Cosplay and Comic Book Fans

            I believe that by pretending to be a superhero and dressing up in cosplay, people can achieve a type of escapism. By donning the colors of a hero, suddenly people can leave their true identities behind them and embody the hero. For example, with the right cosplay, Tom Miller is no longer the average grocery store clerk, but Superman, who stands for justice and the American way. Further, Tom and others might find freedom in embracing the flaws and virtues of the person he/she is cosplaying rather than the usual traits they portray to the outside world. In fact, like how Peter Parker seems more confident under the guise of Spider-Man, maybe those flaws and virtues have always been inside us, dormant, until the opportunity to wear a cape and mask came upon us and allowed us, through the safety of another identity, to reveal those parts within ourselves. 

            On Saturday, several of us visited the comic-con in Burlington, Iowa. While this wasn’t the biggest of conventions, a few people were still resplendent in their favorite villainous or heroic cosplay. I remember spotting a Heath Ledger-esque Joker, and as we were leaving, a Mr. Incredible and his young son were entering the convention. I believe these individuals were able to receive the benefit of cosplaying as a villain or heroes because they were entering a comic-con convention, where a community of people would respect and even be excited by the fact that these people dressed up. More than that, like I said before, it can be fun to hang-up the old everyday identities we wear and embrace the villain or hero inside us all. If you’re dressed up as Thor and decide to come into the convention, hammer swinging, and yelling a triumphant battle cry, that suddenly becomes awesome because everyone will recognize that you’re acting like Thor. Without the right cosplay, without the right of community of people, Tom Miller swinging a hammer and yelling a battle cry becomes rather concerning than awesome, and may end up in a police intervention. Thus, by interacting in the superhero community, cosplaying becomes a source of fun, of roleplaying, and of escaping our everyday identities for a short while. 

            Unfortunately, comic book fans tend to be saddled with a rather lackluster reputation. They are typically portrayed as weirdoes, too hyper-invested in comics than the real world, and are often stereotyped as nonathletic, asthma-ridden, and pale individuals whose intensity over superheroes and villains scares the average person off. Maybe this reputation comes from the fact that many of the so called ‘uncool’ kids became part of this fandom first and therefore made the entire fan base seem ‘uncool’ as well. These kids, who were bullied and ostracized, saw the colorful pages of a comic book and discovered heroes who would defend them, who often struggled with popularity themselves (cough, Peter Parker), who suffered from emotional and personal traumas, and yet, at the end of the day, would still fight evil and save the day. Or maybe this dorky reputation comes from the fact that everyone was wearing underwear over their pants? Or the fact that, historically speaking, when comics were first printed, being associated with them was seen as something to be embarrassed about?

            Maybe all of these things factored in. However, luckily for all of us, this dorky image of the comic book fan is changing. The source of this change is found in the big screen—movies. Huge successes like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy or the enormous popularity of Marvel with its Iron Man and Avengers movies (and more) has caused comic book pages to successfully transfer over into film. In fact, superheroes have become a large part of our pop culture. It’s trendy now to be into superheroes. People can easily find and buy superhero t-shirts and costumes, birthday cakes, keychains, posters, and more. 

I believe the reason behind why superheroes have started to resonate with so many people is one, because it’s likely that more demographics are reached by superheroes onscreen rather than on page, and two, because the American people are again experiencing a lot of doubt and uncertainty on matters such as national security and more, and who better to point the way than a bright primary-colored hero? In the traditional superhero arc, we all know to back up the hero. Even if he strays, he will always return to the side of good. There is no ambiguity.