Cataract Resin 6

Drew EdwardsBringing Down The Mainstream
I hear a lot of talk these days about how we need to “bring comics into the mainstream.” Just the other day I was in my local comic's retailer and I heard someone say, “Thank God CrossGen is putting out something other than superhero comics!” At this point one of the clerks replied, “Yes, this will bring comics into the mainstream media.” That got my whole thought process humming! Why do we even want comic books to be “mainstream?”
Let’s look at the people who follow this “respectable” and “mainstream” culture we think superheroes are holding comics back from! They're mostly a McDonald's fed, Britney Spears listening, Ally McBeal watching, group of human cattle! The idea of comics culture suddenly being in the same sentence with Ally McBeal is a sad one to me. Think to yourself? Do you really want these people reading comics? 

Another thing, becoming mainstream tames almost anything. I remember when punk suddenly became the vogue of high school kids everywhere. Sure the music was reaching a larger audience which was nice, but it lost something when Green Day posters “magically” could be found on the walls of wishful teenaged girls.
Finally, these “sheep people” are fickle. Even if they accept comics into their holy “mainstream” culture they'll only tire of it in about a year or so! I don't want comics to be another crazy "fad" I want them to be something that lasts, but it seems to me this “mainstream” would give it the death of hoola hoops and POGs!
Comics are part of a great American trash culture, along with rock-n-roll, junk food, and b-movies! That gives 'em more of a mystic! So I personally think we should thank the superheroes for saving the day from the idiot culture that surrounds us! They keep “geek” culture on the fringes, right where I want it to be!