Comic Books
I read comic books.
Yes, I read comic books. Enough so that my wife and I have a pull-subscription at our local shop. I get between 5 and 7 titles each month, depending upon mini-series or one-offs or just freaking rare issues (e.g., Planetary #27, which took something like 2 YEARS to come out after #26).
I buy nothing from Marvel that isn't a European mini-series reprint, because I know Marvel had nothing to do with the writing on those and as they are only 3-5 issues each, it limits the amount of money I have to give to Marvel.
I used to read every title Marvel used to put out, up until 1986, when the Mutant Massacre storyline ran. I started dropping Marvel titles at that point. By 1988, the end of my second year in college, I had dropped everything Marvel put out. The art had dropped off and the storylines became more about setting up the next big fight rather than actual character interaction. And let's not talk about the Big Boobs era in the 90's.
Right now, virtually everything I read (comic book-wise) comes from Dark Horse or one of the other small presses. The artwork is consistently good and the stories are actual stories. And the heroes are heroes.
This morning I spent time looking through Marvel Previews #75. It's their advertisement book on upcoming material, showcasing what's going on in their titles and where things are going. It's their way to entice stores and readers into ordering their material.
For me, it was the biggest and best argument against ever buying anything they ever put out ever again.
Everything was either a "shocking betrayal", a "shocking plot twist", a "shocking conclusion", or the start of a war. Not a fight, a war. There don't seem to be any fights in the Marvel universe, only war. (Have they been cribbing notes from Games Workshop?) War against the Asgardians, war against the Olympians, war against anyone and everything.
(BTW, those quotes above are actual quotes, not paraphrases that I'm trying to draw attention to.)
I've been buying and reading my own comics since the late 70's and read the (remaining) collection of my dad (covering the end of the Golden Age) and that of one of my uncles (covering the beginning of the Silver Age, including Fantastic Four #1). So I have a sense of history of comic books and the changes that have happened over time. It wasn't all art and some of it was downright silly (thank you Comics Code Authority). What I remember most is stories and character development.
Do I want comics without conflict, where everything is happy and nice? Hell no. I read Usagi Yojimbo, a samurai comic with deaths in it, and all the Hellboy-related comics, which are almost by definition dark stories. But none of what I currently read has combat for combat's sake (except maybe Groo, and then it's to make a specific point about what an idiot Groo is). Everything in Marvel Preview emphasizes the fact that there is combat, not conflict, but combat and it's gonna get ugly before it's over-style of combat at that. And EVERY title is like that.
Want kids to freak about what their kids are reading? Give them Marvel Preview, any issue. That aught to do it. Heck, I no longer want to even look at their stuff, let alone pay money for it.
That's it for now. Later!
Yes, I read comic books. Enough so that my wife and I have a pull-subscription at our local shop. I get between 5 and 7 titles each month, depending upon mini-series or one-offs or just freaking rare issues (e.g., Planetary #27, which took something like 2 YEARS to come out after #26).
I buy nothing from Marvel that isn't a European mini-series reprint, because I know Marvel had nothing to do with the writing on those and as they are only 3-5 issues each, it limits the amount of money I have to give to Marvel.
I used to read every title Marvel used to put out, up until 1986, when the Mutant Massacre storyline ran. I started dropping Marvel titles at that point. By 1988, the end of my second year in college, I had dropped everything Marvel put out. The art had dropped off and the storylines became more about setting up the next big fight rather than actual character interaction. And let's not talk about the Big Boobs era in the 90's.
Right now, virtually everything I read (comic book-wise) comes from Dark Horse or one of the other small presses. The artwork is consistently good and the stories are actual stories. And the heroes are heroes.
This morning I spent time looking through Marvel Previews #75. It's their advertisement book on upcoming material, showcasing what's going on in their titles and where things are going. It's their way to entice stores and readers into ordering their material.
For me, it was the biggest and best argument against ever buying anything they ever put out ever again.
Everything was either a "shocking betrayal", a "shocking plot twist", a "shocking conclusion", or the start of a war. Not a fight, a war. There don't seem to be any fights in the Marvel universe, only war. (Have they been cribbing notes from Games Workshop?) War against the Asgardians, war against the Olympians, war against anyone and everything.
(BTW, those quotes above are actual quotes, not paraphrases that I'm trying to draw attention to.)
I've been buying and reading my own comics since the late 70's and read the (remaining) collection of my dad (covering the end of the Golden Age) and that of one of my uncles (covering the beginning of the Silver Age, including Fantastic Four #1). So I have a sense of history of comic books and the changes that have happened over time. It wasn't all art and some of it was downright silly (thank you Comics Code Authority). What I remember most is stories and character development.
Do I want comics without conflict, where everything is happy and nice? Hell no. I read Usagi Yojimbo, a samurai comic with deaths in it, and all the Hellboy-related comics, which are almost by definition dark stories. But none of what I currently read has combat for combat's sake (except maybe Groo, and then it's to make a specific point about what an idiot Groo is). Everything in Marvel Preview emphasizes the fact that there is combat, not conflict, but combat and it's gonna get ugly before it's over-style of combat at that. And EVERY title is like that.
Want kids to freak about what their kids are reading? Give them Marvel Preview, any issue. That aught to do it. Heck, I no longer want to even look at their stuff, let alone pay money for it.
That's it for now. Later!