Comics and Tumblr

Comic fans makeup a large portion of the many sub communities on Tumblr, but they are one of the few that stem from an already decades old fan base. Comics don't reach the mainstream media the way that they used to in their hay day, so they have to change to mold with the current technology and trends. Tom Ewing talks about an example of this with the recently ended comic Young Avengers and it's fan base on Tumblr. Many of Marvels comics have become less about the big moments- butt kicking, action, big reveals- and more about the everyday interaction between the teenage characters. Because of this, Ewing says that Young Avengers gained a reputation as a “Tumblr type of comic”. While on its own, this is somewhat of a back handed comment he goes on to claim that Tumblr may very well be the future of Marvel.

Overlapping Communities 

Tumblr offers a community that is much different from the traditional comic book audience of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The majority on Tumblr actually correlates to minorities on other platforms; a greater number of users are people of color, queer, teenaged and the majority are female. It’s also a place where users interact in fandom, and can do so in a more complex and intimate way than in the past because it occurs on a social media platform. Since the fans are more diverse they will demand more diverse content, no need to pander to the same action clichés to drive profits. Fan culture means that characters are more greatly appreciated by fans that crave complex characters. Ultimately, all of this means a shift away from the focus on epic moments that has been so prevalent in super hero comics in the past to more complex and subtle stories. Since these kinds of fans are driving the markets for so many things, including comics, it makes sense for the comic industry to try and please them. And it's beneficial for the community to demand more interesting, and diverse stories.

Technology Evolves Fandom and Content

Even though I’m personally not in the Marvel or comic community, this article is a perfect example of how a community can be shaped by technology and how that evolving community can in turn shape the medium that the community is centered around. Social media, in this case Tumblr, allows many different sub communities to come together and have more of a voice than they could on other platforms. There is a huge community of LGTBQ individuals and every minority you can imagine who all love to be fans just as much as ‘traditional’ audiences, and as these people gain more voice they are slowly demanding greater representation in media. In the case of Young Avengers, it’s popular on Tumblr because it has such a diverse range of characters.  These are characters that all fans can identify with and love to analyze. Since these fans love to devour more complex stories and characters rather than just action packed male power fantasies, comics will have to shift in order to maintain a market.

Resources:

Ewing, T. (2014, January 10) All Our Friends: aka is there a Marvel Tumblrwave? Retrieved from:     http://freakytrigger.co.uk/wedge/2014/01/all-our-friends/