I've always had a fascination with the whole idea of fanboy culture (everything from trekkies to manga geeks) and I just love listening to them talk and argue. Case in point: last spring some local members of the on-line gaming community I belong to (TTLG, dedicated to games made by the now sadly defunct Through the Looking Glass company)met in Boston. I was the only non-computer geek there: Everyone else there programmed computers, made their own fan missions and stuff, and that was all they talked about: It was like they were speaking another language. I mean, we passed by a brick wall and one commented: "That would be an interesting background texture for the mission I'm working at the moment". Then he took a picture of it with his camera to scan into his computer later!
Recently I walked into the local comic book store. There were only 2 employees there that early, both had long pony-tails and wore science fiction t-shirts, and they were having a heated argument over whether comic books should be put on DVDS or something like that: They were so wrapped up in their argument they didn't even notice me, I probably could have cased the joint.
I wonder if I'll ever achieve comic book fanboyhood. Probably not: None of my real-life friends read comic books so I don't really have anyone to talk to about it save my family, and I don't really read or collect that many titles as it is. With the exception of my interest in Batman I don't even like superheroes. Oh well. Still, in my writing class last semester I did bring in issues of Transmet, The Invisibles and stuff like that to show the class what inspired my work, and they pretty much looked at me like I had 3 heads while I breathlessly went on and on about the importance of Vertigo comics and what not. For a brief 15 minutes, I felt like a fan boy. |
