never feel bad for not being able to read everything that’s out on the shelves

no matter how much trivia you know and how much you’ve read there’s always going to be somebody who’s read more than you

read what you love and find the threads of work that interest you and follow them to your heart’s delight

we have to stop this elitist shit in this industry

“but what do you meaaan you’ve never read the 1967 run of-“

shut the fuck up, honestly

this industry is haunted by the specter of know-it-alls trying to one up each other in brick and mortar stores

it happens here on the daily and it still happens in person

If you like comics, you are a comics fan. end of discussion

this is also an extraordinarily expensive hobby, and I’m also someone who refuses to continue reading something if it doesn’t speak to me

all that trivia? who did what when? you can Google it

read the books you love and try new things, and know that you’re welcome even if you never touch a single Claremont or Kirby or Moore book in your life

i’m tired of the testing and gatekeeping, and it’s part of the reason why this industry is struggling

because who the fuck wants to read comics in 2020 if some person is going to come out of the woodwork and start berating them for their taste?

fuck off to your longbox caves

i’m genuinely curious what you win if you know more than anyone else? does to someone come out of the sky and give you a king of the nerds crown? because I’m so not here for that

the shops that I actually enjoy going to still traffic in posturing and it fills me with rage

not to mention walking into a new one never knowing who’s going to be behind the counter and give me that look

you know the one

“oh it’s someone NEWWWWW”

and this is now. this year. it’s wild to me.

do you want your fucking business to fail? do you want the industry to go down in flames? because there’s already so many forces at play that are making it so it seems almost inevitable

just be nice, and encourage people to read the shit that you allegedly love

while the cultural conception of comic books may have changed thanks to the cape movies (and you’d be surprised how little,) most people still think of Comic Book Guy when they think of a comic fan

there’s a fucking reason for that stereotype

which of course now certain factions have doubled down on because they’re so emotionally and intellectually fragile that they can’t stomach the stories that the industry is telling deviating from their ego-driven self image, codified when they were seven years old

when i first approached this whole industry i was 100% an elitist. i learned pretty quickly that that only serves my own image and that if i love comics and i want them to flourish, i needed to change my attitude

that does not mean not being critical - just be nice to ppl, damn

It’s such a sad, broken nerd fallacy to drive people away from the thing that you love because you think you love it more than anyone else