COMICS CULTURE SHRAPNEL from CBEM 295

Reading Comics on the Q

Last Thursday, I took a trip to my local shop to pick up my stuff. It doesn't sound unusual, but I went there after work, and so had to walk twenty-three blocks through Manhattan. Made for an interesting trip, at least. At the store I picked up my stuff, then got on the subway, found myself a seat in the corner, and started reading what I bought. It's something I do all the time - during my freshman year of high school, it was the only time I had to read comics. And nothing quite matches the atmosphere of reading Transmetropolitan on a Q-train smelling of beer and/or urine. Honestly.

I also tend to attract more attention when I read comics: it could be the strange covers, the characters displayed on them... but more likely it's the fact that I'm reading a comic book. It's a rare sight, and people tend to look at me with a little more interest than if I was reading the New York Times or Anna Karenina.

This instance, however, actually led to something new. The person sitting next to me looked over and said "Hey, is that the new Wizard you're reading?"

And yes, it was. And yes, I do read Wizard. Most people complain about it being "stupid" or "flaky" but I really don't care. You see, those qualities are the exact reason I buy Wizard. I like to have fun with my comics habit. If I want serious, thought provoking conversation about comics, I can go to the net. There are plenty of well-written, intelligent, diverse zines on the web that I can read for critical or philosophical discourse. But I want silliness once in a while. I want pointless lists. (Geeks love to make lists. Watch High Fidelity.) I want weird interviews. I like to cast actors in comic movies too. I don't always want to be serious about the stuff I like.

And that's what any healthy medium has - both a serious side and a goofy side. You can buy a wide-variety of women's magazines ranging from Ladies' Home Journal to Elle to Cosmopolitan. On a newsstand you may be given a choice between Premiere or Movieline. Men's magazines vary from GQ to Maxim. There is something for everybody.

Which is why stuff like Wizard won't or can't go away - it fills a niche. If you dislike it, then your job is to overwhelm that with more of what you prefer. You want bad comics journalism to go away? Then we need more of the good stuff.

Anyway, back to the subway. I told him, yes it was the new Wizard, or at least the newest. We started talking about things like Dark Knight Returns and the new sequel, the Spiderman movie, the X-Men DVD. Turns out he hadn't read comics in a while and he was surprised by how much I knew. (So was I.)

Eventually his stop came and he had to get off the train, so we introduced ourselves and then said good-bye, and I went back to my Wizard magazine. Meetings like that are part of reason I read comics - the people. I like to talk about these things. Even if the person doesn't read comics. Especially if they don't read comics.

Wizard is probably the best known comics magazine with non-comics readers, probably because you can find it at a lot of newsstands. That's why it is the public perception of comics journalism. A basic lack of representation by other points of view. So everyone should feel free to let their habit be known - every bit of exposure comics gets rounds out the public perception. To read it in public debunks the myths of comics being for social outcasts or loners.

Treat your comics habit like any other hobby. Don't be afraid to let people know what you like, read your comics in public like any book or newspaper. And have fun with it - after all, aren't we here to be entertained?