The modern geek is in a very different position to comic book readers of even a decade ago. We remember being roundly mocked for bringing in copies of The Dark Knight Returns for reading sessions at high school, and straight up bullying for wearing Spider-Man t-shirts, but these days? Totally different. Superheroes dominate popular culture. They make up the majority of each year's biggest box office smashes. They're in video games, on TV, on Primark t-shirts. Comic books have finally been accepted by the world at large! Doesn't that feel good? Now that we can talk more openly and frankly about funnybooks, though, it might be time that we admit to some home truths we've been putting at the back of our minds for a while. Comic books aren't perfect - what is? - but when they just our secret, hidden thing, our personal form of escapism, it was a lot easier to look past all the flaws and criticisms you could lay at their door.In the way that you tend to focus on the good bits of something you love, rather than have that love compromised by critical thinking, which is a totally natural impulse. But it can also be a damaging one. So no, comics aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. That's okay. We'll keep on reading them. But who better than the people who eat, sleep, and breathe them to point out the ways that they're screwing up? Why not strive to be better? Why not face the harsh truths we don't want to admit about comic books, shine a light on them, and actually do something about them? Why not indeed. That's why we went ahead and made a list of some of the biggest problems with comic books we've been trying to bury deep at the bottom of our longboxes for years. Right there next to all the copies of ROM Space Knight.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
