Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett urges comic book guys that resent female fans to "get over it."
 
I didn't go to New York Comic Con (a.k.a. NYCC 2013) again this year, which is kind of a shame since I missed a chance to see its breakout year.  Not only is it now as large as Comic-Con (see "NYCC as Big as San Diego Comic-Con") but it's every bit its equal when it comes to multi-media presentations, celebrity guests and mainstream media attention.  Not to mention big announcements from the major publishers
 
The biggest of these was simultaneously the most highly anticipated and anticlimactic:  Marvel finally reprinting and then completing Miracleman.  Which is, of course, good news.  But actually I'm more interested in seeing what they'll do with Marvelman, you know, the kid-friendly superhero.  Given what they must have paid for the name I assume it won't go to waste, especially since it puts the Marvel brand up front and center to whatever they affix it to.  Me, I think a fun, fantasy take on the character  would be perfect for any of the Disney Channels in formats ranging from a cartoon to a tween-com to a made for TV movie.
 
Another reason I wish I could have been at NYCC this year is that all anecdotal evidence suggests this could be the biggest year yet in the current book boom.  Having been through this (a couple of times) I know one of the telltale signs is when Marvel starts putting out comics featuring their b-list characters, such as New Warriors (hey, there’s a new Sun Girl who’s fully clothed and a person of color?  I may have to actually read this one),   Elektra, Silver Surfer, Black Window, War Machine, er, Iron Patriot and Ghost Rider.  And there’s also another new batch of Avengers comics coming, which makes sense given there’s Avengers: Age of Ultron coming in 2015.  But I would like to remind the publisher the fastest way to turn a comic book boom into a bust is by putting out too many comics of any kind let alone the same kind.
 
And of course I would also have liked to have seen the cosplay, and there was plenty to be seen (see "New York Comic Con 2013 Photos--Part 1") and the mainstream media ran with it.  Just cut and paste "New York Comic Con" into any search engine and you would get the impression it was all about the cosplay.  And while I wish more news stories focused on, you know, the comics, I understand cosplay provides news outlets optics, or in the words of a New York Daily News piece "crazy costumes and things to gawk at."
 
Sadly there were also more incidents of harassment directed at female cosplayers.  If you haven't already read about it a good place to start is the piece on The Mary Sue website called "Man Banter, Big Cans, and Harassment at New York Comic Con" by Susana Polo.  A NYC local cable access show called Man Banter used false credentials to get inside and filmed a number of female cosplayers getting asked rude and unpleasant questions.
 
There was an interesting piece on the International Digital Times website, "New York Comic Con 2013: 5 Issues with NYCC That Make It Suck" written by "iDigital Staff Reporter." #2 was "Treatment of Women and Minorities" and I was struck by the statement that it's not so much the job of the Con to prevent these kind of ugly incidents but rather "a task for nerd culture, and one that will require an honest attempt to understand why this sort of ugliness rises up so often around women."
 
I'll take ownership of this one; that whole "Fake Geek/Nerd Girl" meme I wrote about recently (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Bad Attitude = Bad Business") and all of the animosity directed towards female cosplayers?  It really boils down to the fact most comic book guys, me included, have issues with women which started when they were girls.  We really, really wanted girls to like us and they really didn't, and this sort of hurt our feelings, in the sense that it wrecked our self-esteem for decades.  And now girls of all ages have "suddenly" decided they like our stuff, the stuff we cherished and consoled ourselves with.  Not us, just our stuff, the stuff which was part and parcel of why they didn’t like us in the first place.
 
I can understand this bitterness but nothing justifies it; just because you weren't included doesn't give you a license to exclude.  I'm not saying all comic book guys like to embarrass and humiliate women, but actions begin with attitudes and if we're going to change nerd culture the attitudes of nerds have got to change.  And I believe they are in fact changing; a lot of the younger guys I meet seem to be a lot less damaged in this department.
 
But for those still carrying around decades of animosity who get all cranky and territorial when those pesky girls try to get inside our clubhouse might I humbly suggest you get over it.  It's been said "nobody gets over high school" but that doesn't mean you shouldn't at least make an effort, because it's not like you have a choice.  Not when 40% of the NYCC '13 attendees were women.  And that number is only going to go up.
 
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.