When did Comic books and Superheroes become "Cool"?

[Darthphere]

Comic books aren't cool, but superheroes are and that's entirely because of the movies.

Superheroes are cool, now. Because it's the trend so far. Soon, people will move on to making 100 Purple Penis Prancer movies or something.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Non-superhero comic books have been cool for a long time, actually. Not necessarily mainstream, but cool in the way indie rock was cool before Garden State made everybody and their mother crazy for it. Plenty of people I went to college with were reading Vertigo comics and indie comics. In fact, superheroes were considered the bane of comics that only mouth-breathing clones of The Simpsons' comic book guy read in-between internet porn breaks in their mothers' basements. As distasteful as it is for me, I have to agree with Blader: superheroes have only just been made cool by the movies.

 

[Aristotle]

On the other hand, with the mainstream comes pandering to the faceless masses. I mean, it's already done now, but imagine if they got a million more readers to please? Things will get stupider and stupider. Events will come far more often. The 90's all over again. Could the industry survive another crash? I don't know. Right now it's still a niche thing. The movies do well, people dig the characters, but they aren't reading the comics. Which is okay I guess. I like things the way it is now.

I disagree, actually. Events NEVER happened in 1942, and comics were selling millions. With the luxury of tons and tons of readers, creators would actually be freed up to tell more of the stories that they wanted to tell. Furthermore, since we all know that the only thing most events do is **** up continuity, the companies would probably want to stay away from those kinds of events.

I don't like the way it is now. I don't like that I have to defend my choice in reading material to so many of my friends. I don't like that I have literally never met a female who has even a passing interest in superhero comic books. I don't like that even in this day and age of so-called mainstream acceptance of superhero comics, I still can't really talk about superheroes with any of my friends because they don't like comics. I don't like that (admittedly very good) books like Transmetropolitan and Sandman and V For Vendetta can be hailed as masterpieces in the mainstream but the vast majority of the comics I read regularly are still "for kids" in the eyes of most people, or at best bad literature. Even Hellblazer isn't allowed to be high art because of that damned Constantine movie.

And I don't like that.

 

[Anubis]

Maybe that's because you're ugly.

 

[Darthphere]

Hellblazer wasn't high art to begin with.

 

[UK_Stu]

I'm interested to see that more and more celebrities are coming out and admitting they are comic fans or readers these days. Maybe they genuinely are readers and have been embarassed to admit it in public before now, or maybe they are saying it because they think it makes them sound cool.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I respect the ones who come out as comic readers. The ones who claim to be fans but haven't touched a comic in years just confuse me.

 

[Darthphere]

I'm interested to see that more and more celebrities are coming out and admitting they are comic fans or readers these days. Maybe they genuinely are readers and have been embarassed to admit it in public before now, or maybe they are saying it because they think it makes them sound cool.

Yeah, like Jessica Alba. Look ****, you're not fooling anyone, you have never read a comic in your life.

 

[UK_Stu]

Yeah, like Jessica Alba. Look ****, you're not fooling anyone, you have never read a comic in your life.

Maybe she just wants more superhero movie offers...

Megan Fox said in a recent interview is is a regular comic reader.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I could buy that.

 

[Diamondhead]

So, I was at my fiancee's house waiting around to go out for her birthday and for her friends to come over. When they did, I found myself sitting in a room with 7 very hot twenty-something females. Because I do not care about the latest hair products or whatever they all talk about, I started reading my latest issue of Wizard that I bought. one of the girls noticed the cover (it was the one with Iron Man and Hulk) and we ended up getting into a 15-20 minute conversation about superheroes and how cool Iron man was and how they really wanted to see the Dark knight. This got me thinking, these ladies are the least likely candidates to talk about superheroes with, yet they had a respectable amount of knowledge about the characters. I know for a fact they don't read comic books but I was still amazed. When did knowing about superheroes go from being a "Nerdy" thing to mainstream knowledge?

It all depends on one’s image
When I was in high school (mostly the first 3 years) I hang out with the toughest guys
And they respected and fear me because I was the strongest one of them
And some of them knew I was into comics

So I made reading comics cool
I would even barrow some of my comics to them
But I would rarely ask them back (trust me, never land your stuff to those kind of guys, they’ll never give it back to you unless you kick their butts)
But that was part of being cool and I wouldn’t show them that I was really “a comic book crazy kind of guy”
And I lost lots of my comics like that.


I remembered reading that mad magazines once
And I land it to that gorgeous well endowed girl in my history classroom,
I think she was trying to talk to me and ask me that mad magazines instead
Because seriously I don’t think that girl was into that kind of “crap”
But I never ask her that magazines back
And because I wasn’t quite the dude that I ‘am now, I was kind of shy of approaching her too.
This girl was gorgeous, maybe to much of a figure even for me at that time
And she is one of my regrets back in high school.
I met her later on and she has kids and she lost her gorgeous body.

And that’s not the best part of it
There was also this beautiful girl in my biology class and she overheard me and the other guys having a discussion about whose faster, Flash or Superman!
And she suddenly exclaim how childish we were
I immediately side with her and betrayed my friends
But I don’t have any regret about that.
C’mon if you think I’m going to let people know I “worship” comic book character
You must be crazy!
It’s just a part of my childhood and I want to keep that part alive in other for me to keep growing.
Because the child in you is really your mentor for the rest of your life.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I would even barrow some of my comics to them

I wish I had friends in high school who would bring me comics by the wheelbarrow.

 

[Anubis]

Yah huh.

 

[Diamondhead]

I wish I had friends in high school who would bring me comics by the wheelbarrow.

LOL

 

[MyPokerShirt]

Sorry to break it to you, and I assume people have already said this but, um... theyre not.

 

[MyPokerShirt]

Shame Diamondhead's girl was well endowed, cos personally... I'm not really into lady boys.

 

[UK_Stu]

It all depends on one’s image
When I was in high school (mostly the first 3 years) I hang out with the toughest guys
And they respected and fear me because I was the strongest one of them
And some of them knew I was into comics

So I made reading comics cool
I would even barrow some of my comics to them
But I would rarely ask them back (trust me, never land your stuff to those kind of guys, they’ll never give it back to you unless you kick their butts)
But that was part of being cool and I wouldn’t show them that I was really “a comic book crazy kind of guy”
And I lost lots of my comics like that.


I remembered reading that mad magazines once
And I land it to that gorgeous well endowed girl in my history classroom,
I think she was trying to talk to me and ask me that mad magazines instead
Because seriously I don’t think that girl was into that kind of “crap”
But I never ask her that magazines back
And because I wasn’t quite the dude that I ‘am now, I was kind of shy of approaching her too.
This girl was gorgeous, maybe to much of a figure even for me at that time
And she is one of my regrets back in high school.
I met her later on and she has kids and she lost her gorgeous body.

And that’s not the best part of it
There was also this beautiful girl in my biology class and she overheard me and the other guys having a discussion about whose faster, Flash or Superman!
And she suddenly exclaim how childish we were
I immediately side with her and betrayed my friends
But I don’t have any regret about that.
C’mon if you think I’m going to let people know I “worship” comic book character
You must be crazy!
It’s just a part of my childhood and I want to keep that part alive in other for me to keep growing.
Because the child in you is really your mentor for the rest of your life.

This is like the funniest thing I've read for weeks...

 

[Themanofbat]

Hellblazer wasn't high art to begin with.

And it's comments like this that make you non-deserving of that Poster with the Most Comic Book Knowlegde Award you ripped from my hands after I won it 3 years in a row...

 

[Darthphere]

And it's comments like this that make you non-deserving of that Poster with the Most Comic Book Knowlegde Award you ripped from my hands after I won it 3 years in a row...

But it wasn't.

 

[Themanofbat]

But it wasn't.

HellBlazer is a very underrated book...

 

[Darthphere]

HellBlazer is a very underrated book...

I'll give you that, but high art? Nah.

 

[Diamondhead]

I wish I had friends in high school who would bring me comics by the wheelbarrow.

I meant borrow

 

[Diamondhead]

Shame Diamondhead's girl was well endowed, cos personally... I'm not really into lady boys.

Isn’t well endowed mean curvaceous?
Girls with extraordinary curve!?
what do you mean by lady boys ?

 

[Themanofbat]

I'll give you that, but high art? Nah.

Yeah... it's more like "sleazy art"... but great art to look at and read.

 

[Diamondhead]

This is like the funniest thing I've read for weeks...

Well I’m glad to put a smile on that square jaw of yours captain uk stu !