The Heroic Age
**WARNING: INCOMING COMIC BOOK GEEKING...ADVISE TO SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY**
So Marvel Comics has recently announced the coming of the "Heroic Age". Now, many people say it's due to them merging with Disney (and there may be some truth to it), but honestly I'm looking forward to the change in direction. However, I have a few requirements.
Remember when I said I was getting annoyed with all the "tragic" or "edgy" characters in comics? Like every new character has to be a Cable/Wolverine/Gambit/moody-emo-so-and-so in order to be likeable? FINALLY we can put all the emo/dark/edgy crap behind us and move back to heroes being heroes instead of being "shades of gray". Maybe now we can get back to the roots of comic books, which is ultimately story and character driven. There are those that say there are a few good stories out there stemming from the previously mentioned hack-n-slash characters that appeal to the generation of first person shooters and Guy Ritchie films. I'm sure there's a couple good ones out there.
Now I also don't necessarily want a return to the Claremont/Byrne-esque days of lengthy inner monologues and dramatization. All I want are well-planned out stories. I'm sure not everything can be Babylon-5 in terms of storyline and plot development - the last thing I want is a space station with supertights. However, many of the mainstream comic lines have really moved away from story and ventured into the area of shock value or pandering to pop culture (look at the recent run of Uncanny X-Men - nothing's really been "staying" until the most recent Second Coming storyline - and admittedly, that's damn good right now and VERY well planned out - so far.)
I was most upset when I realized that the "hope" had gone out of comics - that they had become too "real world" - now maybe that's due to my own life being rather drama-full, but I yearn for the fantasy and escapism of a "world where bad things happen but there's shining lights on the horizon" and people are genuinely good for the sake of, well, being genuinely good.
Hmmm, I think I see one of those lights shining off in the horizon now. It's about damn time - I was getting tired of smacking my shins on the coffee table stumbling around in the dark. Time will only tell if if's a light switch, or someone playing with a laser pointer just to mock me.
So Marvel Comics has recently announced the coming of the "Heroic Age". Now, many people say it's due to them merging with Disney (and there may be some truth to it), but honestly I'm looking forward to the change in direction. However, I have a few requirements.
Remember when I said I was getting annoyed with all the "tragic" or "edgy" characters in comics? Like every new character has to be a Cable/Wolverine/Gambit/moody-emo-so-and-so in order to be likeable? FINALLY we can put all the emo/dark/edgy crap behind us and move back to heroes being heroes instead of being "shades of gray". Maybe now we can get back to the roots of comic books, which is ultimately story and character driven. There are those that say there are a few good stories out there stemming from the previously mentioned hack-n-slash characters that appeal to the generation of first person shooters and Guy Ritchie films. I'm sure there's a couple good ones out there.
Now I also don't necessarily want a return to the Claremont/Byrne-esque days of lengthy inner monologues and dramatization. All I want are well-planned out stories. I'm sure not everything can be Babylon-5 in terms of storyline and plot development - the last thing I want is a space station with supertights. However, many of the mainstream comic lines have really moved away from story and ventured into the area of shock value or pandering to pop culture (look at the recent run of Uncanny X-Men - nothing's really been "staying" until the most recent Second Coming storyline - and admittedly, that's damn good right now and VERY well planned out - so far.)
I was most upset when I realized that the "hope" had gone out of comics - that they had become too "real world" - now maybe that's due to my own life being rather drama-full, but I yearn for the fantasy and escapism of a "world where bad things happen but there's shining lights on the horizon" and people are genuinely good for the sake of, well, being genuinely good.
Hmmm, I think I see one of those lights shining off in the horizon now. It's about damn time - I was getting tired of smacking my shins on the coffee table stumbling around in the dark. Time will only tell if if's a light switch, or someone playing with a laser pointer just to mock me.