My Lord,

I hope this missive finds you well, for I write to you now with the most dire of news. A new enemy threatens our homes, our families, our very existence.

I am speaking, of course, of that movie about Scott Pilgrim.

It is all that we have feared, and yet -- somehow, I feel it is but a symptom of a greater scourge.

"Nerds have turned into the new jocks, as nerd culture has been co-opted by the mainstream media, and nerd protagonists have been transformed into fratboy-esque douchebags.

Speaking as a nerd myself, this is not cool. This is how the "alternative" music scene of the '90s was ultimately reduced to "grunge," because it became too popular with too many of the wrong people, who liked it for all the wrong reasons."

Yes, Scott Pilgrim. We thought we won the war -- the Nerd War -- but did we? Did we truly? I fear we are being consumed from within by the very rot that felled our blood enemies, the jocks. But are we not better than them? Are we not more good and more just?

Alas, some would say no.

Oh, for the sweet, sweet succor of the times long past, when nerds found shelter in mediums that didn't feature the conventionally attractive! You know, like superhero comics.

Your Faithful Servant,
box_in_the_box.

P.S. I hate hipsters.

Quotes:
* "I'm... kinda at a loss here. Didn't you make a post previously about how catering to a specific core audience was what was killing comics and now... catering to anyone outside that audience is bad too? My head hurts. "

* "I suppose I can only speak to my own experience on that score, which is admittedly biased that I never spent several moths with my jaw wired shut because I was beaten bloody in a high school hallway by a NERD while nobody, including the teachers, did a damn thing to stop it."

*"I'M not the one who's in the wrong, in the war between me and the industry."

* "You don't like Mark Millar? Great, Kickass sucks ass. But I don't see a lot of the "frat boys" running out and buying Chew and Unwritten. Your hobby is safe."

* "I don't think you quite grasp the depths of my pessimism or misanthropy here."

* "... I'm starting to think it's a mistake to discuss certain topics online, because past a certain point, my gut gets worked up and I feel like that high school kid again. I'm not sure how you manage it, since you've surely gone through worse than I have on that score."

ETA from ilinana: Banned!