Overheard a guy at the comic shop say 'real fans don't read Marvel' and it got me thinking

I was standing in line at Midtown Comics last Saturday and this dude in front of me tells his friend that anyone who reads Marvel is just in it for the hype, not the stories. He said DC is the only place where 'real fans' go. I took away that some people gatekeep just to feel superior about their hobby. Has anyone else run into this kind of talk at their local shop?

3 comments

3 Comments

val_ramirez11d ago

Holding two companies like they're sports teams rather than publishers with good and bad runs, that's the real issue. The guy who said that probably hasn't read a single Marvel book from the 2000s or 2010s that wasn't a movie tie-in. What's funny is DC has its own share of stinkers and reboots that chase hype, so picking a side just to gatekeep feels like missing the point of why we pick up comics in the first place.

gavin_kim11d ago

Wait wait wait, he said DC is the ONLY place for real fans? That's wild to me. I've been reading both for over 20 years and some of the best written comics I've ever picked up have been Marvel.

kimw5711d ago

Gavin's right, and I've had this exact argument with a buddy who swore DC was superior until I handed him my copy of Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja. Tell that gatekeeper guy to pick up something like Immortal Hulk or the original Ultimate Spider-Man run and then say Marvel has nothing for real fans. Sometimes you just have to put the books in someone's hands and let the work speak for itself, right?