In Which I Reveal What a Big Geek I am.
Posted by John on November 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pm · 7 Comments
First of all, it was revealed recently that Barack Obama has a collection of Spider Man and Conan comics. Do you hear that? OUR FUTURE PRESIDENT READS MARVEL!!1! Bush strikes me as a Superman guy. (Green Party types read Vertigo and Maus and maybe Love and Rockets)
So when Madeleine Brand (who I love!) of NPR’s Day to Day did a short piece covering this, she treats comic book collecting like an embarassing disease, like a case of the nerd scabies or something. The comic book shop owner she interviews attempts to inject some seriousness, pointing out the escapist nature of most superhero comics. When she expresses relief that “he’s not into the really out there stuff…something a little more disturbing,” I feel like she’s dimissing an entire vibrant and growing cultural medium and perpetuating negative stereotypes. Maybe I have a clue now how granola/green Evangelicals feel when they get lumped in with global warming denialists.
One more thing: Jana’s taking me to see The Dark Knight this evening! On the big screen! Not only am I a huge fan of just about everything that Frank Miller has churned out, but the casting is incredible–if Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine and Maggie Gyllenhaal were having a post-production orgy and needed a love slave, I would volunteer in a heartbeat.
Don’t think too much about that last bit.
Tags: Comics · Movies/Hollywood
