Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa

May 18

I had one of those thoughts in the shower this morning. The deep kind. Not the other kind. But before I share, I need to give you a little background.

A few months back we had a gathering, something my extended circle of friends calls Slackademics. The idea is pretty simple – if Bob knows how to play ukelele and the rest don’t, Bob can teach us the basics. If someone knows how to draw or make web pages, they share their basics with the group. And at this particular gathering it was the history of comics. Very cool stuff, as the author and comics historian of the group covered the history of comics and what they were reflecting of society.

By the end, there was a main conclusion – this love of comics and sense of historical perspective wasn’t something easily transmittable. Those with kids were passing it along to their kids, maybe a few of their friends. But what about all the kids that don’t have that kind of nerd-mentorship?

Which is where my brain picked up this morning (as I was also pondering my post from the previous day and wondering if it would be a big shit storm or a little shit storm.)

They say we are not born racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or so on. We are not born with any preconceived ideas at all. They are not with us at the start, we learn them. And if you’ve ever watched a newborn brain power up, you’ll understand how scary it is to see how much they absorb through observation, let alone direct tutoring. So, generation after generation, we chip away at discrimination – it seems to be working, though it’s not like we’re ready to remove the word from the dictionary.

We’re even chipping away at sexism. But something is broke in comics. And I think that it’s related to a lack of comic mentorship. We are – right this very second as it happens – arguing with one another. One side sees the a problem and wants change. The other side are old dogs, who do not want to learn a new trick, and in fact don’t see a problem with the old trick. How is this going to help? It will help in the few younger minds that may happen to read and catch a thought. But will it be a good thought, or a bad thought? Kinda random.

So, here’s my question – why fight a 35 year-old with a disposable income who likes to collect statues? Shouldn’t the target be the brains that are still sorting things out?

If a living room full of people agree that maybe we should all try harder to educate kids that “I’m the God damned Batman!” is a stupid line, not in keeping with the spirit of the character, aren’t we agreed that those same opportunities, if we can produce them, are the logical place to ween an industry off of pointless booty, by prepping some new brains.

“This is a great Wonder Woman story. This one is stupid.”
“That’s a cute Supergirl statue. Oh, God, it’s that awful Superman/Batman Supergirl.”

So, how do we do this?

Brainstorm time!

1) Arrange with your local library to have regular comic-reading gatherings. Be prepared to bring the good shit, and that it may go missing or get damaged. You have five bucks to replace it, that kid doesn’t.

…

Actually, that’s all I’ve got. But I like it. I’m going to ponder it. What else can be done? Matt has something, but I will not comment – hopefully it something that can be talked about in the near future.