He might be the only Marvel character who died and stayed dead. LOL! That's the problem with being an adult fan - we've seen so darn much! Almost makes one want to leave fandom ... almost, but not quite.
It's not a conscious choice, but I'm only interested in comics up until 1976 or so. They changed so drastically at that point. Fans came in as editors, writers and artists and they mostly did remakes of what they had grown up reading. Also, comics became aimed more at high school and college age readers, losing the whacky "anything goes" atmosphere I enjoyed.
But you're right. Some of my disinterest came for the same reason I don't watch much TV anymore. At a certain point, it's just old wine in new bottles.
Fans came in as editors, writers and artists and they mostly did remakes of what they had grown up reading.
Excellent point. As a kid, I recall reading erudite LOCs in both Marvel and DC comic letter pages by people who, upon my pickup of the hobby again in the late '80's after dropping out by '67 or so, had progressed to Chiefs rather than Indians. It seems like Elliot S! Maggin was one? But the names are a little fuzzy now ...
Yup, TV is similarly affected. And when TV shows go on hiatus, one loses interest, too. At least, that happened to me with LOST, and that really was an enjoyable show for 2 seasons. Also, the time travel aspect came in which was not the interesting character study backstory part of the program. Rather faded for me after that.
There was a lot of inbreeding in comics after 1980. Golden and Silver Age creators drew on a wide range of influences.. literature, folklore, old time radio, silent movies, dime novels etc. After the late 1970s, comics seemed to be based mostly on comics.
One funny aspect of my change is that, when you had to watch a TV show while it was on or wait for a rerun, I watched TV constantly. Now I can download shows or buy DVDs or watch everything on Hulu whenever I want.. and I'm not interested. I guess you get sated with anything.
He needed to stay dead. I never saw the point in it. It was one of those things, like Bat-mite, that future writers would have to ignore, for the sake of the sanity of their readers. I was willing to put up with a lot from comic books, but I had my limits. When the X-Men got popular and every comic had a mutant in it, I said, "Well, I'm done." I have to admit, I kinda liked Leap-frog, though! The idea of a guy that dresses up like a frog with springs on his feet (boing boing boing) to pull off petty heists is just too weird not to like. Same with Stilt-man.
In some ways, I'm lucky in that I can enjoy wildly different versions of a character. But then, part of my brain is always analyzing plots and speculating about trivia as well.
Yeah, I think I know what you mean. I like the Adam West Batman but I also liked The Dark Knight. Actually, I'd like to see a Superman movie that isn't terribly depressing. I was a big fan of the first two.
Speaking of dead secret identities, J'onn J'onnz, the Manhunter from Mars, actually lost his Detective John Jones identity when the policeman was apparently eaten by a monster. He chose not to come up with some implausible cover story for how Jones could have survived, and simply went Martian full time for a while. Then he had a stint posing as playboy with sinister connections Marco Xavier. After that, his solo outings ended, he was eventually reunited with his people and vanished for a few years.
When J'onn did return to Earth, he sometimes used the John Jones identity because the writers had forgotten all about that plotline.
Years later, his old romantic interest (or at least she thought she was) saw "John Jones" alive and still looking the same as when he "died" and that caused some tsuris.
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But you're right. Some of my disinterest came for the same reason I don't watch much TV anymore. At a certain point, it's just old wine in new bottles.
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Excellent point. As a kid, I recall reading erudite LOCs in both Marvel and DC comic letter pages by people who, upon my pickup of the hobby again in the late '80's after dropping out by '67 or so, had progressed to Chiefs rather than Indians. It seems like Elliot S! Maggin was one? But the names are a little fuzzy now ...
Yup, TV is similarly affected. And when TV shows go on hiatus, one loses interest, too. At least, that happened to me with LOST, and that really was an enjoyable show for 2 seasons. Also, the time travel aspect came in which was not the interesting character study backstory part of the program. Rather faded for me after that.
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One funny aspect of my change is that, when you had to watch a TV show while it was on or wait for a rerun, I watched TV constantly. Now I can download shows or buy DVDs or watch everything on Hulu whenever I want.. and I'm not interested. I guess you get sated with anything.
Reply
I never saw the point in it. It was one of those things, like Bat-mite, that future writers would have to ignore, for the sake of the sanity of their readers. I was willing to put up with a lot from comic books, but I had my limits. When the X-Men got popular and every comic had a mutant in it, I said, "Well, I'm done."
I have to admit, I kinda liked Leap-frog, though! The idea of a guy that dresses up like a frog with springs on his feet (boing boing boing) to pull off petty heists is just too weird not to like. Same with Stilt-man.
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I like the Adam West Batman but I also liked The Dark Knight.
Actually, I'd like to see a Superman movie that isn't terribly depressing.
I was a big fan of the first two.
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When J'onn did return to Earth, he sometimes used the John Jones identity because the writers had forgotten all about that plotline.
Years later, his old romantic interest (or at least she thought she was) saw "John Jones" alive and still looking the same as when he "died" and that caused some tsuris.
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