It took a fabulously creative use of a plate of piping hot pizza rolls but you’ve managed to escape from the rabid comic book geeks that have been holding you hostage for the last two hours. Okay, really you just got fed up and pushed your way out of there. Physical confrontation wasn’t their strong point, which is why they had to kidnap you in your sleep.
You rip the duct tape from your mouth and let it fall to the ground. As you round the corner walking away, you turn back for a final look at the house where you were kept and something shifts in your chest.
Maybe all their talk about Marvel “ruining comic books” wasn’t all just jealous nerd bullshit. Maybe they’re right, and you would have liked Batman V. Superman if you had what they called “any understanding of comic book lore except what you’d seen on Saturday morning cartoons.”
Maybe you are a filthy casual.
You arrive at your house and walk inside. You sit down on the couch and stare for a long time at the hard-bound copy of The Dark Knight Returns you keep on your coffee table. You feel you’ve been shaken to your very core. Could it be your interests were never really yours at all? That you’re not a true fan of comics, but you’ve simply been caught up in the whirlwind of the popular media surge of super-hero tales?
Your girlfriend comes over and you forget all about it.