Stop calling anyone who reads comics a 'fanboy'

I was at my local shop in Portland last Wednesday and heard a guy say 'oh the fanboys are gonna love this new Batman run.' He was talking about my friend Dave who has been collecting since 1987. Dave is 52, owns a plumbing business, and has a full pull list. There is a difference between being a fan of something and being a fanboy. People use that word for anyone who actually knows what they're talking about. Has anyone else noticed this just being a lazy insult for people who read more than three issues a year?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason_fisher420d ago

and it's not just comics either, it's like people have forgotten how to just let others enjoy things without turning it into some kind of weird status thing. I see the same thing with music, if you can name three albums by a band you're suddenly a "superfan" or whatever. It's like everyone's scared of looking like they care too much so they gotta put down anyone who actually does. My buddy who restores old cars, he gets called a "gearhead" like it's a bad thing when he literally rebuilds engines from scratch. It's just a lazy way to dismiss someone's passion without actually engaging with what they're saying. The whole thing feels like a side effect of people being too online and forgetting that having deep knowledge about something is actually cool.

ryan_stone19d ago

People throw "fanboy" around way too easily and it bugs me too. I saw a guy at my shop get called one just for explaining why a certain variant cover was rare. The guy had been reading for thirty years and knew his stuff. Jason_fisher4 you hit on something real with that "too online" thing. It feels like some folks think having deep knowledge about anything is somehow embarrassing now. It shouldn't be weird to know a lot about something you care about. Your buddy with the cars, that takes real skill and dedication, not some silly label.

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