Guy at the comic shop told me I was reading superhero comics wrong

Last Tuesday at my local shop in Portland, some dude in a Deadpool hoodie walked up and said I was wasting my time on 'kiddie stuff' because I wasn't analyzing the panel layouts. He spent 10 minutes explaining how Frank Miller's Dark Knight is the only real art in comics. Has anyone else run into these gatekeepers who act like you have to study comics instead of just enjoying them?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.val9d ago

Frank Miller's Dark Knight is the only real art in comics" says the guy in a Deadpool hoodie, which is about as ironic as wearing a Transformers shirt while telling someone their toys are wrong. Sounds like he needed to flex his panel layout knowledge to feel better about his pull list, not gonna lie. Gatekeepers like that are just noise, so keep reading whatever brings you joy and maybe hand him a tissue for his next crisis.

richardfox8d ago

I mean, not to nitpick but Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns came out in 1986, and Deadpool didn't even exist until like 1991, so that timeline alone makes the whole thing kinda weird. It's like gatekeeping a genre with a character that wasn't even around when the "only real art" was being made. Also, wearing a Transformers shirt while bashing someone's comic taste actually sounds pretty fitting honestly - at least Transformers had a solid 80s run. Maybe next time he can just enjoy his Deadpool hoodie and let people like what they like without making it a whole thing.