| Author |
|
Eric Ladd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 August 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 4506
|
| Posted: 19 November 2014 at 10:16am | IP Logged | 1
|
|
|
The majority of comics have lost their grandeur and fun. I've picked up books and read minutia, issue after issue. Multiple books go by before a super hero even throws a punch or has a battle. The medium has been pushed past its story telling limits instead of contracting back to a sweet spot. I don't mind the occasional deconstructed story or the occassional focus on something minute, but those types of products can't become the norm! I've talked with people that cite Japanese manga as a supported example, but the medium is different and the Japanese culture has grown to support its manga. North American comics are not the same as Japanese manga. A big opportunity was missed for Marvel and DC to make adult stories separate from kids stories. The fact that adults took toys away from kids is sad and the health of the industry was sacrificed in the process.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2291
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 2:33am | IP Logged | 2
|
|
|
Big article in the L.A. Times today about the Falcon and Thor switcharoos and other examples of "greater diversity" in recent Marvel comics. Some things I learned:
It's mostly white guys who are deciding things like this (and making Ultimate Spider-Man a black kid, Ms. Marvel a Pakistani Muslim girl, etc.). Hmm...notice that all the "diversity" involves borrowed costumes/names.
Rick Remender seems more interested in writing Sam Wilson than Steve Rogers--which makes one ask why he chose the Cap assignment in the first place. (He was inspired, he said, by reading Jim Rhodes as Iron Man when he was a kid and was "disappointed" when Tony Stark came back.)
They talked to Christopher Priest (AKA Jim Owlsley) for one black (ex-Marvel) editor's opinion on the Falcon switch. He said it seemed like a stunt and that putting the "black sidekick in the suit" seems "patently offensive." Then he said he wished Marvel would explore real diversity by hiring more African-Americans to actually make the comics. Good point.
They do point out that they've hired more females and have a large number of solo female character series right now. That's one good thing.
Connecting the dots makes me think that if they hired more black creators then we might see some more black original characters. And then we'd have real diversity, not headline-grabbing stunts.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Stephen Churay
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 8369
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 4:43am | IP Logged | 3
|
|
|
FUN and GRANDEUR! Missing, presumed dead.
=====
Watching that stupid Marvel special a couple weeks ago, Quesada
mentioned going back to what Stan, Jack and Steve did. Making
socially relevant comics. Commenting on the world going on around
us. Those are Stan and Jack's best stories.
I don't disagree that some of Marvel's best stories were the ones that
had social commentary. But, how many books over the first fifteen
years are we talking. Today's Marvel TRIES to do this ALL the time
and have for years.
Well, I don't mind one every now and then, but if I wanted social
commentary, I'd watch CNN and Fox News. I read comics to escape
the world, not find out how the writer feels about a social topic.
So, the books contain a lot of talking, little action and aren't a lot of
fun. Forget CNN and Fox News, it's like watching CSPAN.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132261
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 5:38am | IP Logged | 4
|
|
|
I'm trying to think of some Stan/Jack/Steve stories that were "socially relevant." To the best of my memory, that stuff came later, when Stan was teamed with others, and especially after he, too, was gone. "Relevance" invaded superhero comics mostly thru imitations of GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW, which had crashed and burned but left a "generation" of writers thinking relevance -- the precursor to "grim and gritty" -- was COOL. (And that was mostly because of Neal Adams, not the stories themselves,)
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Carmen Bernardo
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 August 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 3666
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 8:05am | IP Logged | 5
|
|
|
It kind of reminds me of all the times when my father will wax dramatic of the media "pushing the envelope". At which point the envelope breaks open, and what you have is another rendition of Pandora's Box. That genie being out of the bottle sure brought a whole line of 'em out behind him...
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Greg Woronchak
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 September 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 1631
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 8:08am | IP Logged | 6
|
|
|
I think comic creators (and editorial) today are simply missing the point.
Instead of producing comics YOU want to read, why not create books your kids might wanna read?
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
Brennan Voboril
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 January 2011
Posts: 1734
|
| Posted: 20 November 2014 at 8:49am | IP Logged | 7
|
|
|
I always check the "New Comics" section of the forum and over time I've seen less and less there. Outside of JB's Star Trek and Walt Simonson's Ragnarok, I can't think of any comics I regularly buy. Most are reprints, IDW Artist's Editions, or special rare items.
JB have to agree on GL/GA - without Adams' art I doubt I would have purchased them. When I reread them now they are really way to preachy on politics/social issues. It was a sign of the times.
I wonder if some of the thrill of the old stuff was due to the era. The monster stories were during the Atomic Age - so was the FF, Hulk and Spider-Man. Radiation featured in all of their origins. The communist threat too. Today, people seem way more cynical and it comes across in the comics. Maybe I am wrong but it just feels this way.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Topic Closed)
