The Captain Comics Round Table Mindset List

[ClarkKent_DC]

This has been kicking around in my head for a while, and I think I did this on a past incarnation of the board ... let's take a stab at creating a "Mindset List" for today's fan of comic books and related pop culture.

We begin by following the baseline that the Beloit College Mindset List uses, of a typical reader being 18. I know it's a dubious standard for this exercise, but we've got to start somewhere ... and place a reasonable limit on what's relevant and what isn't.

So, to begin, here are the first entries in The Captain Comics Round Table Mindset List!

Our typical comics reader this year is about 18 and was born in 1997.

• Jack Kirby, Curt Swan, Wally Wood, E. Nelson Bridwell, and Don Newton have always been dead.
• Image has always been a major comics publisher.
• The DC Universe has always been post-Crisis.
• A "dollar comic" is a digital download.
• Harley Quinn has always been part of the Batman family of titles.
• "Batman and Robin" has never meant Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.
• Wonder Woman has always been able to fly and has little need for the Invisible Plane.
• Steve Trevor has never been Wonder Woman's love interest.
• Tony Stark has always been a recovering alcoholic.
• Howard the Duck has always worn pants.
• The first Batman they saw in theaters was Christian Bale.
• The first Superman they saw in theaters was Brandon Routh.
• John Wesley Shipp plays The Flash's dad on TV, not The Flash himself. (But Mark Hamill plays The Trickster).
• Helen Slater plays Supergirl's mom on TV, not Supergirl in the movies. Likewise, Dean Cain plays Supergirl's dad on TV, not Superman himself.

Thems for starters ... any more to add?

[Ron M.]

I've always thought of the Guardians of the Universe as a suspect, shady group. Green Lantern is so powerful, why is he taking orders from Smurfs? Alan Scott didn't work with them and he turned out fine.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Since Ron did a not-literally 1998 cut-off date "probably " too...

  They have likely always known PEANUTS (If they do !!!!!!!!!!) as a classic old-days strip that ran in reruns in the local newspaper .

  I was going to extend that into " That is , if they ever read comic in a paper newspaper at all..." , but it occurred to me that I myself was exercising the what I saw as "It's just ever so cyber-modern and kewwll..."sensibility , assuming that , not only does everybody everywhere NOW follow the " It's just ever so modern..." commands of certain people now , but(Implicitly , anyway .) they have for the last 18 years ! Newspapers seen in their home by children are bought by their parents ,  anyway ! Were the 2019 Beloits' parents following the commandments of the Silicon Valley/Burning Man skateboarding/all the latest apps & downloads " digerati " even back in 2004 , say ?

[ClarkKent_DC]

Ron M. said:

Probably has no idea what the Comics Code was.

Which, in my book, is a GOOD thing.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

ClarkKent_DC said:

Ron M. said:

Probably has no idea what the Comics Code was.

Which, in my book, is a GOOD thing.

Hear, hear.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Here's another: The Walking Dead has been published since these guys were 7 years old. (Hopefully they didn't start reading it right from the beginning.)

[ClarkKent_DC]

ClarkKent_DC said:

• Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson have always been close to the same age.

It occurs to me that, the way things are now*, Barbara has gone from being older than Dick to being younger than Dick.

(* "Now" being the post-Crisis, post-Zero Hour, post-Final Night, post-Identity Crisis, post-Infinite Crisis, post-Final Crisis, post-Flashpoint, post-Blackest Night, post-Brightest Day, post-New 52, post-Convergence DC Universe status quo!)

[Philip Portelli]

Remember when Batman set up Clark Kent with Congresswoman Barbara Gordon in Superman #268?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Comic books have always been printed on slick paper.

(If that's not strictly true, then at least "Comic books have never been printed on cheap newsprint.")

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Philip Portelli said:

Remember when Batman set up Clark Kent with Congresswoman Barbara Gordon in Superman #268?

It seems to me that Superman & Batgirl are closer to the same age again, but a much younger age. Superman plays like he's in his mid-20s now, with Barbara in her early 20s.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Philip Portelli said:

Remember when Batman set up Clark Kent with Congresswoman Barbara Gordon in Superman #268?

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

It seems to me that Superman & Batgirl are closer to the same age again, but a much younger age. Superman plays like he's in his mid-20s now, with Barbara in her early 20s.

And Dick Grayson? He seems like he's in his mid-20s, too. How that squares with Batman taking him in before his teens, training him to be Robin, and then Dick leaving the role to Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown and Damien Wayne,all in five years, I'll never understand.  

[Ron M.]

Nobody will work with Bruce for more than about a year?

[DneColt]

On the practical level....

    - Have only purchased comics in comic shops

    - Have never purchased comics from a spinner rack in a drug store or a 7-11