History of Houston's fanbase

The Houston Chronicle interviewed a local writer who wrote a book about the city's history in fandom:

However, the origin of fandom itself is far less chronicled than that of superheroes or even the comic industry that produced them. How exactly did one of the most disposable types of literature become one of the most lucrative genres of entertainment on Earth?

That is what author Dr. Robert Meaux explores on a local level in his latest book, "Comic Shops, Conventions, and the Growth of a Fan Community: The Story of Houston Comic Book Fandom," now available through Amazon. It’s a short but painstakingly researched history of how Houston became a mecca for comics back when few people saw their worth. It pairs with a lifelong love of comics, comic stores, and comic conventions that Meaux has had since middle school when his mom took him to HoustonCon ’77 at the Dunfey’s Royal Coach Inn.

“It gave me a chance to explore this part of my teenage years and my early adult life,” said Meaux, who will have a book signing at Third Planet on Saturday. “It was fascinating learning about all of the behind-the-scenes things that were going on that I had no clue about at the time."

From despised to celebrated

The book opens with the comic industry in a downturn. Sales after World War II slumped, and a public hysteria movement about juvenile delinquency led the comic industry to neuter itself under the Comics Code Authority. By 1965, comics were considered either vapid childhood nonsense or puerile seductresses of the young, depending on the era. Literature they certainly were not.

The man who changed that in Houston was radio and sports broadcaster Gene Arnold. A positive story about his comic collection in the Houston Post showed many local collectors that they weren’t alone. There was even a celebrity unabashedly showing off his Superman.

As usual, I find myself in the sad position of asking if all involved in the writing of this article really mean it if they say they're against censorship, because the past decade has proven otherwise, and it's still a serious problem today. And literature or not, does merit count? Look at what the mainstream's become today, dumbed down to drastic levels, all because of hysteria similar to the 50s.

This led to a small but dedicated group of fans and collectors building the first comic shops and starting the first swap meets. Glenn Kessler would help found the first HoustonCon just two years later. Roy Bonario helped him after establishing a thriving comic business out of the back of Harmony Hut Record Shop, a business that eventually morphed into Roy’s Memory Shop. [...]

A major theme in Meaux’s book is that there was a period when no one but a handful of fans thought comics could be something more than trashy, disposable entertainment. Legitimacy was literally built by fans, who innovated, organized, and commentated on the industry until it grew into the juggernaut it is today.

Well the irony is that even today, the same people with low opinions still don't think it's anything more than that, except now, they believe it's nothing more than something to exploit for profit at the expense of the zygote when they turn them into movies and TV shows, and then proceed to destroy said zygote full force, with Marvel's Avengers: Disassembled, DC's Identity Crisis and also Spider-Man's One More/Brand New Day just a sample of the worst stories ever produced. I wonder if Meaux's book even talks about that? Probably not, and that's a problem. Even if it's mainly about how a leading city in Texas built up pop culture fandom for the southwest USA, anybody who's not going to explore what went wrong and why it's wrong to ruin other people's favorite franchises is not doing fandom favors at all. When will any professional writer be willing to write a book laying bare what went wrong, and have the guts to name all the guilty?