Romance and Comics/Movies

Over at Maili's blog, she talks about her impression that there has been a recent rise in romance fans who also like comics/anime/action movies, etc.

I've been online for about eight years, and I don't post often on other people's blogs or on reader sites. Often because somebody else has already said what I was thinking, or because I don't have the time to write out everything I'd like to say, but also because I haven't always felt that I had a lot in common with other people I meet online, including romance readers.

I know there is a lot of diversity among romance readers, but I also know that frequently, when the collective "dissing" of the romance genre is discussed, those same people then in turn "diss" on science fiction and fantasy readers. Yeah, everybody thinks the typical science fiction or fantasy readers is some dorky teenage guy with glasses and a pocket protector who has never had a girlfriend. And yeah, those guys are out there. But there are so many people who don't fit that stereotype, including me. The romance readers complain that people say romance is formulaic, and they says that's not true. But then they say they don't read fantasy "because it's all the same"!

When I'm not working or working on homework for my college classes, I can be found playing Halo, or roleplaying games (D&D, Star Trek, my husband's homemade fantasy game, and my own homemade post-apocalyptic game), organizing my cards or playing Magic: the Gathering, watching cartoons like Aqua Teen Hunger Force (the best cartoon ever!) or shows like Star Trek, Firefly, and Smallville. I wait in line to see the newest comic book movies and the newest shoot-em-up, blow-em-up, cut-em-up movies at the theatre.

I also love romance (historical, contemporary, paranormal, regency, erotica/romantica). The Age of Innocence, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Ladyhawke are among my favorite movies also.

I love to talk about all of these things. And often it seems like the traditional romance community doesn't have room for talk about Halo and the X-Men and Deadwood.