Is Nerd the New Black?

April 13, 2009  
Filed under Arts and Entertainment

By Matt Funk
Over the past few years, popular culture, specifically Hollywood, has shifted heavily in favor of what used to be considered “nerd” stuff. Comic books, sci-fi, and fantasy movies have become increasingly more prominent. This trend has been building moment quietly for a while, and shows no sign of stopping.
Let’s examine the evidence.
The last few years have produced countless comic book movies. There are the obvious superhero films: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Spiderman, X-Men, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy, Fantastic Four and many others. These are some of the highest grossing movies every year, and they are all “nerd” movies, based on comic books that have been continuously published since as early as the 1930s.
There also the less obvious movies that most people didn’t even realize were comic adaptations: 300, Sin City, V for Vendetta, 30 Days of Night, Constantine, Wanted, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. These movies represent some of the most artistic and praised films released in recent years.
The super saturation of comic and pop-culture films in the box office doesn’t look like it’s going to let up this year, either. Next week has the release of Watchmen, based on the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time. This movie looks to follow on WB’s success with darker toned superhero movies such as the Dark Knight. That will be followed up by Xmen Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Transformers 2, and G.I. Joe, among others.
Why then does no one read the source material? With the outstanding exception of Watchmen, sales for comics show little to no increase when movies based on them are released. You would think that if people liked the movie that they would want to go out and read more stories with the characters. Why don’t they?
Some people aren’t aware that comic books are still published. This is an odd misconception that many people have. Since their inception in the early 1900s, comics have never stopped being published. This myth is baffling and seemingly baseless.
Another misconception is that comics are for little kids. Most comic readers are in their twenties or thirties. The stories, as shown by most of the movies already listed, are anything but immature.
“I don’t know why, but Watchmen is the first movie that’s actually bringing people in,” says Duncan McGeary of Bend’s only comic retailer, Pegasus Books. “It’s cool how many people that don’t read comics want to see this [Watchmen] movie.”
Now that “nerd” culture is becoming more acceptable, you can do yourself a favor: go read a comic book.