10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Comic Books

Why is one of the most influential mediums so misunderstood?

by Ewan Paterson
DC Characters Reading
DC Comics

The comic book medium is one of the brightest and most inventive entertainment mediums currently going, and in a zeitgeist permanently preoccupied with superheroes, it's little wonder that the comics industry is still going strong to this day.

Universally adored, read and critiqued, whether it's the Big Two of Marvel and DC or the other publishers that round out the industry, you can guarantee that something interesting is always happening when it comes to comics. Whether it's the discourse surrounding their publication or the actual stories themselves, readers and non-fans alike always have something to say. Unsurprisingly, not all of it tends to be correct.

Misconceptions may abound in various other mediums, but with comics arguably at their most popular, it's little wonder that critics have taken aim at the industry. Even longtime fans - ostensibly - manage to contribute to the general spread of misinformation, and whether that be through the toxic culture of gatekeeping, or even sometimes through their own ignorance regarding a particular topic, the simple truth of the matter is that comics are just generally rather misunderstood.

Irrespective of the genre or medium, there are just some things that need to be addressed head on. Here are the mistakes everyone seems to make...

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.