My Least Favorite Comic Book Trope

Superhero comic books are a comic animal. Monthly superhero comics are epic sagas that are portion of our modern mythology — but they’re besides written and drawn not by superstars, but by radical who are arsenic arsenic apt to beryllium your approachable Twitter communal arsenic they are to constitute a comic that gets turned into a cardinal dollar movie. They’re besides published connected a accelerated capable docket that they tin respond to scholar feedback wrong conscionable a fewer issues.

At its best, this tin marque the assemblage consciousness tight-knit and welcoming, bound by a shared emotion of these silly stories. At its worst, it tin marque the narration betwixt readers and creators incredibly toxic. And 1 of the ways the second manifests is my precise slightest favourite comic publication trope. The closest TV Tropes leafage I could find was This Loser Is You, but I similar to telephone it The Reader Is The Villain, oregon The Superboy-Prime Effect.

What americium I talking about? Well, Superboy-Prime was primitively a hero, an alternate mentation of Clark Kent from Earth-Prime, a beingness meant to beryllium akin to our own. That beingness was destroyed during 1985’s Crisis connected Infinite Earths, leaving Prime arsenic the lone survivor.

He past vanished for astir 20 years, returning arsenic a villain successful the 2005–2006 Infinite Crisis crossover event. Furious that his satellite had perished portion the main DC beingness had survived, helium attacked the heroes, slaughtering a fig of C-listers successful cartoonishly graphic ways and sidesplitting his main beingness counterpart Conner Kent earlier yet being (temporarily) defeated.

I’m little funny successful what Prime does, though, than what helium says portion helium does it. He repeatedly accuses the heroes of acting similar villains, of not behaving the mode heroes should be, alternatively than “heroes who are polite and brave and honest,” the mode they used to be. “You’re ruining everything!” helium shrieks histrionically, childishly, constantly.

Further context: I had to determine betwixt this representation arsenic my Superboy-Prime example, oregon 1 wherever helium rips a hero’s limb disconnected on-panel.

Let’s enactment this successful context. Superboy-Prime became a villain during a peculiarly bleak, convulsive epoch successful the medium’s history. In the post-9/11 years, some DC and Marvel were obsessed with stories astir motivation compromise, heroes faltering, and pyrrhic ends justifying abhorrent, unforgivable means. Identity Crisis and Civil War are the best-known examples of this, but by nary means the lone ones. In the 2nd fractional of the 2000s, beloved heroes killed, maimed, tortured, and lobotomized their enemies, and deceived, manipulated, mindwiped, cloned, and sometimes adjacent killed their friends.

Superboy-Prime is the entitled fanboy who is furious that comics aren’t the feel-good tales of heroism helium remembers from his youth. It’s not a subtle metaphor, but it’s made other wide successful 1 communicative wherever helium manages to instrumentality to Earth-Prime, wherever helium moves into his parents’ basement and spends his days speechmaking comics and trolling the DC connection boards. Get it? Do you get it? Do you???

Look. I’ve been connected Twitter. I cognize however obnoxious immoderate fans tin get. But “If you don’t similar my work, you’re a mass-murdering hysterical kid who is besides a large loser” seems similar a beauteous immature effect to antagonistic feedback.

Superboy-Prime is acold from the lone illustration of writers depicting their critics arsenic supervillains, and “longtime scholar who is sick of grimdark” is acold from the lone benignant of professional writers person targeted. We’ve besides seen this dismissive effect to readers from some sides of the governmental spectrum:

In 2016, Marvel writer Nick Spencer wrote a arguable plotline successful which Captain America (Steve Rogers) was revealed to person been a Hydra cause each on — a crippled enactment that did not beryllium good with galore readers, peculiarly those connected the left. The pursuing year, successful Captain America: Sam Wilson, Spencer introduced a caller radical of Z-list villains called the Bombshells, a parody of leftist activists. When the caller Falcon, Joaquin Torres, faces disconnected against a racist pundit, the Bombshells — each young, nary of them achromatic men — onslaught the pundit with murderous intent, forcing Falcon to combat them arsenic well. Throughout, they outcry nonsensical “woke” accusations intelligibly meant to marque them dependable young and anserine (and female), similar “Your precise beingness is problematic successful the extreme! I can’t even!” At 1 point, a Black pistillate throws a grenade portion yelling “Consider this your trigger warning!” Yes, really.

Sigh.

On the different extremity of the spectrum is this year’s Dark Crisis: Young Justice miniseries by Megan Fitzmartin, successful which the 3 archetypal members of the precocious ’90s squad Young Justice — Superboy (Conner Kent), Robin (Tim Drake), and Impulse (Bart Allen) — are mysteriously zapped to an alternate magnitude that turns retired to beryllium an idyllic recreation of their lives backmost successful their YJ days. They are progressively troubled by the misogyny and homophobia of this imagination world, which turns retired to person been created by Mickey Mxyzptlk, lad of the Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk and YJ’s self-proclaimed biggest fan. He’s giving them a utopia, helium says, due to the fact that they’ve been “replaced” by “people who don’t person immoderate close to beryllium here” — and helium conjures up a splash page’s worthy of characters who are each queer oregon BIPOC oregon both, astir (but not all) of whom debuted successful the past mates of decades.

Unclear however Alan Scott (debuted 1940) replaced Bart Allen (debuted 1994), but okay.

In Spencer’s comic, the villains are woke leftists, who assertion to beryllium redeeming the satellite but are really attacking the real, reasonable, sensibly centrist heroes with disproportionate choler and bare buzzwords. In Fitzmartin’s, the villain is the entitled fanboy whose nostalgia is rooted successful racism, homophobia, and sexism. From a governmental perspective, my sympathy is perfectly with Fitzmartin, who, it should beryllium noted, besides wrote the comic successful which Tim Drake came retired arsenic bi and received a vocal and highly gross backlash from precisely the benignant of scholar she based Mickey Mxyzptlk on.

But portion of the occupation with this peculiar trope is however imprecise it is arsenic a effect to criticism. I would ne'er successful my beingness nonstop hatred to a comic publication creator, but I didn’t similar the grimdark edginess of station 9/11 superhero comics, and I said truthful astatine the time. That doesn’t mean I admit being likened to a murderous crybaby similar Superboy-Prime. I loved the archetypal Young Justice comic and missed seeing its formed successful comics. That doesn’t mean I don’t similar the caller characters who person been introduced much recently, oregon americium thing but thrilled astir the advancement the manufacture has made successful presumption of divers representation. And the Bombshells…yeah, no, I americium really precisely the benignant of woke scold Nick Spencer was taking purpose astatine there, but it’s specified a childish effect to valid disapproval that I can’t adjacent enactment up the vigor to beryllium huffy astir it.

But here’s the thing: adjacent if there’s a scholar who doesn’t successful immoderate mode consciousness targeted by immoderate of these storylines, what’s the best-case script there? They’re speechmaking a comic with the motivation of “Hey, you cognize who sucks? Comic publication readers.” That seems similar a unusual mode to code your audience!

Are determination fans who behave inappropriately towards creators? Absolutely. Again, I’m connected Twitter. I’m alert that each creator’s mentions are a cesspool, and that this is magnified exponentially for marginalized creators. That is unacceptable, and I’ve written earlier astir however publishers request to bash much to support their creators from this benignant of harassment.

But I can’t spot that the Superboy-Prime Effect is simply a productive mode to code it, either. At its worst, it’s actively harmful, and astatine its best, it’s inactive mildly insulting. In a agelong database of tropes I hatred — women successful refrigerators, evil clowns, gaslighting your loved ones to support your concealed individuality — it’s astatine the precise top. And I anticipation writers tin permission it successful the past soon.