Green Lantern & Thor Sequels Coming But Are We Still Geeks?

The film industry is a rather see-through beast. If a movie sells, it gets a sequel. If it sells again, a trilogy. And the latest craze in the comic book film industry appears to be reboot, prequels and further expansions of the universe after the trilogy (see X-Men, Spider-Man franchises and the plans for Batman after Nolan's trilogy), the demand for these stories with these characters are so high. With four major superhero movies released this summer alone and even more to come next year, superhero movies are their own genre now. So why, if the average punter is rushing out to see my comic book heroes on the big screen, can I still be called a 'geek'? In a world where Star Trek can take over $250 million worldwide and become a genuine mass audience hit... is the word 'geek' now redundant? I would probably be lying if I told you that I was the most popular kid at my school. Okay, not 'probably'. There are many reasons for my outcast childhood experience but one of the contributing factors seemed to be my insane obsession with collecting comic books. Possibly the idea of 'reading for fun' was just too much for those around me, but whatever the history I copped a lot of flack because I LOVED SUPERHEROES. Thusly, I was dubbed 'Geek'. And some other names that should never be immortalised in virtual print. I could not even escape the label in my early adult years when dinner parties would literally finish the second I started talking about the links between Greek myth and the heroes of modern comic literature. People just didn't want to know. How the world has changed. I was walking to the shops last week and I passed a group of teens that would be categorised as the 'popular' kids at school. Avoiding eye-contact (there are instinctual survival mechanisms that a 'geek' will never lose) I scurried past until I heard what they were talking about; how awesome X-Men: First Class is. They were fighting over each other to say what they thought was the coolest bit - the murderous red devil Azazel, Mystique changing shape, Emma Frost in her slinky bikini style costume or Magneto dragging a submarine out of the ocean. All of the same things that comic geeks have been arguing about for years. When did this happen? When did 'geeks' become cool?

A similar conversation occurred with some non-comic book friends soon after, and I realised that I was suddenly an expert in popular culture! I jumped in with vigour, explaining the back stories to the characters and the various story-arcs, pointing out the important elements that had been neglected in the film, and leading onto the extended history of the X-Men. When I had finished my soliloquy I opened my eyes and found myself sitting alone at the table. What went wrong? My uber-passion was now a popular topic, but no one wanted to hear about it. In fact whilst Hollywood is raking in the profits from the adaptation frenzy, comic book sales have been dropping. According to comichron statistics comic book sales are on average 10% lower than this time last year. Green Lantern sales have risen recently (hitting the #3 slot last month), but is it due to the film release or the fact that DC have saturated the market with spin-offs of the franchise so that it is hard to see anything but green on the shelves? This is our problem. The public does not connect the movies they love with the comic books that we love. Sure, they know where these characters came from, but very few movie-goers will rush out of Captain America: The First Avenger and buy the latest Cap comic book.

So it seems that, for the moment, those of us who are fanatics will have to continue to carry the torch and ensure that the comic book is an artform that lives into the future. We can now wear our geeky t-shirts in public without fear of a random wedgie, and throw knowledgable tid-bits into an everyday conversation without fear of reprisal. Hollywood has brought us to the cusp of acceptability. But you know what? I like that I am a 'geek'; a member of a selective and intimate group with passion that knows no boundary. And I will bear the title with pride. Geeks of the world unite!!!!