Are comic books cool yet? Hyper-popular books like Watchmen sure are, but the genre is still learning.

Comic books and their fans have long been associated with social misfits and loners. All you have to do is walk into any comic store and glance at the clientele to see where this presumption comes from.

Comics have taken a beneficial recursive loop on themselves. Characters like Superman, Batman and Spider-Man were popular, so movies were based on them. The movies were popular, so the comics started imitating the movies.

What we’re left with in the comics are slick graphics, life-like colour gradients and an attention on storytelling that was sorely lacking a decade ago.

This, and a small change in nomenclature, evolved how comics are perceived. They are now “graphic novels,” when reprinted in collected form (individually, they are still comic books.)

It is not hard to see where the movie inspiration comes from, especially given the fact that DC Comics is owned by Warner Brothers. Marvel Comics even uses movie-like trailers for some of their series, available on their website.

“ Marvel comics learned a harsh lesson in the ‘90s when they made the error of mistaking popular for good

Readers can… read! Surprise!

The industry is now accepting of – and even counting on – readers to be able to handle a complicated, intellectual plot that is relevant to contemporary society. This was reflected in the 2008 Marvel cross-title event Civil War, where superheroes were subject to mandatory registration, and the resulting milieu caused them to choose sides against one another. It can be read as an allegory about a post-Patriot Act America, sowing seeds of distrust amidst the populace. Mark Millar, the author of the Civil War mini-series admitted in a New York Times interview that there were two levels it could be read on, but that it wouldn’t exclude kids who just like fight scenes. Kind of like Animal Farm, right?

As it used to be

Comics used to be four-colour attention-grabbers with zany themes. In the ‘60s they held promises of scientific innovation. They were futuristic and weird, but entertaining nonetheless. One thing was for sure though – they were not aiming at the maturity of their readers.

Storylines often involved women-in-need rescues, pointless antagonists with thin motivations and explosions that did everything but explode things.

The frenetic pace and improbably quick and clean summations made it look like everyone in the book took a shot of adrenaline between the pages. They were graphic versions of boys’ dreams.

Comics had to adapt. Marvel comics learned a harsh lesson in the ‘90s when they made the error of mistaking popular for good. They hit upon a successful formula of big-breasted women and 18 pages of fight scenes in a 22-page book that appealed greatly to the teenage market. Well, those teenage boys grew up (unlike many comic characters) and found themselves wanting more. Not only had Marvel oversaturated their comics with this formula, they massively overprinted them.

This means that back-issue bins are flooded with those improbable physiques and guns that are bigger than the wielders.

So, are comics cool yet? Given that the periodical dedicated to the industry is called Wizard Magazine, probably not. But they’re closer than ever.

Andrew McMonagle is a beat reporter at The Uniter and a University of Winnipeg student.

Published in Volume 63, Number 24 of The Uniter (March 19, 2009)