Musings on the Nature of Fandom

Posted on January 16, 2015by

sdcc-panel

Being a fan is a curious thing. It can bring people together, it can tear them apart. It can make someone shout, laugh and jump for joy, or it can be depressing, make them scream, cry tears of sorrow or rage. A fan does not merely like something or enjoy something, they make that something a part of who they are, a part of their personality, of their identity. Being a fan takes on all sorts of shapes and sizes and people become fans for a number of different reasons, almost always reasons that are very personal to them, reasons that can be hard to explain to someone who may not be a fan as well.

Being a fan of something is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Not all fans are created equal. People naturally experience things in different ways in all aspects of life, not only in being fans. Just as not all people are fans of the same thing, people who are fans may not be fans for the same reasons, or may not enjoy things the same way, or may have become fans at different stages of life, the list goes on. Someone may be a more critical, while another person is more accepting; one might be tightly wound, another may be more laid back. The size of a given fan group does not matter; no two fans will ever be exactly alike, no matter how big or small the fandom as a whole. Read More

Meet the Marvels: Jason Aaron

Posted on January 14, 2015by Six on the Wild Die

The first issue of Marvel’s new Star Wars ongoing is in stores today, and it seems like the Marvel announcement was just yesterday. There’s a certain mistrust among the hardcore fans about this comic’s quality and it’s easy to see why: Dark Horse Comics were a class act, one that is going to be hard to follow, and modern Marvel are an unknown quantity for a big chunk of the fandom.

Just who are these guys that are going to be headlining the new canon on a monthly basis in 2015? As we feel that most comic book fans are Star Wars fans, but not necessarily the other way around, we are going to profile a series of single issues penned by the authors of the new Marvel books (that’s what serious comic nerds call comics, “books”, get used to it). We are going to be spotlighting comics that we think could be the most representative of what to expect or, at least, the ones that feel closest to what their Star Wars book might end up being. And we are going to start with Jason Aaron and the first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men. Read More

The Art of Collaborative Continuity

Posted on January 12, 2015by

japcover

One criticism made of my Frankenstein Continuity piece published a few weeks ago is that it was based on an assumption that the makers of The Force Awakens and more did not wish to work with the Expanded Universe. That would be correct, but what if they really did? My prior piece considered only that there would be no interest or only half-hearted corporate interest in creating a horror-style fix. A genuine desire to be collaborative would open up a litany of possibilities.

Now before anyone says that that did not, nor is going, to happen, I’ll say this: where would be the fun be in that? The point of articles like this is to have a bit intellectual fun and look at what might have been, and perhaps, in some cases, what still might be. Read More

Shouting Into the Void: We’re Not as Important as We Think

Posted on January 9, 2015by Pen and Paper

Shouting

Most people have opinions about things. Many of them have also been known to share those opinions, be they positive or negative, particularly regarding whatever popular (or unpopular, as the case may be) work of fiction they have recently consumed. Living in the golden age of the internet and 24/7 unrestrained global communication, as we do now, it has become easier than ever before to broadcast and discuss our feelings, opinions, and thoughts on even the most seemingly insignificant aspects of a work to the rest of the world, and to engage in vigorous debates on a broad array of subjects with like- and unlike-minded individuals. This site itself is proof enough of that.

But before we continue with this line of thought, it must be noted that there is much worthy of praise in this phenomenon.

It serves as an effective bar raiser for the realm of entertainment as a whole: access to the internet has raised our expectations considerably with regard to technical and scientific plausibility (if not accuracy) in our fiction, among other things, and tired cliches are identified for what they are, labeled, categorized, pedantically indexed, and ultimately retired in an endless cycle of conceptual reinvention to keep things fresh and relevant for each new generation, until they’re eventually resurrected decades later in homage to and remakes of works of bygone times.

More objectionable elements and works can find themselves subjected to scrutiny that they might have previously escaped, and can draw the widespread outcry and condemnation that they deserve.

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A Kids’ Story For All Ages: Star Wars is for Grown-Ups Too

Posted on January 7, 2015by

WaldKittsterCringe-TPM

“Star Wars is for kids.” How many times have we heard that? How many times have people stereotyped Star Wars fans either as children or as adults who didn’t quite grow out of it? Why are all the cool Halloween costumes for kids, and why do we so often find the local library’s Star Wars selections in the children’s area? In such an expansive universe, why should we so limit it to children? Many of us discovered Star Wars as children and have followed the universe into adulthood, and only now realize that there is something in Star Wars for all ages. It’s a universal story, one that we can all connect to.

When I first started seeking out Star Wars books seriously, I was 12 or so. Just too old to really hang around in the children’s area of the library or bookstore, just too young to really be in the adult area. And so often, I’d have to traverse an entire library to find what I was looking for. Hunting down each book of the Bantam-era EU took me across most of southeastern Connecticut, and every new library I went to had a different place for the books. Piecing together the timeline through children’s, young adult, and adult novels proved a challenge, and the variety of stories made me wonder. Why did Star Wars have to be perceived as a story for children? The fans I was meeting, both in person and online, were of all ages. There were books catering to all age groups, there were always new people discovering Star Wars, and the overall market didn’t seem skewed towards children. And yet there was still a lot of public opinion that Star Wars was a kids’ story. Read More