Why Do SO MANY Comic Book Fans Seem to Hate Comics?

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[@BrianLCS]

Great discussion. Outrage, negatively, generates clicks, eyeballs, etc. The other factor is, it's easy to be a faceless internet tough guy these days.

[@Envy-Animations]

Yeah pretty much

[@TheComicsPals]

Absolutely on point.

[@epcarter6]

Love this conversation and glad I found you guys, it’s ok to be critical of the things you love, but when you spent the majority of the time trashing said thing you probably no longer love it and it’s ok to move on.

[@TheComicsPals]

Exactly! Glad you’re enjoying us so far 👊🏾👊🏾

[@ahmedbinbakr2198]

I think this is a multifaceted question. But It simply boils down to (imo) age and, I hate to say it, race. It's not by coincidence that over 90% of these grifters are white dudes over 50. We like what we first experienced or grew up on, and these youtubers are no exception, they long for the good old days when John Byrne drew the x-men and women/minorities were tokenized and not "over represented". also, after reading over 200 batman issues, do you really get exited as the first couple of runs? regardless who you are? they confuse "wokeness" with bad writing. so Wonder Woman sucks because Tom King said something they don't agree with on twitter. Spider-man is in "arrested development" because he is not married with children like "I am". Many of the criticism stem from legitimate feelings and concerns, but trust me the grift is 100% performative and part of some larger "cultural war", and not simply bad story telling on the creators part. Finally, it's ok to move on from comics or reduce your intake. I personally Agree with the whole comics are stagnant argument and no real character development happens in Marvel/DC. so I switched to Indies and reading omnis of only celebrated runs only. I do not whine non-stop of how "modern comics suck" or how "modern creators are....."

[@TheComicsPals]

Great, multi layered take. Ultimately I agree with this. Hope to see you more around the channel, you've got the level headed mindset we like!

[@Envy-Animations]

Very informative comment, a lot of people need to see this!

[@817mborja]

Spider-Man is in arrested development. In the time since they broke up his marriage two whole generations of new parent spider fans have come along who no longer relate to the now 30 year old Spiderman who acts more juvenile than a highschooler. 3-4 if you count back from when they killed his kid back in the 90s. Who is the target audience? I don't see any kids at my shops buying new spidey. I certainly don't have any of the current issues to pass on to my kids. The only asm I have bought in the past 2 years (since Zeb) have been exclusive variants that i don't read, I skim, see the same shit, and off to be an art piece for eternity. Every time Peter in the 616 gets an inkling closer to some semblance of maturing he's kicked back down the stairs to forever be a broke college kid equivalent. If it weren't for the "have to have every issue even if i don't read crowd", the 3k order minimum for a store exclusive (times the amount of individual stores doing a variant with a trade and virgin) or the purely art cover buys; I doubt asm would actually have a leg to stand on.

[@ahmedbinbakr2198]

@@817mborja In that sense, so is every other golden and silver age character, they are all in "arrested development". Let's face it, Marvel/DC are not telling you a story that has a beginning, middle and end. Their goal is to keep these characters in print for the longest possible time. And marvel believes, and I think so too, that having your hero's married with children ages up your universe. I think that a secluded teen reader will relate to teen drama and love triangles more than marriage and dad jokes. But I will grant you that the average comic (now) reader age is going up, so marvel and DC might just end up doing that just to please their readership demographic. I think its the wrong move (long term) if they want to publish Peter Parker indefinitely (unless they reboot the universe to capture a newer generation in the future). This is my biggest problem with comics too, namely that nothing major really happens to the characters and they're all stuck in their 30s doing the same things. but I realized that I had my time with them and the new generation should enjoy them in their youthful prime like I did when I was a kid. edit: you say that "there are no kids in your shop"... I Can tell you anecdotally, that floppies skew older while collected editions, online, and Digital skews younger. So maybe Marvel/DC are not just relying on the shrinking (and aging) floppy market. Again this all anecdotal and a proper study/survey must be done to confirm my speculation.

[@TheComicsPals]

@@ahmedbinbakr2198 Just adding that what you said in your edit isn't just an isolated anecdote.. The mainstream Western comics market has a lot of work to do to bring young people into the fold, but we know that some of the efforts both companies have put forth (DC does a great job with books like Primer) work better with kids outside of the comic book shop.Just adding that what you said in your edit isn't just anecdote, it's factual.

[@BrandonPaul]

As someone who is a writer and currently working on webcomics, I definitely agree with the positivity fueling creativity argument. In particular, the Deadpool trailer and the new x-men announcements (and reading brevort's blog) made me get back into comics and work on my comics again. I listen to people on both sides, but the positive energy is what pushes me to create new things.

[@TheComicsPals]

Exactly. We need more positivity and spreading of that because it does inspire more creativity and, frankly, happiness. Can’t be positive about everything all the time, but shining a light on the good and fun things is necessary where possible.

[@schm00b0]

A bunch of well-funded grifters promote rage-bait. Unfortunately, social networks thrive on rage and fear.

[@TheComicsPals]

Nailed it.

[@IzzysIssues]

I appreciate all the recs you gave us at the end! Always looking for more positive comic discussions on the hellscape that is the internet

[@TheComicsPals]

Happy to add books to your ever growing stack, Izzy!

[@realdopecomics]

You guys and comics by perch are my favorite comic book channels

[@TheComicsPals]

Appreciate that brother! 👊🏾👊🏾

[@comicsheik7231]

Another excellent, timely, and much needed discussion. Thank you.

[@TheComicsPals]

Thank YOU for listening 👊🏾👊🏾

[@AngelusNielson]

I say this as a neurodivergent nerd, but neurodivergence plus passion often equals outrage and exaggeration of things. I've been gulity of it myself in things like fREAKING when I first heard about 3e D&D.

[@bryanrickard7712]

While I agree with the notion that the culture war grifters have something to sell and it’s often times a much worse comic book than what is available through the mainstream market, sometimes the comic isn’t even the product. Outrage is the product. You will notice some of the so-called “KZbin comic creators”, very seldom create any comics at all

[@TheComicsPals]

Absolutely true.

[@snappapop3277]

Easy answer is it's ok to shit on an industry that has more insider content creators than fans. I feel like it's become so hard to speak in a community with so many industry creators who will actively shoot down fans criticisms. And what's worse, creators who will amplify hate stories about the fandom. Cause here's the real truth. You mentioned loving going to that IGN podcast back in the day and it made you feel special. Imagine if you would have stuck around if all the IGN channel did was amplify every negative stereotype of the community in order to be considered "one of the good ones". Back in the day comic fans were the IGN fanbase. Now every single industry person wants every fan EXCEPT comic fans. Again because creators often accept whatever narrative is spun about the fanbase. The truth is the industry wants our passion...when it results in mental illness seeing a movie 132 times in theatres or screaming at a red carpet. They hate when they, who have all the power, make mistakes and that same mental illness can no longer be harnessed for manipulation. the reason people hate the product? because we are actively rebelling against indoctrination. We dont need to be told we are the bad guys while writers and producers and artists etc are morally bankrupt old dudes who want to gatekeep comics from the next generation of young male fans. Short answer, we rage because the people in charge show they don't want us as their core base. So I say fuck em all i'm not leaving. I'm gonna plant myself like a tree and say no, you move.

[@michaelneddeau5714]

Watching this after th latest stream was perfect timing lol. I just want to say that I personally don't get the outrage channels or whatever because if you really cared about the art you would want to get more people into said art medium, whatever that might be. The way you get other people into something is to speak passionately about it. I got into comics because the channels I watch speak positively about a certain story and it makes me want to pick it up.

[@michaelneddeau5714]

And critique instead of just straight bashing makes it easier for someone else to see your side even if they don't agree. I guess it's just human nature to not even care about differing opinions but it's sad because that's where good and meaningful conversations come from. Even if it's just something like a controversial comic that you happen to like lol.

[@TheComicsPals]

Yes exactly. It makes more sense when you realize that the goal of those channels isn't to celebrate comics, it's actually to court the vast amount of people who hate current comics industry and gather them all around. They also very frequently have something to sell, likely a comic, that they claim is better than everything in the mainstream.

[@dlvnmedia]

The reason outrage wins is the algorithm - people interact more with stuff that makes them angry so the algorithm pushes that more. It’s part of what I hate about KZbin since k have many interests and hobbies that I will get stuff I am not interested in to me cause I watched a conspiracy theory video to laugh at.

[@masenguerra7835]

there's always those grifters that don't talk about anything positive and honestly trash on comics as a whole due to there being some bad stories. Then they uplift stuff that they see as superior that is older and in the past. I see these commentary channels do this all the time by comparing bad comics to justice league unlimited. meanwhile genuinely well written comic just don't get talked about. You pals are among the only people I saw talk about Philip Kenndy Johnson's superman because people wanted to complain about spider-man or how gay Jon is.

[@TheComicsPals]

Yeah, it really is a shame that there are so many great books getting overlooked because of people’s biases and ignorance. We’ll keep shining a light on the great stories being told in this industry right now.

[@ThorneIdentity]

nothing like smart people doing good things for good reasons. keep it up.

[@TheComicsPals]

We sure will, thank you! 👊🏾👊🏾

[@spiralstorm616]

1. Some people don't like change 2. Some people don't like current ideas 3. Some people miss the old days 4. Some people dont like the LGBT representation 5. Some people just like to complain 6. Some miss the sexy women 7. Some people think some characters arent the same no more 8. Lot of Spider-Man fans are angry that OMD will proably never will redone and Peter will stay a miserable loser as Wells and editorial is establishing 9. I think Comicsgate and other crazies ruin the industry for others 10. I think social media hurts the industry 11. Some people thinking the industry is full of pedos and sex predators dominate the industry. Just my observations

[@TheComicsPals]

List pretty much covers all bases.

[@masido443]

I think that "Comic companies make "dramatic" changes to create big outrage and get attention." can be added too.

[@kharyrobertson3579]

Simple answer? For the same reason that so many content creators hate their audience. Familiarity breeds contempt. You hate to see it

[@TheComicsPals]

We love our audience around here! Wouldn’t be anywhere without them. But yes, I think you’re correct in that.

[@Patrick-wl6pw]

I agree love comic books not made

[@ChillMonger]

20:01 BJ Kicks

[@TheComicsPals]

Yes indeed!

[@read.your.comics]

Misery loves company so recreational outrage is a cheap sell. You won’t find any of that garbage on my channel so it’s a slow growth.

[@TheComicsPals]

You are on point about that. We’re very similar in that regard!

[@user-is6cs2nu5s]

I hate about 99 % of marvel and dc the big two are dead.go to image and indes.hire better writers artist.maybe ur bring back readers.dont get to the point in 6 to the whole run .

[@writerartist6306]

Not a fan of Tom King's writing. His narration and concepts are okay, but his dialogue is terrible and unrealistic, so I don't understand the appeal.

[@TheComicsPals]

That’s fair! Not every creator has to be for everyone.