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 looks at "respect," diversity, and Dredd.
 
Recently I've written a number of columns about women in comics, in particular the lack of respect shown to women at comic book conventions, the same way I've repeatedly stressed the importance of inclusion and diversity in comics.  I’ve always been very careful to frame it in the context of the bottom line (more readers = more money) and that it had nothing to do with fairness or equality.  Because heaven knows I didn't want to be accused of "political correctness" or worse yet, be called a "cultural Marxist" for merely being a proponent of The Golden Rule.  For those who need a refresher course in it I am pleased to present into evidence this 1964 DC Comics public service ad drawn by the great Bob Oksner featuring Bob Hope that appeared on the inside front cover of Strange Adventures #163.
 
Recently current Superman Henry Cavill showed up on Sesame Street and, along with Elmo, demonstrated the concept of respect by convincing the Big Bad Wolf not to blow down the house of The Three Little Piggies.  They defined respect as "treating someone in a way that makes them feel cared about and important," which came as something of a shock to me.  I was always taught that along with being about deference tinged with fear and obedience, respect was also hierarchical.  You respected elders and the authorities and showed courtesy to women because of their innate squishy weakness.  The last part was of course discontinued a couple decades ago when "respect for women" got downgraded to just trying not to be a complete jerk around them.
 
You were also supposed to respect yourself and others, in a general kind of way, but this was easier in theory than practice.  Most of the authority figures I came across were firmly in the camp that believed real respect had to be earned, though they were always vague about what, if anything, you could do to actually earn it.  And, paradoxically, I've found nothing inspires utter contempt in others quite like your own perceived lack of self-respect.
 
The truth, of course, is that my interest in this subject has never been strictly about business.  I once wrote I had always self-identified as being "other," but to be absolutely honest I must confess it was others that did the identifying.  It should come as no big surprise that I was a misfit outsider growing up and having been made to feel "less than" makes me empathize with the excluded.  I don't presume to equate getting picked on with experiencing actual prejudice or harassment, but it has left me hypersensitive to slights and injustices.
 
So even while it's easy to mock the Sesame Street definition of respect as hopelessly simplistic, so is The Golden Rule and I believe in that.  It took me a long time to figure this out, but respecting others really does start with self-respect and maybe if we started treating ourselves better it would be easier to start every conversation and encounter we have with the presumption of mutual respect.  At least I’d like to think so.
 
And, since we’re on the subject of diversity, I would be lying if I didn’t saying I was more than slightly stoked by the news that Marvel was finally going to give us a young, female Muslim superhero (see "A Muslim Ms. Marvel").  I've been advocating for something similar literally for years.  My candidate has always been the Golden Age Miss America, seeing as how her traditional outfit was already essentially a burkini.  But I'll take a revamped Ms. Marvel, though I do have a question about the initial art Marvel posted: what's the deal with the hedgehog wearing Hulk Hands in the right corner?  Please, oh, please tell me he's Ms. Marvel's talking animal mascot.
 
For a while now Super-Fly Comics & Games owner Tony Barry has been telling me I should see the movie Dredd (formerly known as Dredd 3-D).  As previously established (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Let Superman Be Superman") I had zero interest in doing so, primarily because the producers had made the cost-saving decision to depict Mega-City One as Los Angeles with a little (more) trash strewn about.  "Trust me," he said.  And since I do, I did, and having seen it via Netflix Instant Streaming, I must admit that not only is it an efficient little action movie, Mega City-One aside, it gets more right about Judge Dredd than it does wrong.
 
And, finally, yesterday was my day off so I got a chance to browse through my local library and just happened to be there in time to hear a mother ask her small children, a boy and a girl, "Which superhero books would you like to read?  Iron Man?"  The girl heartily agreed and the boy piped up with "I want Iron Man too!"  It did my heart good.
 
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.