I’ll never understand why a subculture so familiar with exclusion is so quick to turn around and exclude people. https://comicsbeat.com/enough-with-the-faux-fake-geek-girl-outrage-already/
EXACTLY. “We aren’t all nerdy about the same things & we don’t all participate in nerd culture the same way.” https://squidygirl.blogspot.com/2012/11/fake-nerd-girls-whores-and-sexism.html
Some people like Superman, others like the Hulk. People have their favorite interpretations of Batman. People have their favorite X-Men. If you like Grant Morrison’s Batman & someone else prefers Batman: The Animated Series, that doesn’t make the other person NOT a Batman fan. No more than you liking Data and them liking Spock makes them not a Star Trek fan, or them preferring the “wrong” Doctor. Someone who got into Doctor Who with Smith, Tennant or Eccleston is no less a fan than someone who got into it with, say, Tom Baker…
So if someone likes a comic book character, but hasn’t read the same 100 issues YOU have, that doesn’t make them not a fan.
Some people would rather express their fandom with costuming, or fanfic, or fan art, instead of throwing comics in a box. Again, still fans. Someone takes the time to collect enough Batman pics to post 3/day to Tumblr for a year, but doesn’t like the current books? Sounds fannish.