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Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Nope, Just As Bad
One of the questions that frequently comes up when Mike and I are at our weekly salon meeting is: "Are comic book fans actually crazier now than they used to be?" Because, honestly, you rarely saw stuff likethis in fanzines and letter columns.
The working theory we devised is that, back in the olden days, there was a barrier to the nutcakeiness in the form of editors. Before, to get your word out to other comic fans, you had to find an editor who didn't think you were a) insane or b) illiterate. Oh, the insanity was there, but without blogs or message boards, people couldn't expose their loonyness to the world within moments. I have no doubt that someone wrote nasty letters to DC about how this Hal Jordan upstart was besmirching the name of Green Lantern, who as well all know has only and can only ever be Alan Scott! It's just that DC put all those letters in their "fruitcake" file.
But, sometimes, a few slipped through all the same:
from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #150
Yeah...kinda odd, sure. Maybe it's me, but that "I applaud you for putting a token black character into the book" doesn't strike me as very sincere, especially after the "for the love of God, don't make the black man a super-hero" material that precedes it. And...Deadman is the Earth-One Spectre?
But, oh, here is a thing of beauty, from Action Comics #263:
So, it's...comforting? to know that creepy fanboy matchmaking was going on back in 1960. Well, not so much comforting. More disturbing and unsettling. The weird mania for "Superhero X should get it on with Superheroine Y" fantasies having a long pedigree makes me shudder with revulsion.