Tweet
>For me, it's not a case of recognizing where some of these storylines are going; it's a case of being ****ed that they would ever go there in the first place.
That's kind of an interesting point....
>There's a big difference to me between some campy silver age superhero retirement confined to an issue or two, and the mega crossover drivel they push on us now.
To me there isn't. At it's core it's the same story, it's presented in pretty much the same way, and it's just as consequential. I DO hate that nowadays they'll milk it for a year to sell more books.
>$40 for ten or twelve issues of something that may disappear any month is better spent on back issues.
THAT I don't get either. If I like a story I like it; regardless of it's duration. If it gets cancelled that's a bummer; but it doesn't change the parts I read and enjoyed.
>You felt like you were growing up with the characters.
I think that's more an effect of the audience and not the books though. Thing is; the characters WEREN'T growing up. And they WERE reconceptualized every so manyyears. That's where the whole DC "earth X.Y.Z" thing came from: it was their way of explaining why the current characters wewre so different from their original appearances. And they did that retcon ALMOST 50 YEARS AGO!
We weren't aware of these changes 'cos our exposure to the characters was pretty limited. (Being so young and all.) It's only after ten or twenty years of reading that it becomes obvious; like now with a lot of the folks here.
>When I was a kid reading comics in the 70's, there was a strong foundation with all of the characters.
Yup! Marvel used to summate their entire book in a blurb at the top of the title page. Like I said before; the heroes were definitely timeless and immutable. That blurb was more than a history lesson for a new reader; it was an iteration of the theme and thru-line of the book.
That all started going away in the 80's when they'd slap on whatever was popular to add to the marketability of the characters. (How many superheroes does the phrase "Oh, he's a NINJA now?" apply to?) And even THAT wasn't new! How many DC characters went "mod" back in the 60's?
Don C.
That's kind of an interesting point....
>There's a big difference to me between some campy silver age superhero retirement confined to an issue or two, and the mega crossover drivel they push on us now.
To me there isn't. At it's core it's the same story, it's presented in pretty much the same way, and it's just as consequential. I DO hate that nowadays they'll milk it for a year to sell more books.
>$40 for ten or twelve issues of something that may disappear any month is better spent on back issues.
THAT I don't get either. If I like a story I like it; regardless of it's duration. If it gets cancelled that's a bummer; but it doesn't change the parts I read and enjoyed.
>You felt like you were growing up with the characters.
I think that's more an effect of the audience and not the books though. Thing is; the characters WEREN'T growing up. And they WERE reconceptualized every so manyyears. That's where the whole DC "earth X.Y.Z" thing came from: it was their way of explaining why the current characters wewre so different from their original appearances. And they did that retcon ALMOST 50 YEARS AGO!
We weren't aware of these changes 'cos our exposure to the characters was pretty limited. (Being so young and all.) It's only after ten or twenty years of reading that it becomes obvious; like now with a lot of the folks here.
>When I was a kid reading comics in the 70's, there was a strong foundation with all of the characters.
Yup! Marvel used to summate their entire book in a blurb at the top of the title page. Like I said before; the heroes were definitely timeless and immutable. That blurb was more than a history lesson for a new reader; it was an iteration of the theme and thru-line of the book.
That all started going away in the 80's when they'd slap on whatever was popular to add to the marketability of the characters. (How many superheroes does the phrase "Oh, he's a NINJA now?" apply to?) And even THAT wasn't new! How many DC characters went "mod" back in the 60's?
Don C.
Comment