The geek, apparently, have inherited the earth. Hollywood anyhow, according to a Time magazine article, Boys Who Like Toys.

*cringe*

I don’t mean to sound too much like Comic Book Guy here, but I think the Time article misses the point.

As an exercise, think of a segment of our society, including politics and such “serious” stuff, that doesn’t have a parallel or connection to popular culture. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Our culture, ALL of our culture, is popular culture and pop culture-obsessed.

Knowledge of trivia and ephemera from days gone by – movies, TV and, yes, comic books – is almost vital to surviving a watercooler discussion, an online message board, watching The View or Good Morning America or listening to ANY talk radio, regardless of topic.

My point here isn’t that alpha fans aren’t important or that they aren’t to some extent a tiny niche, but that we’re all alpha fans for something, some area of popular culture and we ALL have blogs and podcasts.

And listen, I could do without quite so many overt ploys for my nostalgia and my money (I’m looking at you, Transformers the Movie). I much prefer the coy and sweetly referential stuff like what Simon Pegg et all did with Shaun of the Dead and are doing with Hot Fuzz.

USA Today has two recent articles on these very blokes/movies. Read them to get the full picture.

This post is extremely meandering, but I think the message about comic books and their devotees should be more about love than about slavish devotion. There’s a difference between deference and zealotry and I think most of us enjoy the past but don’t let it rule our present (or future).

In any event, I may or may not be at Atlanta Comics Expo expanding my pop culture knowledge and feeding my inner fanboy with other like-minded individuals, media power or not.

And, just for good measure, try not to laugh at the confluence of comic book pop culture cartoons and American politics: Challenge of the Super-Duper Friends.

Have a great weekend!

ADDITIONAL LINKAGE: Spider-Man: The Musical and Comics’ past.

EVEN MORE ADDITIONAL LINKAGE: EW’s PopWatch blog makes a funny RE: the Spidey musical and U2.