Meet Glenn O’ Leary. He’s the owner of The Comic Book Palace in Haverhill, Massachusetts, located near the furthest northeastern point of the state.
He’s no stranger to being thrust into the light of public opinion. Back in 2013, his nerd utopia was the focus of a documentary short featured at both the Massachusetts and Los Angeles Film Festivals.
Fast forward to this week, “The Comic Book Palace Reborn” podcast has been enjoying some viral buzz because of O’ Leary’s opinion about the stark differences between comic book writers of today and the quills of old.
Listen to his rant and ask yourself if he’s right or wrong.
30 year comic shop owner.@BleedingFool @Marvel @DCOfficial @JimLee @Todd_McFarlane @CBCebulski @chrisbraly @CriticalBlast pic.twitter.com/7ySjFEYGp9
— Ty (@DefNotTy) December 3, 2023
The Comic Book Palace Hurls Today’s Writers in the Moat
Glenn O’ Leary has been a comic book store owner for three decades. He’s seen more comics leave his store than most people ever read or understand. It’s a simple, presumptive step to conclude he has read Stan Lee to Frank Miller, Jack Kirby to Grant Morrison, Will Eisner to Geoff Johns.
The OG writers, according to Glenn O’ Leary remained true to the character and wrote stories involving those beloved people in spandex. What does he mean by “today’s writers?”
Is there word he is looking for, “Young?”
Most of these new writers don’t have the love of comics that these older writers had. And all they care about is, ‘How can I put myself into the book?’ But we don’t care about what you would do if you were Iron Man. We don’t care who you are, you’re writing Tony Stark, you’re not writing yourself in a book.
At first, it seems Glenn O’ Leary was waxing a little “Get off my lawn” from the friendly confines of his comic store. He recalls what the greats wrote in Marvel and DC, Fawcett and Atlas. Dude has been around.
But, there may be another word to fill in the blank, “Woke.”
Are Comics Waking Up or Just Too Woke?
Following that rant, there were several calls of “Amen!” from the balcony. Glenn O’ Leary has a strong point. By now, millions of fans can say with any sort of confidence, “Uh, that’s not what Steve Rogers or Kal-El would do.”
When the OG comic book writers determined the character arcs of each notable superhero and villain, they did so with understanding of they fit into the greater label’s multiverse. However, times were different before color television and the Internet.
There is a need to determine character arcs of a new generation, but his maligned point (many people have poo-pooed on what Glenn has said) is stay true to the character’s essence. If that happens, a writer can stay objective.
Or can they?
People grew up, loving Peter Parker, loving Miles Morales, loving Captain America- we don’t need you to put your input in it, just write Steve Rogers.
Don’t write, ‘What would Steve Rogers be, if I were Steve Rogers.’ That’s not how it works, but that’s how most of these new people write nowadays. That’s why most of the stuff is sh*#.
He’s not entirely fond of subjective opinion in his comics. In fact, Glenn O’ Leary would soon line a bird cage with new versions of old superheroes than sell them. However, it’s important to note that his complaints are not ones of intolerance–only of intolerant writers.
Interested in the full podcast scouring the Internet?
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.
