Heroes, Villains, and Me: Crusty Old Men’s Club

“Heroes, Villains, and Me” is a weekly article on Geeky KOOL about the world of comic books and my reaction to it. “Heroes, Villains, and Me” is not a comic book review article. I will write about current events, speculation and rumors, or my own wacky thoughts about the world of comic books.

I don’t think of myself as OLD.  I am just 42 years of age.  Most of the time, I still think of myself in my 20s or early 30s.  Heck, today I played flag football with the guys and some of them weren’t even born in the 80s.

Last week my friend Bryan and I went to our usual comic book store. We engaged Stu, our comic book guy, in our regular exchange about comics. We discussed what we are enjoying and what Stu recommends. I brought up some comic book series that I recently decided to drop.  A couple of them are from the New 52 and I just was not enjoying them.

One of these comics was Earth 2, the new re-image of the Justice Society.  I have been a huge fan of the Justice Society since I read my father’s old Justice League/Justice Society crossovers. The Earth 2 characters were just KOOL and fun back then.  I had great fondness for  the 80’s series, All Star Squadron, set back during World War II.  Through the years, I enjoyed various versions of the Justice Society and their kids in Young All Stars and Infinite Inc.  I loved the Geoff Johns run on the latest Justice Society series.  I gave Earth 2 a chance but just didn’t like the re-image/ relaunch of the characters and series with the New 52.  I finally cut bait.

Stu, Bryan, and I discussed our thoughts on how DC could have made this series better.  I suggested going back to re-introducing the characters but have it set back in the 40s and keep the basic of their origins the same.  They could have done a whole revamp of the 80’s All Star Squadron.  Stu and Bryan liked this idea but had other suggestions.

Before our conversation ended, Stu mentioned that there other guys that often come in and they have similar conversations.  He suggested that  the world might explode if we all showed up at one time.  He fondly refers to this group as the “Crusty Old Men’s Club” (Stu is older than Bryan and me).  He gave us this name because we all come in and deliberate about how comics used to be and the fact we often dislike the changes that the Major Two (Marvel and DC) are making.

I was a bit offended.  As I mentioned above, I don’t consider myself old.  I certainly don’t see myself as crusty.  I do get the irony of discussing the old JSA and the All Star Squadron.  I do have to agree with Stu about my nostalgia for comics in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s.  I am currently enjoying many great comics but I dislike change just for change sake for some of their great characters.  “That is the way it was and we liked it.”