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Debate I had about gatekeeping in comics really got me thinking
I was talking to a guy at my local shop last Saturday about who counts as a 'real' comic fan, and he argued that if you only watch the movies and don't read the books, you're not in the club. But I met this teenager who's been drawing Batman since age 10 and never touched a single issue, and I can't decide which side I'm on. What do you think, does watching the MCU or playing the games make you a fan, or do you need to actually hold the paper?
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miles_perez10d ago
Wait, a kid who's been drawing Batman since he was 10 and never read a single comic? That blows my mind. I mean, drawing that stuff is a whole different level of fandom than just watching the movies. You're basically living and breathing the character, even if you never touched a page. I feel like people get too hung up on the "right way" to be a fan, like there's some test you gotta pass. If you love the character or the world, that's enough for me.
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oscarmurphy10d ago
Oh come on, there's no way that kid's never cracked a single issue. That's like saying you've been painting the Sistine Chapel your whole life but never actually been inside a church. I mean, how do you even get the proportions right without looking at that stuff?
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