Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers, Matthew J. Pustz, University Press of Mississippi, 1999
Are you a comic book lover surrounded by people who don't "get it" about comic books? Do you know someone whose main passion is comic books, and it's hard to understand the attraction of something more intended for children than adults? In either case, this book is for you.
The author does a very good job at surveying the present-day culture around comic books. The readers of the classic superhero type of comics (Batman, Superman, etc.) are overwhelmingly male. The stories don't appeal to women very much, and women are usually portrayed as barely clothed, and with gravity-defying breasts. He also explores the rise of alternative comics (small press, or self-published, books whose subject matter can be practically anything), where female cartoonists and readers, and older readers, tend to go.
Fans tend to get very possessive about "their" character. If the writer takes things in an undesired direction, fans have no problems with saying so, in no uncertain terms. One of the things limiting the growth in popularity of comic books is the requirement on the part of the reader of comic literacy. Unless the reader can start with issue 1, there are usually too many "in" jokes, or too many things talked about in previous issues, for the new reader to totally understand it all.
This one is very good. It covers a lot of ground, and in a way that a novice and a veteran can understand it. Personally, I am not much of a comic book reader, but after reading this, I think I'll visit my local comic book store to see what's on the racks.
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