NostoNews, November 1, 2011
by Tommy Jasmin

Dumb as a Blog fact check

Here's the problem with blogs: anyone can have one now, and people think they are experts on material they are not. This month, I do a fact check on Nick Nadel's 10 dumb things comic book fans do blog, which for the most part is a huge swing and a miss. To cut him some slack, it's gotta be tough to come up withh a Top 10 dumb list every day.
  • FALSE

    10.) Think superhero comics are a financial investment
    Sorry stude, you could not be more wrong on this one. Of course, like any investment, you have to be smart about it. Yes, we all know about the glut years and how they almost ruined comics. And pointing to high sales of #1 issues does not imply a correlation to investment sales - #1 issues have always sold better. But the proof is in the pudding - one glance at the Nostomania Top 100 list shows clear evidence that had you been buying key books in the past 5 years, yes, you could have retired! Some comic books have produced among the best return on investment ever.

  • FALSE

    9.) Store their comics in protective mylar bags
    Again, way off. Sure, storing all your comics in mylar is both cost prohibitive and not the brightest idea, but for those items in your collection that are truly collectible, why would you not want to use the same inert preservation material the Library of Congress uses?

  • FALSE

    8.) Freak out over the smallest change
    I don't know what your sampling market is for this info, but nobody freaks out over anything in comics any more. If Superman gets killed off, shrug, we know he'll be back soon. That said, yes, there are some things that should not change. Spider-Man is Peter Parker. You can mess with that short-term if you like, but in the long run, that's carved in stone.

  • FALSE

    7.) Buy overpriced single issues
    The kiddies, unlike you believe, are not buying it any more. Go read my sales in the toilet news.

  • FALSE

    6.) Complain when their favorite character is killed off...and then buy the comic where he comes back
    He gets a FALSE for this one for two reasons, 1) Why should we not complain when our favorite character is killed off? 2) Again, we are not buying anything shoved in our face any more. See answer to #7, comic book sales overall are lower than they've ever been.

  • FALSE

    5.) Insist that every superhero be a boring white dude
    Implying the vast majority of comic book fans are racist? Get real. Idris Elba being cast as Heimdall was great. That said, while he was great in The Wire, he's not that great an actor. Check out his feeble British accent in the Guy Ritchie flick RocknRolla. Would I have given a rip if some of my favorite characters ever (say for example, Sandman, Starman, or Nexus) were black? Hell no, would make no difference at all to me.

  • NEUTRAL

    4.) Dress up as Comedian and Silk Spectre from
    Ok, knowing the relationship between the two does make the idea creepy, I give him that. But hey, The Comedian is an awesome costume. Very cool and gritty, along the lines of Mad Max. And if you got the bod to pull it off, who am I to complain if the woman goes as Silk Spectre?

  • NEUTRAL

    3.) Scare off female readers
    Yes, the comic book industry has always been predominantly teen-male-centric. But nobody is intentionally scaring away female readers. I know many female readers who love certain titles (like Sandman) and for good reason, it's quality reading for any person, maybe not any age.

  • FALSE

    2.) Allow quality comics to die
    Hey, this is a business, remember? The publishers need to stay profitable to keep churning out books. The sad reality is, often the best comics have low circulation, they are just not marketed well and usually just don't have the sales numbers for staying power. In addition, the best writers know it's best to go out on a high note (e.g. Gaiman ending Sandman at #75 and Robinson ending Starman at #80).

  • TRUE

    1.) Argue over who is fastest, Superman or The Flash
    I'll give him this one. It is, after all, The Flash's specialty.


Thanks, we'll see you all next month.

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