Which, the history of the industry seems to teach, was a good thing.

Unfortunately, as we have seen, too many comic shops became the physical manifestations of the clubhouse mentality. Having been born in 1967, I suspect you can barely (if at all) remember a time when there weren't comic shops. That's true of many fans today -- and too many people working in the Industry.

I wonder how much of this is "chicken and egg"? Do comics publishers produce continuity-laden, "adult" oriented comics because that's the kind of feedback they get from the Internet? Or do the older, long-time fans who like these kinds of stories dominate Internet discussions because that's who comics are aimed at these days?

I see the Internet as just a tool. How it is used depends entirely upon the people using it. Sure, there's lots of nonsense out there. But there's plenty of good stuff about comics on the Internet, too (including the JBF). I enjoy interacting with other comics fans here, something I never really had the chance to do as a kid.

Good or bad, if not for the internet, I wouldn't have returned to comics after eight years of absence.  My exposure to John Byrne's comics would've ended with Superman in the late 80's.

I doubted that I would ever buy another new comic, as the DC and Marvel Universes' continuity had gone on without me, leaving me without a clue as to what the hell was going on.

Through the net, I was able to research titles, ask questions, and learn about indie titles that I never would've given a second glance.

As a kid, I knew one guy outside of my family that read comics as I did.  As a teen I was alone.  When the shops began to open while I was in college, I could now discuss comics on a limited basis, but the shop owners were doing it as a business, not as fans.

With the net, I could ask any question, and get a multitude of answers.  Some correct, some incorrect, but it allowed me to figure out what comics I wanted to try out.

While I enjoy many of the discussions we have here, I must say that I could've gone an eternity without the "clubhouse fandom" that the Internet provides. It's caused me a great deal of needless distress.

Case in point: A few years back, I was so angered by JMS' "Sins Past" storyline in Amazing Spider-Man that I felt obligated to write a short essay proving how it didn't fit into the previously established characterizations and canon. Being young and ambitious, I worked on it bit by bit for about a year or so, and it eventually snowballed into an amazingly long essay (Linked in my signature, 'natch!), which I hoped would shake some sense into the fanboys who praised the story.

As it turned out, I've received lots and lots of hateful criticism and messages about it. It's been referred to as a "crazy manifesto" and a worthless, ranting "waste of time" that was "written by a guy who thinks JMS raped his childhood". I've since realized that my writing was motivated by passion more than anything else (as well as the arrogant feeling that I could make an impact on some readers), and that emotional motivation made me an easy target for all of those basement-dwelling trolls who worship cruelty. You know, the sort of people who toss out vicious insults while hiding behind a screenname.

Internet bullying is a growing problem, but when comic fanboys are involved, the dial quickly gets turned up to 11. At pretty much any forum you go to, you'll see all sorts of bitter infighting. 

Now that some time has passed, and as I've distanced myself from things (like all current M***** books) that ignite such mad passions within me, I've come to realize that it's not worth the effort to try to make thousands of anonymous Internet fanboys "see the light". In the long run, my opinions don't matter...but neither do theirs.

This is the only comic-related site I post at now. I usually enjoy our discussions, but it still gets pretty darn tense around here at times (and I wish this forum wasn't so controversial to so many fanboys, because we have some great discussions around here). So, I've tried to distance myself from that negativity and I'm now spending more time reading comics that I love (as well as doing other, non-nerdy things) instead of arguing pointlessly for hours (and even days) with stubborn people I've never even met.

And I think it's beyond disgusting that people spend their time monitoring this forum, looking for "comedy" material that they can mock on other boards.