Comic Maven: Forming My Online Identity

Creating an online identity is something teenagers do every day when they sit down at their computers and log onto various media websites, writing updates about their lives and blogging about their interests for the world to see. This electronic identity can help teenagers express themselves, including through the creation of fantasy selves. In my case, I am extremely passionate about writing and comic books, and the Internet allowed me to bring these two passions together and enhance my skills and knowledge of them.

The role of comic books in our society has grown considerably, but there are still many people who think they are for small children, when in reality most comic books are read by men and women of all ages. Comic characters satisfy emotional needs and have a growing economic importance in our society, especially on the big screen where hit movies grossing vast sums around the world are based on their characters and plots. The Avengers (2012) movie grossed $623,357,910. It is the third highest grossing film, coming in after Avatar and Titanic. There are popular television shows millions of people tune in to each week such as The Walking Dead (2010-Present), which would not exist without the comics that inspired them. Art Spiegelman won acclaim and awards for his Maus graphic novel (a more elaborated form of the comic book) based on his father’s experiences in Auschwitz. Classic films such as The Odyssey, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Hamlet have been adapted into graphic novels, prompting people who normally wouldn’t read these works to give them a try in this format. Comics are an art form in our society, despite their denigration by many as mere childish entertainment.

I first became interested in comic books five years ago on my 15^th birthday when I went to a festival featuring comics and science-fiction memorabilia. After combing through the comics and finding more abandoned ones at home, I grew to love the medium. The only other time I had felt so passionate about something was in second grade when I had trouble reading until I took special classes for a couple of years. These resulted in my excelling at and love

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for reading and writing, inspiring me to become a writer.

Thanks to the Internet, I was able to combine my love of writing and comic books into something of merit. It all started less than a year after I began collecting, the day I went online and posted two reviews on Comic Vine, a website for comic book fans to share their opinions about comic books. Soon after posting my articles, I was approached by another member of this community who was looking for non-paid reviewers for his Player Affinity website and he recruited me.

The website posted news stories, features, reviews, on various media including movies, video games, television, and, of course, comics. I would go on to contribute to a couple of these sections, but my main contributions were to the comic book section. Writing for this online publication taught me how to meet deadlines, since it required me to write two articles a week. There were hundreds of viewers who cared about what I had to say and I even found myself quoted on the back of a couple of comics.

The Internet allowed me to inform people about important issues tackled by comic books, such as Signs and Voices, which is about deaf comic book superheroes and teaches sign language to readers; Face Value Comics, which features the first autistic protagonist in comics; Branded, a webcomic that is about sexual assault and the way a victim copes; and many more comic books, each with serious messages that break boundaries and are considered literature despite being comic books. I am able to share this literature with thousands of people, a feat a teenager like myself would never have been able to do if not for my access to the Internet.

My reach got even farther when I discovered I could promote my articles in many ways online. I decided to join Twitter, a social media website where users post 140-letter-long messages. You can create your own unique username, and I decided to call myself Comic Maven. Twitter users are “followed” by other people, meaning whenever they post something it goes to all of their followers, who can choose to favorite it and/or retweet (share) it with others. I got into many dialogues with fellow comic book readers and creators about the medium and posted links to my online articles, which increased how many people they reached.

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Currently, I have over 3,000 people following my contributions on Twitter. Social media has increased the number of people my work can spread to and has given me an audience for any work I hope to publish in the future.

To further my presence online, I created my own website, comicmaven.com. This was an easy process thanks to Weebly, a website creator which allows the user to pick from a selection of colorful templates (or create their own) and insert their own text and images. This website led to more detailed interactions with comic book creators than Twitter did when I added a contact form to my site which allowed people to email me. I often get messages from comic book creators telling me about their work and offering digital versions of their comics for me to review. This allows me to share the work of independent creators and increase their audience so their books can be more successful commercially. I have had so many offers for digital comics that I have been backed up with comic books to review for months.

Before using the Internet to write about comic books, I did not have friends who were interested in comics, so I had no one to talk about them with. Now, electronics have allowed me to connect with a like-minded community. Normally, I am a very shy, introverted person and I am not able to express my opinions as freely and openly in the “real world” as I can online. My opinions have also been further developed by the Internet because writing them out has made me explore what I think and feel in greater depth. Writing about comic books on the Internet is what interested me in communication arts. It is my conviction that if I had not started writing reviews for a website online, I would not be an A student at Ramapo College.

At the urging of a professor I am beginning to think in greater depth about the psychological meaning and patterns of my favorite medium. To start with, the names of many of these characters are highly evocative, such as Abomination, Annihilus, Apocalypse, Batman, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Carnage, Darkseid, Deadpool, Deathstroke, Doctor Doom, Galactus, Iron Man, Joker, Martian Manhunter, Mastermind, Mr. Fantastic, Mr. Sinister, Ms. Marvel, Nightcrawler, Omni-Man, Phantom Stranger, Superman, Venom,

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Vindicator, Violator, Wasp, Wolverine, and Wonder Woman. Note the negative identities embodied in many of the names of these characters.

Common themes include abandonment, acceptance, empowerment, a fallen hero who is restored, humanization of evil/fearsome characters, parentified children, role reversals, saviors, and temporary weakness. While most characters are male, I have a special interest in female characters. Some of their themes are dead/missing/inept parents, sexual objectification, and victimization. Comics are a reflection of our culture: thus the role of woman has increased substantially, though it could still use improvement. I wrote a series of opinion pieces entitled “Women in Comics: Do the Super Ladies Need Saving?” about this subject. Each feature focuses on the various aspects of the portrayal of comic book women including fashion, the idealization of their bodies, and the abusive situations (such as rape and murder) females in comics are often subjected to.

There are lots of opportunities for these important topics to be discussed by fans because these features are online and shared via social media. People shared their opinions about the issue, adding to my and others’ knowledge about the topic. By writing features like this, I hope to inform fans about the problems in their medium and encourage them to contribute their own thoughts and feelings about the issues, possibly leading to a more diverse and relatable portrayal of women (and others) in comic books.

I have written for the website Player Affinity (now Entertainment Fuse) for four years now and I am now head of its comic book department, meaning I supervise the rest of the writers in the comic book section. I also write for another comic book website, Comic Frontline. Writing for these sites has made me think more critically about the medium I love and has influenced my future career choice. Without the Internet, I would not have met so many creative, intelligent people or aspire to become a comic book and research writer. My experience is something I proudly put on my résumé and I believe has helped educate people that comic books are not just for kids, but can also be important works of literature.

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