Are we too old for this?

thejudgemuffin · 07 February, 2009, 03:31:02 PM

Ok, here's the set up....I am 37 and have been reading 2000ad since I was 11 (1985)...I realise a lot of people on this forum will be significantly younger than me but also that there are a few of us old guys in circulation.

My question as someone who has a 'Jock' pic on his desk at work is how do you answer the question:

"Comics?!? Aren't you a bit old for them?"

These are the same people who pay to see the dark knight and iron man but still turn their noses up at comics...ie not quite 'getting' it.

My enjoyment of the progs over the years may have diminished slightly (purely from finding time to squeeze a full read in) but I am still a subscriber...

Over the years I myself have used many standard replies but I sometimes wonder to myself...Am I too old for this?

I, Cosh · 07 February, 2009, 03:41:44 PM

Quote from: "thejudgemuffin"Ok, here's the set up....I am 37 and have been reading 2000ad since I was 11 (1985)...I realise a lot of people on this forum will be significantly younger than me but also that there are a few of us old guys in circulation.

I wouldn't have thought so. You're probably just about dead average age.

As for the question, you should really be asking if you still enjoy reading it as you're old enough to make up your own mind. People still play football at your age, just like they did in primary school.

thejudgemuffin · 07 February, 2009, 03:49:57 PM

don't get me wrong, I really enjoy reading it, I'm just interested in what other say to the majority of oxygen thieves who ask the question..."aren't you a bit old?"

Pete Wells · 07 February, 2009, 03:54:24 PM

I'm afraid I have to go with the old "Did you go and see The Dark Knight/Iron Man/Terminator etc." question too.

It does piss you off though...

Peter Wolf · 07 February, 2009, 04:03:07 PM

I would say no you are not.If anyone says otherwise then they are wrong .

Depends what you or they mean by comics anyway.

Adults watch trash on TV and read tabloids by way of example and the opinion of the average person is of no consequence or value.

Having said that i feel that i have outgrown Hollywood output like The Dark Knight or Iron Man.

I, Cosh · 07 February, 2009, 04:08:29 PM

It's not something I get asked really. If I did, I'd probably try and draw some sort of parallel with cartoons like The Simpsons and South Park.

M.I.K. · 07 February, 2009, 04:23:29 PM

Quote from: "thejudgemuffin"My question as someone who has a 'Jock' pic on his desk at work is how do you answer the question:

"Comics?!? Aren't you a bit old for them?"

"No".

satchmo · 07 February, 2009, 04:27:09 PM

You're never too old for comics. Never.

Fizzy Wilber · 07 February, 2009, 04:29:37 PM

I'm 50 next year.

Been reading 200AD since Prog 1 (but not without gaps here and there).

Too old? No, nor am I too old to stamp on your tongue.

Bouwel · 07 February, 2009, 04:36:08 PM

In the last 24 years or so no-one has ever asked me if I thought I was too old for comics (I'm in my mid-40's now).
I did get asked this once by the newsagent when I was in my very late teens, but he was an idiot so he didn't count.

I think current day comics have moved in in the public perception compared to when 2000 AD began. The comic is definitely more overtly 'adult' than when it began.

-Bouwel-
(Oh, and as a post above notes: being 6ft and very heavy-set with a shaved head may have something to do with it!)

Kerrin · 07 February, 2009, 04:39:16 PM

Just say "no way dude, they're like, totally cool" Job done.

satchmo · 07 February, 2009, 04:47:20 PM

It's just ignorance really, a lot of people wrongly assume that comics are just for kids, and think they might be doing you a favour by helping you grow up

they probably have no idea books like From Hell or Safe Area Gorazde even exist. It's their loss. Oh for an enlightened comic culture like Japan or France...

SuperSurfer · 07 February, 2009, 04:54:59 PM

As perhaps one of the oldest kids on this forum (42) I don't feel too old to read 2000ad. It requires a level of intelligence higher than is needed to read most newspapers, magazines and to follow most films and tv programmes etc.

But I do feel too old to read the vast majority of Marvel and DC's output. I'm amazed that so many US artists are churning out exactly the same stuff as they were a quarter of a century ago. I had a look at a George Perez comic the other day in FP and couldn't believe his art is identical to what he was producing when I was a kid. There seems to be some sort of injection of creativity that 2000ad gives its creators. Artists and writers develop and mature over time.

Having said that, I still wouldn't read 2000ad in the workplace or on the tube, I'm afraid. It's that stigma attached to comics. The pictures explain what the long words mean, don't they? I just got fed up having to explain myself over years at college and at school. I can't be bothered with all that now I'm sorry to say.

Yonks ago my degree thesis argument was that comics are a serious and unique artform and that many of the storytelling devices could not be achieved in other art forms. I guess I was one of the early ones to do their thesis on comics as apparently many creators are fed up doing interviews for students. (I got to interview Richard Burton Tharg, Paul Gravett, Martin Barker, Nick Landau.)

Robin Low · 07 February, 2009, 05:01:12 PM

Quote from: "thejudgemuffin"Ok, here's the set up....I am 37 and have been reading 2000ad since I was 11 (1985)...

I'm 38. In 1985, I was 14 up until October when I became 15. Even taking into account us having birthdays at different times of the year, you seem to be aging slighly more rapidly than you should.

Or have I completely buggered the maths due to my own aging brain?

Regards

Robin

TordelBack · 07 February, 2009, 05:19:31 PM

The wife puts it this way: it could be obsessively following a football team. It could be strippers. It could be Corrie. It could be the gee-gees. It could be traipsing round after Metallica. It could be dressing up as baby and shitting yourself. 2000AD (and comics, Star Wars and SF in general) is no sillier or more immature or made-up than any of those supposedly 'grown-up' things. I read plenty of 'serious' literature, science and history,I like plenty of 'proper' art. I'm 37 and I get as much (or to be honest, more) enjoyment out of 2000AD as any of that 'adult' guff. So no - if you're having fun, why stop.