amy975•7d ago

A convo with a guy at my local shop made me stop gatekeeping indie comics

I always thought I was better than people who only read Marvel and DC, like indie stuff was superior. But last Saturday at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, a guy named Dave overheard me bragging and said 'man, you're just trading one corporate fandom for another pretentious one.' It hit different because he was right - I was acting like a snob about books I'd never even read cover to cover, just titles I saw on Twitter. Has anyone else had their whole 'I'm a real fan' bubble popped like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron4267d ago

I heard a podcast where a comic shop owner said the most miserable customers are the ones who treat reading like a competition, and that stuck with me. You think you're above the mainstream but you're just joining a different kind of club with a secret handshake, right?

verafoster7d ago

Man, I don't know. Are people really that miserable about it? I mean yeah some folks take it too far, I get that. But I've got a buddy who reads like a maniac and tracks everything on Goodreads and he's just a normal dude who likes to talk about books. I don't think he's trying to be above anybody he just gets excited. And the whole "secret handshake" thing feels a little dramatic to me, like yeah there's some gatekeeping in comic shops and book clubs but most people just want to chat about what they read.