Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Studies in Popular Culture) [Kindle Edition]

Matthew J. Pustz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What are super-devoted fans of comic books really like? What draws them together and energizes their zeal? What do the denizens of this pop-culture world have in common?

This book provides good answers as it scrutinizes the fans whose profiles can be traced at their conventions, in pages of fanzines, on websites, in chat-rooms, on electronic bulletin boards, and before the racks in comic-book stores. They are a singular breed, and an absorbing interest in comic books (sometimes life-consuming) unites them.

Studies have shows that the clustering, die-hard disciples of Star Trek have produced a unique culture. The same can be said of American enthusiasts of comic books. These aficionados range from the stereotypical "fanboy" who revels in the minute details of mainstream superhero titles like X-Men to the more discriminating (and downright snobbish) reader of idiosyncratic alternative comics like Eightball. Literate comics like Watchman, Radioactive Man, and Peepshow demand a knowledgeable audience and reward members of the culture for their expertise while tending to allienate those outside. This book shows how the degree of "comics literacy" determines a fan's place in the culture and how the most sophisticated share the nuanced history of the format.

Although their interaction is filled with conflicts, all groups share an intense love for the medium. But whether one is a Fanboy or a True Believer, the preferred hangout is the specialty store. Here, as they talk shop, the culture proliferates. They debate among themselves, spread news about the industry, arrange trades, discuss collectibles, and attach themselves to their particular mainstream.

With history, interviews, and textual analysis Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers examines the varied reading communities absorbed by the veneration of the comics and demonstrates how each functions in the ever-broadening culture. Matthew J. Pustz is an adjunct professor of American studies at the University of Iowa

From the Inside Flap

A close inspection of comic-book lovers and their ever-expanding culture

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 5002 KB
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (November 30, 1999)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001UE6O9G
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #377,884 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good survey of the field, January 25, 2001

By 

Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Studies in Popular Culture) (Paperback)

Are you a comic book lover surrounded by people who don't "get it" about comic books? Do you know someone who is passionate about comic books, and it's hard to understand the attraction of something more suited for children than adults? If so, this book is for you.

The author does a very good job at surveying the present-day culture around comic books. The readers of the classic superhero type of comics (Batman, Superman, etc.) are overwhelmingly male. The stories don't appeal to women very much, and women are usually portrayed as barely clothed, and with gravity-defying breasts. He also explores the rise of alternative comics (small press, or self-published, books whose subject matter can be practically anything), where female cartoonists and readers, and older readers, tend to go.

Fans tend to get very possessive about "their" character. If the writer takes things in an undesired direction, fans have no problems with saying so, in no uncertain terms. One of the things limiting the growth in popularity of comic books is the requirement on the part of the reader of comic literacy. Unless the reader can start with Issue 1, there are usually too many "in" jokes, or too many things talked about in previous issues, for the new reader to totally understand it all.

This one is very good. It covers a lot of ground, and in a way that a novice and veteran can understand. Personally, I am not much of a comic book reader, but after reading this, I think I'll visit my local comic book store to see what is on the racks.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good start for understanding, August 21, 2002

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Studies in Popular Culture) (Paperback)

I'm using this book in my college writing course ("text+vision") this semester, and it is exactly what I wanted from a cultural overview of comic book fandom. Pustz does a great job of explaining how fandom came about, how it compares to other cultures (with a consistent reference to baseball fans, for example), and some of its peculiarities. In particular, he is able to partly explain the incestual nature of consumer and producers in comics, where each is a responsible party to the worst excesses of the medium, yet Pustz is careful to not make a judgment statement about this (unlike me).

This book is not a history of comics, of who published what first and which creator sued which publisher. For that, you should check out Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. It's not even a history of comics fandom, although it does gather quite a bit of that together in its pages (Bill Schelly covers the history of fandom in more detail). What Pustz tries to cover is the area inbetween--where fans and publishers met. This is the culture of comic books, the place where the two groups make something together, and at first it may seem strange to think of consumers as producers, or producers as consumers. But, through his analysis of comics letters pages and fanzines, Pustz shows how the two groups affected each other.

Comic Book Culture is copyright 1999, but feels like it was written in 1996 or 1997, mainly for the lack of focus on the incredible growth of manga in America and how Pokemon, DragonBall Z, and Sailor Moon are revitalizing comic book culture by bringing children back to comics. The last three years have also increased the importance of the Internet on the culture, which Pustz talks about briefly in the chapter 5. Finally, he really doesn't get much chance to focus on the rise of the graphic novel as an option for reading the medium compared to the ephemeral magazine.

As a textbook in a cultural study hybrid course, this book is perfect. For the average comic reader, it might be interesting to discover aspects of the hobby that you didn't know about. And it might just be the thing to share with parents or friends who don't understand why you keep reading Spider-Man, even though you're over 30.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stereotyping without an real understanding, April 6, 2002

By 

Brandy L. Danner (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Studies in Popular Culture) (Paperback)

A good percentage of the evidence he presents regarding fans of the medium is anecdotal, gathered from employees of one particular comic shop in the midwest. Pustz' view of Comic Book Culture is clearly that of one who makes no real effort to understand the topic... Overall, it paints all comics fans in a negative light, which will not help the already-struggling industry in the least.