Die By the Pen: I May Have Discovered the Home of a Mythical Creature
In Die By the Pen, Jared Gniewek discusses what feeds his fires as an author of comics, screenplays and radio dramas.
Well gang, I took a few weeks to explore my old home town of Rochester, New York. Often overshadowed by the titans of Buffalo and Syracuse it resides between, Rochester has a charm all its own, which, if left unchecked could eclipse the whole of upstate. While here I have enjoyed reading men’s adventure novels of the eighties bought at Goodwill stores at rock bottom prices, enjoyed the highest quality of heavy metal, and have imbibed a few drinks.
I have not been writing as much as I should be. Not even close. I spastically shot out a thousand or so words on a short story I’ve been wrestling for months. I have been away from the internet. Away from video games. Away from my regular routine.
I have enjoyed the company of friends and have had a few conversations about comics. Maybe I’m sheltered but I always thought Rochester to be a culturally advanced city. For a city of its size the commitment the people of Rochester show towards the arts is immense. The Eastman House has created a generation of film buffs who can chat for days at the very highest level. The Eastman School of Music is an amazing resource and a highly regarded school for musicians. The Strong Museum of Play has a huge collection of toys and ephemera that would dwarf any man’s basement.
In this culture how can it be that people speak of their passion for sequential art in whispers?
Every chat I had with friends old and new about comics ended the same way. A somewhat sheepish look and an admission that they didn’t talk about comics with anyone, nor did they share the fact that they even read comics with coworkers for fear of being branded. Branded what? Why, it’s our dear old friend, the forty year old who lives in his mother’s basement and blah blah BLAH!
I invite and challenge any and all who read this to find this man. Usually, he is a bearded gentleman. I imagine most folks think of him as overweight and socially retarded. Unlike the proprietor of the comic shop on The Simpsons, he probably is not an entrepreneur who has run a successful business for twenty years in the heart of a thriving small town. Who is this guy? I would like to meet him. I bet he would have a ton of very interesting things to say about the funny books. I’ve never met him. I’ve met far more weirdos who love NASCAR, Pro Wrestling, Baseball, Television, Jazz, and video games than enjoy comics.
Anyway, maybe he lives in Rochester. That would explain the quiet discussions in back alleys and hushed candlelight discourses on comic books. He must be here. I’ve been asking around though, and no one has seen him.
I’m pretty sure he’s a myth. Like dolphins and bats. It’s really inconsequential though, because at the end of the day, why would you even care if anyone wants to make the supposition that you are an obsessive weirdo because you are catching up on your Matt Fraction? I’ve often felt that anyone who wants to judge me is free to. I can’t stop them, and the judging type can always find something to pigeonhole you with. Why be shy about what you enjoy? They already hate you, don’t change for them.
Well, maybe they don’t hate you, but the type to believe in the forty year old guy who lives in his parents basement are usually stupid enough to believe all sorts of myths and they’ll find one to stick you with whether you read and discuss books in public or not. If this mythical beast is alive and well, have him send me a line. Maybe we can do a SAC makeover for him and eliminate the basis for the stereotype. Of course, we’ll probably just get bored and watch a bunch of old Doctor Who episodes. I bet he has a couch in the basement I can crash on.
Jared Gniewek works in the music industry as a back line technician, performer, and promoter. He is also a freelance writer whose work can be seen in the recent re-launch of Tales from the Crypt and heard on The Dark Sense, an audio anthology of the macabre for which he is also the story editor — http://www.earstage.com/darksense.htm.
Hey man, I feel like I may have met him and sometimes he stares at me from the mirror. (Even though I’ve cut my hair and shaved off my beard.) Let’s face it, everyone’s the “Comic Book Guy” about something… I often think of fashion vultures, who drop $350 on a pair of shoes or a purse and judge people who cheerfully shop at Payless, or guys who spend months obsessing over their “bracket” and even get to do so at work because they’re self-diagnosed with March Madness, and wonder why they don’t get put through the same ringers that people who like comics do? It’s the same illness, and in some cases just as crippling. It’s unfortunate that that aspect of our personalities got slammed with this label 20 years ago, and that it’s stuck around for as long as it has, but if he wasn’t really out there, there wouldn’t have been a stereotype to hang him on. We got a bad rap, but hopefully with time, social progress and showers this will change.
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/28/1334238 – enjoy the stereotype, now with Slashdot comments!