Are late 70s and 80s comics better or worse than comics of the 00s??

[Super Mark]

The writing was better in the 80's, but the art is so much better now.

Though there are definitely expceptions, you may, in general, be right!
Mark

 

[Anubis]

I'm not gonna sit here and try and guess what the guy was thinking. As a whole, DC, Marvel, Indy publishing, Image, etc, is far better. If were just talking Marvel then, no. No it's not. Not better than the 80's at least.

 

[Speedball]

I don't they are worse or better, just WAY cheesier.

 

[Kevin]

the first thing i would say is DIFFERENT, comics now and then are DIFFERENT. the second is that for me, the 60's suck. it's just so hard to read that stuff without wanting to stab yourself in the eyes... moving on, a comic like the Amazing Spider-man was best in the mid 70's-all 80's. even some of the 90's stuff was cool... up until, like, i think '94. the clone saga then final chapter kinda killed it completely and he's still not the same today. anyway, comics today are cool depending on what the comic is

 

[echostation]

I wrote in the question text in the second paragraph, "so for all of you out there who are big marvel fans"

I thought it was pretty much obvious from that

Guess I should be even more obvious and even more obviously written MARVEL in the subject matter despite mentioning it in the text itself and putting it in the Marvel forum

I would've put it in Misc comics otherwise

 

[Sparta*]

The old classic comics to me are better than the modern

Agreed

 

[iloveclones]

I love the comics I grew up with, in the 70s and 80s, and if you really pushed me, that's what I would pick. I would choose Byrne/Claremont X-Men, Miller DD, early Perez Avengers, Byrne's FF and Spidey from around 120-200 over any of their later incarnations. The stories were more connected, the continuity tighter. The Night Gwen Stacy Died, Dark Phoenix Saga, God Loves Man Kills, Elektra, Korvac Saga, Days of Future Past. All mammoth stories that came out of that era.

BUT, that being said, I love what's coming out now. And I agree with Elijya that people approach it with a better appreciation/knowledge/application of the craft. And in my opinion, Marvel hasn't been this good since the 80s. And I think the comics industry as a whole, creatively if not financially, may be the healthiest it's ever been.

My own personal theory is that the era that you began reading will always be your favorite. It's what hooked you, and you have an emotional attachment. I've dutifully read all the early 60s Marvels, and some of them are a real chore. So I can understand younger guys feeling the same way about the 70s or 80s.

So to sum up: it's all good.

 

[UK_Stu]

Maybe I remember them through rose-tinted spectacles, but for me the 70s and 80s comics were better then what we have now. I started reading comics in the late 70s and always look back with fond memories.

Whenever I dig back issues out or read a TPB, I'll admit the artwork isn't as good as I remember it, but what I do notice is the attention to detail. Comics in the 70s and 80s had sub plots, little things which ran in the background for months until they appeared as the main storyline. Writers seemed to care about continuity a little more and weren't forced to write stories designed to be TPB length. And footnotes, and speech bubbles...

 

[echostation]

can someone please recommend what would be good reading for now a days comcis... I really don't have all that much money so would mainly like to stick to one or two series tops instead of buying a whole bunch that people here seem to do, i can't afford that, but I am interested in getting back into comics, just don't know what would be the best one to get into, any recommendations? Specifically MARVEL... I don't read DC.

Like I loved stuff like the FIRST Marvel Secret wars, not the second, but a lot of the stuff that dealt with X-men and Avengers against galactic conflicts... esp the X-men and the Shiaar and obv the whole Phoenix saga

are there any recommendations of solid comics out there that are of this sorta quality, as in lots of cool good adventure with well thought out storylines.. what i can't stand is constant talkie talkie crap or just ultra violence for the sake of gratuitous stupid violence

 

[Deathlok2001]

The old classic comics to me are better than the modern

The 1970s Marvel & DC era was the best ever! Dc had all those earths, which was really an early verison of Marvels Ultimate line.

 

[The Batman]

marvel comics were a hell of alot better in the 70's and 80's.

 

[Elijya]

can someone please recommend what would be good reading for now a days comcis... I really don't have all that much money so would mainly like to stick to one or two series tops instead of buying a whole bunch that people here seem to do, i can't afford that, but I am interested in getting back into comics, just don't know what would be the best one to get into, any recommendations? Specifically MARVEL... I don't read DC.

Like I loved stuff like the FIRST Marvel Secret wars, not the second, but a lot of the stuff that dealt with X-men and Avengers against galactic conflicts... esp the X-men and the Shiaar and obv the whole Phoenix saga

are there any recommendations of solid comics out there that are of this sorta quality, as in lots of cool good adventure with well thought out storylines.. what i can't stand is constant talkie talkie crap or just ultra violence for the sake of gratuitous stupid violence

sure, here, lemme give you a couple of suggestions and you pick what sounds good to you:

She-Hulk - funny, and the best use of Continuity on the stands today. Plus, you'll actually feel that you bought $2.99 worth of comic. Dan Slott is Marvel's best writer right now, because he actually remembers everything that's come before (hehe, here, read this strip about him http://yearone.spiderspawn.com/index.php?comic_id=305 ). She-Hulk is a lawyer and she's now working for a law firm that deals with superhuman cases. So there's stuff like a ghost appearing at his own murder trial, the Constrictor suing Hercules for assault, fun stuff like that
two pages from the series:
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=page1&issue=73746978705 4
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=page2&issue=73746978705 4

Runaways & Young Avengers - both extremely fun titles. These books are what the New Warriors were in the early 90s, or what the X-Men were in the early 80s. They'rehaving a 4-issue team-up miniseries that starts this month that would be a good place for you to check both teams out.
cover galleries for both titles:
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=70391594988&snumber=1
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=99410907980&snumber=1


Civil War - Gorgeous art, intriguing plot, great action. Only 2 issues in and lasts for 7, so easy to jump onto. It's the most important thing going on in the MU right now, so if you want to catch up, this is the place to be.
cover gallery:
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=17110090947&snumber=1

Marvel Team-Up - just like the classic title, it's just about having tons of fun with lots of different characters and watching them bounce off each other. Good amounts of action, too. An example of a recent arc entitled "League of Losers": A villain from the future comes back to conquer the present and with advanced knowledge wipes out most of the major heroes. But he doesn't have files on any of the d-list characters and assumes they'll be no threat. So it's up to guys like Speedball, Darkhawk, and Terror Inc. to set things right.
Cover gallery (and also you can read the first three pages of most issues):
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=52021726214&snumber=1

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

If she gets relaunched, may wanna check out Spider-Girl. Current run's about to end with #100 but there's been talk of a vol. 2. It's the best Spidey you'll get these days.

 

[Anubis]

Oh and don't forget that Spidey/Human Torch mini Dan Slott did. That's classic Spidey goodness.

 

[Themanofbat]

^ ditto

I appreciate the old stuff, sure, but there's very little of it I can actually read. Today's comics are 100% enjoyment for me, though. The execution is just 1,000 times better and more exciting.

It's absolutely mind-boggling to me how you can't read stuff like the original Byrne/Claremont X-Men run, or ASM from issues 120 to 250 (with few exceptions), or Byrne's FF run, or Miller's DareDevil, or Wolfman/Perez's Teen Titans, etc...

And how you find the nice & tidy begining/middle/end format of today's 6 issue arc 1000 times better executed than an on-going soap opera that was the comic storytelling style of the 70's is beyond me.

And even though today's artists mat be better as far as ability to draw, I find they lack in the ability to tell a story with their art... something that yesteryear's artists were a lot better at.

And maybe it's just my jaded self speaking here, but with very few exceptions, today's creators appear to not care about their craft like they did in the 70's. Very few creators today properly research their stories... Busiek & Slott are two that come to mind that actually do their jobs properly.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I thought we were talking about the really old stuff. Miller's DD was good, I enjoyed the Dark Phoenix Saga when I read it a couple of years ago a lot, and I loved the older Spidey stuff. It's only when I go way back to the early '60s that things start to get wonky, with the chapters within a single issue and the goofy, self-contained stories with one-off villains.

 

[Zeu]

Talk Civil War to me, I´m completelly oblivious to it.

Ironman wants Superhero registration, Cap doesn´t.

Other than that, imagine that I don´t regularly buy neither Ironman or Cap and don´t plan to.

Would I miss HUGE lumps of plot like I did with Infinite Criss by sticking to the main title?

 

[Anubis]

....What did you do? Just pick a random thread to ask this question in?

 

[Genesis 1.0]

^ ditto

I appreciate the old stuff, sure, but there's very little of it I can actually read. Today's comics are 100% enjoyment for me, though. The execution is just 1,000 times better and more exciting.

Same sentiment here. I value the 70's - 80's work as classics, they laid the groundwork for what we have today. It was the passion and pride they placed in this work that ensured that we still have these titles to read today. That being said, simply being first or being older, doesn't automatically make things 'better' than what comes after. Perfect example, I love the NBA's Dr. J era and I know that's what people are held up to, but does that mean I think J could demolish the guys in the leauge today? No.

You can't discard the past as dated and you can't write the stuff today as souless. The Stan Lee's of that era didn't write these characters to stay at Square 1, they wrote them so they could progress and evolve. It's what they're supposed to do, relate to the people of today while still being able to appeal to your more 'old school' people and the readers of tommorow that'll class today's work as 'old school' to what they have then. To me, 'better' is too relative when you're weighing something on this scale. I prefer to think of the 70's & 80's material as Legendary and today's stuff as Legends in the making. Still some kinks to work out and some screws missing, but by no means was everything from 1970 - 1980 perfect.

On a whole, I don't see 'better' so much as I see 'different'. Comics have changed as much as the people writing them. Change by nature is viewed as 'better' or 'worse' which is relative. Personally, I'd prefer today's Captain America to his older stuff. I'd take Bryne's X-Men to 2004-2005's. The themes and storylines of those days seem more 'campy' as someone said, because that's what those times were, that was the pitch. I think there's a nice balance at the moment, and more importantly, I still enjoy reading my comics. When I stop enjoying what's published, then I stop reading, then somebody's gone a f*&^%#$ up.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

We don't really know whether todays artists are any better than those of the 60's and 70's. In those days artists were constrained by the printing tech of the time. Artists had to draw the stories in a manner that the printing tech could reproduce.

 

[Jlandsw]

I haven't read a single issue of any new comic recently since I'd say about 2002, really it's been that long, the only thing I ever do sometimes to catch up in general is to read some of the spoiler summaries that are so well given here on these forums... I used to read much older comics

I was wondering for all of you out there who are big marvel fans, do you think comics of the mid 70s and the 80s are much better or much worse than comics of say the past 4-5 years? The only ones I ever read were from way back when and I thoroughly enjoyed them but I don't know how good or bad current comics are.

I'm purposely leaving the 90s out of this cuz i feel that's a separate topic...

IMO it depends, the artwork is better now. But the stories were better then. I love old school Spider-man and X-Men. But I do like the recent Emma Frost comics!!

 

[roach]

I think with old school comics like X-men or Spider-man they were pretty much to an extent allowed to do whatever they want on the books. No one was dictating(from what I know) what to do on the books.

 

[Silver Sable]

I believe comics from the 70's- mid 90's were better

 

[spiderwasp]

There are exceptions of course (Such as Young Avengers and She-Hulk) but I definately prefer the earlier years. I think things got out of control in the 90s. The universe was much smaller in the 60s and 70s and developments meant something. In the 90s, popular characters starting appearing in multiple books every month and popular teams starting splitting into branches. So many new characters have been introduced that it has become too much and so many "events" have happened that most of them don't seem very important any more. The challenge now isn't just to tell a good story and develop characters, it is to do something that will shock everybody. I think if Marvel had kept one Spider-man book, one or two books about mutants and so forth, we would all still be much more enthralled with them. On the other hand, I was one of those people who was devouring most of what Marvel was putting out in the early 90s so I guess I must share the blame.

 

[Ben Urich]

The old stuff is great for what it is: harmless fun. It was a lot more carefree back then. Reading the Superman in the Fifties trade is such a trip because the stories are so awful that they're just laugh-out-loud fun. And I like that.
I think comparing the 50s and 60s books to today's books is like comparing apples to baby wolverines. Doesn't make sense.
The 80s stuff I've read is a lot better than what comes out today: Watchmen, DKR, etc.
The 90s get a bad rap because of all the gimmicky marketing bull**** that damn near ruined the industry, but we can't forget that the 90s saw the Sandman, Transmetropolitan, etc. More hit than miss for me.
The 00s aren't over yet, but they've been... interesting. Both companies have shown flashes of brilliance (DC's Crises, Marvel's 1602) and idiocy (DC cancelling Gotham Central, Marvel's Trouble and Spider-Man's unmasking). It'll be interesting to see how the decade ends.

TMOB, I find Claremont's X-Men to be unreadable. No one thinks in complete paragraphs like that. The stories themselves are okay, but the dialogues/monologues... ick