I'll be the first to admit that I love comic books. I'm all over the funny pages. My screenname is "Batman McAwesome" and up until a couple months ago, I had a regular pull list at my local comic shop consisting of about 40 titles. That being said, I f'ing hate comic book fans. I can't stand them. They're probably the worst type of fan out there. They're obsessive and none of their opinions are based on any sort of fact. They're just a huge pain in the ass.
It's this reason that I try to limit my time spent in comic book stores. Now, for the most part, the owners and cashiers of these shops are pretty cool. You can joke with them and have actual conversations with them that don't consist solely of quotes from
Futurama and what kind of underpants Wonder Woman wears. I just can't tolerate nerds. I get in there, grab my books, and I'm out the door before the dorks nearby have a chance to spout out why they'd punch Shia LaBeouf in the face (meanwhile deep down inside, they'd probably just request an autograph and ask him what BumbleBee is really like). I just can't deal with it.
That's the problem facing the comic book industry. Sure, there are 70+ years worth of stories ranging from superhero tales to stuff for little kids and adults, but the "comic book nerd" stereotype will stick with it for years to come. I doubt I'll see the day when graphic novels are considered actual literature or at the very least not looked down upon. Shit just won't happen because of all these crazy dorks out there writing fan-fiction and yelling at people because they buy Marvel or DC comics (Ask any comic book dork and there's bound to be a deep seeded hatred of one of the big two).
As I mentioned above, I have no qualms about my status as a dork, however there's a big difference between me as a dork and the kind of dorks that lurk around the comic book shop playing HeroClix and scaring off customers. I can talk about comic books until the cows come home, but I also recognize that not everyone can rattle off quotes from
Family Guy or knows the names of all the Green Lanterns assigned to Sector 2814, so I can have a normal conversation with people. F'ing nerds.