buyer of comics since then.
However I mini-murd stack of comics/trades that I've not gotten too. I fade from reading because other things catch my interest. It can fishing, books, legos, hunting, work, etc. I don't think I've ever left comics bc I thought they were terrrible.
Some people grow out of it…a lot of people left comics after Crisis because “their” DC was gone and they hated the new “Marvel-ized” version. In the 90’s, people left because there was too much and it all looked back. In the early 2000’s, people left because of the switch to trade paperbacks and long form stories rather than the “soap opera” approach to stuff. I’ve been hearing for years about how people are leaving because of price (one guy on the Timey-Atlas discussion group said comics weren’t any good once they went to 15 cents).
Myself, there have been times I have bought fewer comics due to disinterest or finances, and I am terribly behind on things due to a hectic schedule, but I’ve always liked reading them. I have disconnected from fandom at times as well, and to be honest, if The Comics Forum goes the way fo the Bendis Board, which there are no indications of, I probably will not be involved in any sort of discussions on comics other than on my own podcast because…fandom is too focused on the movies and TV, which are nice, but…I like me some funny books.
Back in ancient history when I started collecting, the idea was that you read comics until you discovered girls. Then, when you went to college, then when you got a job and so on. I think for each person, it happens when it happens. The art styles change, the storytelling changes, the industry changes, people do and don’t have disposable income.
For me, worse comes to worse, I’ll always have my EC Box sets and my Archives, Masterworks, Showcases and Essentials.
So I've forcibly set aside an hour or so (at minimum) to sit, in my comfortable chair, and just read. Not for any purpose like writing a review or so I'll be ready for the next book when it comes out, but simply because there was a time in my misspent youth when lying on my bed reading a stack of comics was one of the greatest things ever. Somewhere that got lost along the way with me. It's not that comics became a chore to read, but I wasn't getting that same sense of wonder out of the reading.
Because the last thing I want is to have someone come in after my death, look at shelf after shelf of books and think "Wow, he must have been quite the comic book reader!" only for my wife to say "Actually, half these things I don't know that he ever opened up." :)
Got back in during the mid 2000's. Fell in love with DC. Started mostly trade only about 3 years ago. I tend to buy mostly older stuff but there are some newer things I follow. The N52 has soured me on a lot of what DC is doing.
Because of Air Force personnel cutbacks due to sequestration, I have to switch careers now into a lower paying job which will mean less comics. I am not getting out completely, but I am going to have to be a lot more selective in what I buy. I have been spending $150 a month on average for years. Looking to cut that in half and maybe even skip a month every once in a while. Also, I have a comic book room that is full of trades. I do not have too much more room for more and I do not want to go digital. This is making cutting back a little easier to deal with.
I can see myself in a few years getting out (almost) all the way. I have almost all the old stuff I want - at least that is in print. There is not really that much new stuff that would keep me in the hobby. I would still check previews though to see if something is finally being released in trade.
Switch to the smaller companies that may be able to release things in a more creative manner and not have to rely on big numbers. I'm much happier having done it.
The catalyst of was the talk the Spider-man movie. What I had hoped for as a kid was finally happening. It was 1999 so I was still about 3 years from buying a comic. What got me in a store was saying "Why wait for the next Spidey movie when I can read the source material?" So I started back and thanks to Wizard magazine and then CGS and DCBS I got back into it good. I sorted faded when I started only buying dollar bin books and stopped going to the shops. This went till 2011 or so and I took a break and I went back in with Superior Spider-man.
I now buy some things digital and watch the shows and movies and hang out here. If I do completely fade out I want finish up at Heroes Con next year. Fitting place to go out :)
1.I was shipping out for Army BCT and went 4 months without any comics.
2.I was burnt out on 90% of the comics I was reading. I did keep getting 4 titles.
The second time,well I started working almost 60 hours a week. The two titles I loved ended.
M