Nozz = Comic Book Hipster?

Where's the coffee?  Its Friday, April 20, 2012, I'm freaking beat, and this is The Side.  The Missus is still with her family, and I'm still on the single dad patrol.  Very exhausting.  This has also prevented me from getting by the comic shop, so yet again, the reviews will be on Sunday, that is if there's anything waiting for me.


Hey, speaking of ye olde comic shoppe.

LABELS!!!

I was at Kings last Saturday picking up my comics, and the owner's son was chilling out behind the counter on some downtime between rounds of the Saturday Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament.  He expressed his surprised that I wasn't picking up the latest AVENGERS VERSUS X-MEN issue.  I told him I wasn't a Marvel reader.


"How can you be a Comic Book Hipster and not be reading Marvel?"


I thought you couldn't be a comic book hipster if you did read Marvel.  I figured that a comic book hipster was pretty much one and the same as the "indier than thou" crowd.  I was actually worried about being lumped into that group with my reading stuffs lately.  No, I haven't been reading Marvel for years.  I did give them a shot again with FF on the advice of some valued friends, but it just wasn't for me.  I stopped reading DC, and that wasn't so much me leaving DC Comics as DC Comics leaving me.  My reading currently consists mostly of books from Dark Horse and Image.  And for anyone reading this and thinking "well those are indy companies" you haven't been paying attention.  Dark Horse has major franchises like STAR WARS and BUFFY, as well as HELLBOY.  If you've had multiple books from your company be made into movies, you're no longer indy.  Image has THE WALKING DEAD.  That's just about the hottest show on TV.  There's no more "Big Two", its the "Big Four" now.  Has been for a long time.

So, I'm not in the "indier than thou" crowd, but am I a comic book hipster?  I have enough of a knowledge base of comics that I feel confident that I could teach an undergraduate course on the subject.  Still, the term "comic book hipster" conjures a certain image in mind.  Skinny jeans, and knit hats.  T-shirts of comics that either people haven't heard of or ones that people had and that were made into movies,but the person wearing it will be quick to point out that he was into that book before everyone else.  Glasses that are big and black that make sure to let people know that this individual reads a lot.  They must read a lot.  Look at the size of their glasses, for cryin' out loud.  They look down their noses at anyone who dares to read a comic they find unworthy of their interest.  Its kinda like fanboys who leveled up.


Stopping to consider my current self in relevance to my notion of a comic book hipster, I don't think I fit.  My glasses aren't thick enough.  I sure as hell don't wear skinny jeans.  Actually, I'm usually wearing my work clothes, and those have been through hell and back on my construction job.


I do have a habit of being snarky towards some of the things I don't like.  I got a little heat because after getting a description of the X-Men storyline "The Messiah Complex" I said it sounded really stupid and I wouldn't bother reading it.  Sure, that sounds like me being a prick, but I can't really get excited about a book, no matter how glowingly someone describes it, if the entire premise sounds dumb to me.  My friends convinced me to give FF a try due to their knowledge that an issue of THE FANTASTIC FOUR was one of the first ones I every got, and that there were going to be interesting directions explored in the comic in that it was super-heroes through a nearly pure sci-fi prism, which is how I like my Fantastic Four.  Sure, I didn't like the issue I bought, but at least my friends made a proper sale of it.  The bit about "Messiah Complex" tying into all these other "event" stories isn't a selling point either.

"It ties directly into HOUSE OF M."


"What?  So, I have to read that too?"


That's not being a snotty comic book hipster so much as being a guy who really doesn't want to track down comics that don't sound interesting and read them.  There's too much other interesting stuff that I want to read but haven't had the chance.


Is there a bit too much of "we're the cool comic book reading guys" going on here?  Is it like when the guys on THE BIG BANG THEORY call someone else a "dork"?  You do see it sometimes, but really a nerd calling a nerd "nerd" is just stupid.  I do revel in my fantasy of seeing the guys from Comic Kings throwing down with the crew from Local Heroes like a geek version of the Sharks and Jets, with Mike Federali writing the entire score to this nerd gang musical.


So, I'm not a comic book hipster, and definitely not a fan boy.  I'm not "indier than thou" either.  Fine by me.  I've had enough stupid labels stuck to me over the years.


I'm just bummed that "Lord Nozz, Prince of Pain" never stuck.

MUSIC!!!

What?  You sayin' that just because a guy is a level 30 alchemist that he can't serve some shit?





That's it for me guys.  See y'all Sunday.