Why fandom matters
Comic Reviews - Week Ending 02/20/2022
Good morning, my friend,
If you’ve been following along in pop culture news this week, you’ve heard Amazon has itself in a pickle with the release of images and teaser trailer for the upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel series. The teaser, to be blunt, didn’t show anything beyond a series of 2-3 second snippets, and the images generated some controversy for their lack of faithfulness to the source material.
Today, I’m not arguing for or against Amazon’s take on Tolkien’s work, but I’m fascinated about the conflict and how it’s a perfect parallel to changes going on in comics, especially the Big 2. It all starts with a clear understanding of fandom.
Fandom (derived from the word “fanatic”) could reasonably be described as a collective of people who are passionate about a particular subject. There are fandoms for anything you could imagine - sports, celebrities, amusements parks, and of course, comics.
Fandom is important from the owner or corporation's point of view because fandom is what keeps a subject alive. Superman wouldn’t have lasted and eventually become integrated into the popular culture if the character didn’t have fans. DC Comics would not be around today if fans didn’t like the individual members of the Justice League enough to keep buying their comics through LOTS of ups and downs.
An individual creator or corporation may own a character, but it’s the fandom that keeps the character alive. Without fandom, characters like Batman would have faded into public domain obscurity like dozens of other characters created at the same time, and DC Comics wouldn’t be the company it is today.
Therefore, I’m a firm believer that fandom should be respected. Not coddled. Not pandered to. Respected.
So, it strikes me as predictable when Amazon makes changes that rub against the grain of what LoTR fans love and it gets backlash for the changes. It’s no different than Marvel making ham-fisted or outright nonsensical changes to a character, resulting in a similar backlash.
To be fair, sometimes fandoms can be unreasonable, rigid, and stubborn. You’ll get no argument here on that point, but the job of a property owner is to find that middle ground. To keep things fresh while not disrespecting the core of what makes a property special to fandom.
If you’ve been following ComicalOpinions.com, you already know we don’t review much from the Big 2, but we keep our eye and ears on the pulse of the Comics Industry. Fandom matters and we hope the Big 2 keep that in mind as move forward in a time of great change for the Comics Industry.
Now, on to comics that will make a fan out of you…
NYX #4 – Review
GRIMM SPOTLIGHT: GRETEL: BLOODY MARY – Review
VAMPIVERSE #6 – Review
GRIMM UNIVERSE PRESENTS QUARTERLY: THE BLACK KNIGHT - Review
RED SONJA: BLACK, WHITE, RED #7 – Review
BLADE RUNNER ORIGINS #9 – Review
KING CONAN #3 – Review
JAMES BOND: HIMEROS #5 – Review
SHADOWMAN #6 – Review
FICTIONAUTS #1 – Review
DOWNLOAD #2 – Review
HOB’S LANE #1 – Review
BIGS OGN – Indie Review
COVER OF DARKNESS #1 – Review
Pacific Rim: Blackout (Legendary Comics)
Belle: Queen of Serpents (Zenescope Entertainment)
Grimm Fairy Tales #57 (Zenescope Entertainment)
Barbarella (Vol. 2) #7 (Dynamite Comics)
Purgatori (Vol. 2) #5 (Dynamite Comics)
Red Sonja (Vol. 6) #6 (Dynamite Comics)
Vampirella/Dracula: Unholy #3 (Dynamite Comics)
The Harbinger #5 (Valiant Entertainment)
The Shepherd #1 (Scout Comics)
Dancing With The Dragon #4 (Scout Comics)
Impossible Jones #3 (Scout Comics)
Redshift #5 (Scout Comics)
Yuki vs Panda #7 (Source Point Press)
Mara #1 (Indie Submission)
DROWSE (Indie Submission)
That’s the shortlist. We’ll add more as time and resources allow.
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