Farewell to Comics...
Hand-of-Omega
six weeks now. I haven't even set foot inside a comic shop, or looked
at comics on any racks in other establishments. And I feel fine.
That last statement has more to do with reasons other than financial,
I think. I was already increasingly disappointed in where I see the
current comics industry going, so maybe I needed a break. The last
time I did this was shortly after Claremont was fired from the X-Men,
when comics got full-blown "dark, grim and gritty". It took Morrison's
work on JLA and X-Men to get me back into reading DC and Marvel full-
time again. But, the more I read, the more it seems the magic has worn
off again...
With DC, I think the end for me began with Identity Crisis. But the
more I think about it, the more it seems that DC really leapt off the
ledge with Infinite Crisis. I really liked the setups of a lot of
books before that came along and "changed everything". I stuck around
with the vague hope that Morrison would make it all right again with
Final Crisis, only to have that turn out to be utterly
incomprehensible. And in light of what's happened to my favorite
characters since then, I think it's time to close the book on DC, for
the time being.
Over in Marvel...huh. This is complicated. See, Bendis and Quesada
take a lot of shit online for their actions. I've defended them, more
than once, because I like some of the things they're doing...*in
concept*. I like changing situations, character development, and all
the rest of it. Keep in mind, if they haven't taken over Marvel, most
likely the last few years would've been Spider-Man locking up the
Vulture for the umpteenth time, cracking wise all the way. Say
whatever you want about B&Q, they delivered some stories that *no one*
thought they'd ever read from Marvel. Maybe they weren't always
executed as well as they should have been, but I've got to take my hat
off to them for having the balls to try something radically different.
Having said that...Has it really made me buy more books? I have to
answer: No, not really. Part of that is financial, but a lot of this
just isn't grabbing me. And the less said about the Spider-fiasco, the
better. Personally, I think what they've done really should have been
relegated to the Ultimate Universe, which was what the entire point of
it was, I thought (a more realistic, culturally relevant look at
Marvel). As someone said, when you're trying to escape the grimness of
your escapism, then you should know that somethings' wrong...
Well, I don't want to be a doomsayer. FF was looking pretty good last
time I picked it up, and Mighty Avengers has been a good read.
I...can't recall what the last DC book I actually enjoyed was. But for
now, I think I've had enough of Marvel and DC. Unless you can point
out something really cool that came out in the last month or so that I
should really pick up...!^_^
Dex
Anlatt the Builder
Well, I won't say "congratulations." But good luck with your next
hobby. I wouldn't spend time trying to convince anybody that comics
are so good today - or something so good is coming! - that it's a
mistake to walk away, for a while or longer.
Right now I'm mainly reading out of habit and curiosity. But I should
admit I enjoyed the most recent Wonder Woman. Cleared up a lot of
things for me.
Lilith
<hando...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>For largely financial reasons, I have not bought any comics for about
>six weeks now. I haven't even set foot inside a comic shop, or looked
>at comics on any racks in other establishments. And I feel fine.
It isn't fatal, believe me. I gave them up quite a number of years
ago for financial reasons too. But for me it was because of some
other financial committments I made at the time. But to be honest,
coming into these newsgroups was my eventual relapse. It's hard to
read some comment that stimulates your curiosity without the draw back
to the comic shop. Besides, were it not for me my LCS would go under.
The entire chain. :-)
That said, I really don't know why I pick up some of those titles that
I do. I haven't read any X-title in months and I'm just accumulating
issues of Thor until the day I retire and have some time on my hands.
I still enjoy some of the Avengers titles and the FF. Spider-Man
would hold my attention better if they gave him Mary Jane back. I
can't just walk into the comic shop without seeing other titles and my
old habit kicks in. I had given up Iron Man for reasons I don't
recall but finally went back to it. I have managed to give up on
Daredevil and don't ever see me looking back.
Good luck to you. In today's economy one does what one must.
--
Lilith
Edward McArdle
<lili...@gmail.com> wrote:
I drifted off, as they canceled the comics I liked one by one. And some I
enjoyed just got lost, like Supergirl and Booster Gold. So I got out of
the habit of going to the shop...
--
Edward McArdle
argento32
> In article <5vonj5t3t3cqt3cjdrsa6onpg97f7tf...@4ax.com>, Lilith
A new comic shop and a bunch of Showcase presents got me back into the
comic game. Sadly Marvel whom I often defended gets almost zero of my
attention while I do enjoy DC comics, Mainly stuff like Doom Patrol,
Superman, and Booster Gold.
Edward McArdle
<bdfa4fe6-488e-4595...@r14g2000vbc.googlegroups.com>,
argento32 <aaron...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Dec 30, 9:33=A0pm, mcar...@ozemail.com.au (Edward McArdle) wrote:
>> In article <5vonj5t3t3cqt3cjdrsa6onpg97f7tf...@4ax.com>, Lilith
>>
>>
>>
>> <lilith...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:02:29 -0800 (PST), Hand-of-Omega
>> ><handofom...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >>For largely financial reasons, I have not bought any comics for about
>> >>six weeks now. I haven't even set foot inside a comic shop, or looked
>> >>at comics on any racks in other establishments. And I feel fine.
>>
>> >It isn't fatal, believe me. =A0I gave them up quite a number of years
>> >ago for financial reasons too. =A0But for me it was because of some
>> >other financial committments I made at the time. =A0But to be honest,
>> >coming into these newsgroups was my eventual relapse. =A0It's hard to
>> >read some comment that stimulates your curiosity without the draw back
>> >to the comic shop. =A0Besides, were it not for me my LCS would go under.
>> >The entire chain. =A0:-)
>>
>> >That said, I really don't know why I pick up some of those titles that
>> >I do. =A0I haven't read any X-title in months and I'm just accumulating
>> >issues of Thor until the day I retire and have some time on my hands.
>>
>> >I still enjoy some of the Avengers titles and the FF. =A0Spider-Man
>> >would hold my attention better if they gave him Mary Jane back. =A0I
>> >can't just walk into the comic shop without seeing other titles and my
>> >old habit kicks in. =A0I had given up Iron Man for reasons I don't
>> >recall but finally went back to it. =A0I have managed to give up on
>> >Daredevil and don't ever see me looking back.
>>
>> >Good luck to you. =A0In today's economy one does what one must.
>>
>> I drifted off, as they canceled the comics I liked one by one. And some I
>> enjoyed just got lost, like Supergirl and Booster Gold. So I got out of
>> the habit of going to the shop...
>>
>> --
>> Edward McArdle
>
>A new comic shop and a bunch of Showcase presents got me back into the
>comic game. Sadly Marvel whom I often defended gets almost zero of my
>attention while I do enjoy DC comics, Mainly stuff like Doom Patrol,
>Superman, and Booster Gold.
I should point out that I am 72, so it's nearing time for me to outgrow comics.
--
Edward McArdle
Lilith
McArdle) wrote:
Yeah, give it another 30 years or so.
--
Lilith
Joe Sewell
For me it has been similar. I had to drop everything for financial
reasons as well, but I haven't really missed any of it. Marvel was out
of the picture with Brand New Day, to be honest, although I did pick up
Avengers/Invaders for a while, until I realized it was a 6-issue story
that was stretched way too thin for 12.
What you say about DC nails my problems with things, too, although I'll
grant that things were going pretty good, as far as I'm concerned, up to
about halfway through Countdown. I've gone back & read some of the
stuff, but I truly cannot bring myself to continue rereading Final
Crisis, Trinity, and so forth. They've completely hosed up both the JLA
and the JSA, taken the New Krypton thing out beyond way too far ...
well, it just wasn't enjoyable for me anymore. So, about the time FC:
Legion of 3 Worlds finished, so did I. I *will* cop to getting Adventure
#4 and #5, especially after I heard this might *finally* be fini for
Supertwit-Prime; I'll admit, I enjoyed that story. (I also snagged the
DC Holiday Special, which turned out to be a waste.)
I couldn't even be coaxed back for a complete collection of Lantern
rings! That's BAD!
grinningdemon
wrote:
I've been generally disappointed with DC since the OYL jump...a few of
the books managed to hold their own but most got worse and none got
better...since then, there have been a few things here and there that
I liked (Dini's Detective Comics, Secret Six, Superman on and off,
etc.) but not much...and there have been a lot of story directions
("killing"/replacing Batman, marrying off GA and BC, the Justice
League of Substitute Heroes, etc.) that I have truly hated...before
the OYL jump, I was really enjoying DC and hating Marvel (Avengers
Dissassembled, House of M, Civil War and everything associated with it
was garbage)...now it's reversed and I'm enjoying a lot more Marvel
(relatively) and hating DC...though Marvel has made a lot of crappy
moves lately too (Quesada pissing all over Spiderman, Bendis pissing
all over the Avengers, etc.) so, even though there are still certain
books I'm really enjoying, I'm fairly disgusted with both
publishers...but I'm not quite at the breaking point yet...and there
are still quite a few great books from other publishers (Conan,
Hellboy, Rex Mundi, Invincible, Walking Dead, Farscape, Zorro, etc.)
to keep me interested.
Hand-of-Omega
Aside from running into some comics at Borders, I haven't been in a
comics shop in...a couple months now, I guess. And I'm still doing
fine. It's quite like those times I lose internet access; I'm always
thinking I'll go crazy from withdrawal, but, nope, I don't really miss
it at all, there's so much else to do...
I have plenty of tv to catch up on on DVR, and a few anime series I
really need to start finishing, so my entertainment needs are met! And
there's always manga...
Still, I fully intend on maintaining some presence here, for general
questions, and to keep an (academic) eye on the latest developments of
my favorite comics heroes and villains...
Dex
Scott Eiler
> Still, I fully intend on maintaining some presence here, for general
> questions, and to keep an (academic) eye on the latest developments of
> my favorite comics heroes and villains...
I think you'll find Usenet a reasonable substitute for most comic
books nowadays. You'll get your plot updates and say, "Boy, I'm glad
I didn't pay to read that."
Edward McArdle
<69f8c60d-3447-42fc...@m16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>, Scott
Eiler <sei...@eilertech.com> wrote:
I think the reason I am not reading comics still (apart from being in my
seventies) is that the writers and artists seem to feel a need to
escalate. And you can't keep escalating. (You hit the sky.)
--
Edward McArdle
Scott Eiler
> I think the reason I am not reading comics still (apart from being in my
> seventies) is that the writers and artists seem to feel a need to
> escalate. And you can't keep escalating. (You hit the sky.)
I can see how that might get old after a while. But has there ever
been a time when comic books didn't escalate?