I use the term Fanboy, (there are Fangirls, props to the women), to describe males who are interested in comic books, science fiction, fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, and cinema based on these iconic corporate entities. Maybe you have noticed at the movies that there are a lot of us Fanboys around these days. Some people gravitate to these public art forms because they see the crowd forming and come over to see what is so interesting. As people we like to feel like we belong to something while still retaining our solitary existences and autonomy at the same time, and as popular culture embraces the Fanboy our numbers grow. But what drives the Fanboy, the true fan who would, or did, love all of this stuff before it became a staple of modern popular culture?
That’s a little more complicated, but speaking only for myself: being a Fanboy has nothing to do with a feeling of inclusion. I liked all of this stuff when it was tragically uncool to do so. I hid my comic books in the closet when friends came over, then in a trunk when I was away at boarding school, and basically kept all of this Fanboy stuff very close to the vest until a girlfriend in college taught me I was okay, not worthy of ridicule, and most likely not going to lose all my friends if I told them I liked Tolkien and comics.
She was right, in a big way, but it was still something of a revelation to find out that the Lord of the Rings are up there with the Bible as the books printed in greatest volume, (to the tune of like 500 million copies of the four books combined), and while comic book characters garner tons of attention in the movies, it was actually in the nineties when comic books themselves experienced their heyday, some publishing to the tune of 1,200,000 copies of a single issue. Throw in the phenomenon that was the Star Wars re-release and I started to talk openly about being a fan of these different genres and strange subcultures, and became a part of how what might have once been a subculture gradually are supplanting the dominant culture.
I don’t know how many modern painters you can name, or the names of your favorite paintings, but I bet you know a few comic book heroes on sight. Yes I know I am mixing two very different marketing plans here, but ask Andy Warhol’s ghost and you will hear that most painters would love to be household names like Spider Man or Batman, they just can’t swing the backing of major corporations like Disney or Time Warner, although they might like to if they had their way (although probably not, painters are a very idealistic lot and seek popularity and obscurity at the same time, as only the idealistic can). Occasionally a James Cameron or a George Lucas combine the dynamics of mass culture and visual genius into modern motion pictures, and deserve a lot of credit for being able to do so, but they are exceptions to the rule. Right now, more people have heard of Wolverine then have heard of his creators (Len Wein and John Romita Sr.), and such is the nature of popular comic book culture.
Okay, tangent taken, back to the main idea: why am I such a cliche? For one thing comic book art, movies, and mass market paperbacks, sometimes seem like the only art around. If you live in New York, or DC, or Paris or something, sure, you can go see Modern Art whenever you like. I live in Camden, Delaware. The local art scene bites, I don’t know any local painters, and the sad fact is the comic book shop ten minutes down the road delivers paintings, drawings, and stories in mass quantities every Wednesday at noon. New art, pictures and stories arrive weekly, and I like that. Yes, I can go into the city and see some paintings from time to time, and I do, but the consistent exposure to popular artwork I experience has something to do with a superior distribution technique.
Fanboy genres are also very inclusive. I like comic books, etc., because they are happening now, in my day and age. This is a contemporary artistic movement if you will, and I prefer this at times to studying the murals of post colonial Indochina. This is my culture in the sense that it reflects where I live and breathe, and you can see popular icons like the Beastie Boys and Harry Potter cycled through these art forms in a way that makes them seem like they speak my language, the language of these contemporary times in my United States.
Yes, I admit, there is an element of nostalgia to the whole affair. But why would I want to remember being a hated and secretive comic book hoarder unless the art was so moving when I was younger that I am willing to relive the painful memories of friendless nerdiness every time I read a comic book or read a fantasy novel? This artwork was worth social ostracization when I was younger, and if it keeps me from having luck with the ladies now, well then, it’s hard to argue that I am reliving better times.
If anything a fair complaint that I have arrested my development somehow with all the medications I am on might be made, but this doesn’t get at why I don’t watch television, or still listen to Bon Jovi. I should be like most males, stuck in some James Bond, Donald Trump day dream of endless wealth and promiscuous sex, but I’m not. Yes, there are a lot of Americans who identify with the loner and the outsider, but to identify oneself as a loner or outsider usually takes some development psychologically, not fixation in some earlier stage. I know I am not cool, hell I’m 36, it’s cool to not be cool at my age, and all of this is confusing as hell, but it’s simplest to stay I’m not stuck, I chose this, I’m a Fanboy, and I read some weird stuff. Deal with it.
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