Why are comics stigmatized?

[Michael Anden]

Not much to say here that isn't already on the tin - does anyone have any theories why most people turn their noses up at comics? Is it something inevitable and intrinsic to the medium, or is it more of a nurture rather than nature situation? Before anyone says that they're still perceived to be for children, so were computer games once, and I think we all know how that turned out!

[Lew Stringer]

Not much to say here that isn't already on the tin - does anyone have any theories why most people turn their noses up at comics? Is it something inevitable and intrinsic to the medium, or is it more of a nurture rather than nature situation? Before anyone says that they're still perceived to be for children, so were computer games once, and I think we all know how that turned out!

Computer games are still considered to be "kids stuff" by a lot of older people.

As for their attitude to comics, it's often down to ignorance. If the only comics they were ever aware of were children's comics, which they stopped reading in their early teens, they assume comic fans must have arrested development. (Not helped by films that showed less-intelligent adults as ones likely to read comics.)

A lot of people still don't know about more sophisticated comics, and just aren't interested in learning.

The other reason I've heard is: "Comics are for idiots because everything is told in pictures and stops you using your imagination like you would reading a book". The truth of course is that comics work in a more subtle way than that, and one's imagination has to "fill in the blanks" between panels. Also, comics have a visual language that benefits from its immediacy as opposed to a prose description. (Not that I'm dismissing books of course; just saying both forms are valid and equal.)

Another reason is that for many years the anti-comics crusades of the 1950s cast a long shadow. People believed comics were trash and bad for you. Some people still think that.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Great subject for a topic.



I agree with Lew a lot of it seems to be just ignorance and to me it is downright snobbery in some cases.

Also , a lot of people lose their silly sense of mischied as they age, unlike us folks on here , we still enjoy childhood stuff like comics , we just have a more 'scholarly' atitude to them as we mature------------mischief is fine as long as there is no serious malicious intent behind it, like does happen .

[Lew Stringer]

Great subject for a topic.



I agree with Lew a lot of it seems to be just ignorance and to me it is downright snobbery in some cases.

Also , a lot of people lose their silly sense of mischied as they age, unlike us folks on here , we still enjoy childhood stuff like comics , we just have a more 'scholarly' atitude to them as we mature------------mischief is fine as long as there is no serious malicious intent behind it, like does happen .

Yes, collectors buy children's comics for totally different reasons than they did as children, but those who abandoned comics as kids won't appreciate that, so they think we're only buying them from a childlike perspective. I gave up reading British humour comics when I left school because I considered them too infantile for me at 16, but when I was 21 and rekindled my ambitions to be a comics artist I started buying them again to look at them from a professional perspective. As you said, the same applies to a collector who begins to appreciate the work of favourite comic artists, or is interested in the history of the medium.

The same also applies to other hobbies, such as model rail enthusiasts. It evolves from the childlike aspect of "playing with trains" into the more mature aspect of creating intricate layouts and an interest in railway history. Yet many who gave up "playing with trains" as children don't appreciate that.

[paw broon]

Yes, it is a good topic. This isn't a disagreement with what has been written, just my reasons for buying and re-reading comics I knew as a young person. I really do want to read again for entertainment, those Thriller Picture Libraries, Super Detective Libraries, Cowboy Libraries that I read decades ago. And it's the same with old superhero/MMM/costumed adventure strips in the old comics. I still get great enjoyment from Ace Hart, Marvelman, Blackshirt, Billy the Cat, Dan Dare. PC 49 and the rest. But nowadays I also want them for research, discussion and preservation purposes.
But back then in the '50's and '60's they were looked down upon and many adults saw no value in them. Oddly, that disregard or downright snobbery isn't and wasn't apparent in some other countries and I would cite France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Japan and, despite Wertham, N. America, which has rediscovered a liking of and respect for comics. Eisner was employed by the military to create and edit comics, educational but still entertaining, for the troops. Odder still is that respected and much loved figures in the UK, e.g. Bob Monkhouse, no need to go into his credentials in comics, was lauded for his collections of old film but hardly ever was his comic career and collection mentioned.

[abacus]

There are two elderly ladies at the counter in the charity shop I frequent some saturday mornings and when I walk in
they are often discussing the theatre or politics and it may be my imagination but they seem to have a slightly bewildered look when I bring comics to the counter.
Meanwhile when picking up a few comics from the bargain box in ForbIdden Planet and paying at the counter the shop assistant says "cool"
Being an old fossil to today's jargon should my response be--
"Yeah man! I dig comics" ?

[philcom55]

...Only if you were a character in a 1960s Teen Titans comic!

[Lew Stringer]

Oddly, that disregard or downright snobbery isn't and wasn't apparent in some other countries and I would cite France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Japan and, despite Wertham, N. America, which has rediscovered a liking of and respect for comics.

I'm not sure America has a general respect for comics. They're still regarded as nerd culture I think. As in the UK, despite millions flocking to see movies based on comics, most will still regard comics as "stupid" and the movie version as superior.

Europe and Japan have long held a better attitude towards comics than the UK. Britain has a general disdain for the arts in any form.

Eisner was employed by the military to create and edit comics, educational but still entertaining, for the troops. Odder still is that respected and much loved figures in the UK, e.g. Bob Monkhouse, no need to go into his credentials in comics, was lauded for his collections of old film but hardly ever was his comic career and collection mentioned.

Well, Bob himself didn't mention it that often unfortunately, but, yeah, the media never really bothered covering that side of his life much. (Although admittedly it was only a tiny fraction of his long career.)

On the whole, Britain has a bad attitude towards comics, unless it's five minutes of whimsical nostalgia shared in conversation, (where they'll misremember character's names and the comics they appeared in) and I don't see that ever changing. We're a niche market and always will be.