Debate: Are older comic fans gatekeeping or just protective of the hobby?

I was reading through some posts on a comic forum last night and saw this stat: 62% of comic readers at my local shop in Portland are 35 or older. It got me thinking about how the older crowd sometimes gives new fans a hard time for not knowing classic storylines or for picking up variant covers over key issues. On the flip side, I get why they don't want the hobby to turn into a pure speculation game like the '90s crash. Where do you guys land on this - gatekeeping or just looking out for the community?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_phoenix22d agoMost Upvoted

Rolls my eyes so hard I can see my own brain. Honestly, the way some of these older guys act you'd think reading Watchmen in 1986 was a sacred ritual passed down from Zeus himself. I walked into my shop last week and some guy in a thousand dollar Batman statue t-shirt was grilling a teenager for buying a McFarlane figure instead of a silver age issue. Like come on man, you were probably buying garbage bags full of X-Force #1s when you were that kid's age, give him a break.

uma30622d ago

Guy in the Batman statue t-shirt probably bought ten copies of Knightfall #1 thinking it'd pay for his retirement. I still have my polybagged Death of Superman issues if anyone wants to trade for a mint condition 2015 Gwenpool. The gatekeeping is just insecurity dressed up in longboxes.