Comics So JMS and Joey Q know they screwed up...

[Gregatron]

...what?

Oh. I see. A bunch of idiots who have nothing better to do than to pick apart the discussions of others.


Bring 'em on.

You're doing something wrong in this world if you don't have enemies and critics.

 

[Gregatron]

How messed up is it when you find yourself wishing for the "old days" when comics were what they should be, when you weren't even alive at the time?

I'm 24 and I find myself reminiscing about the Silver Age. Thank God for the Essential volumes. Second-hand nostalgia as discount prices.

One of the great tragedies of my fiction-loving-life is that I wasn't alive during the heyday of the Marvel Age of the 60s.

What I wouldn't give...

 

[Gregatron]

Every era of comics has its differences. This most recent era has been full of grim and grit. Shock value stories are what sold consistently. People like Cable were shoved down our throats (look at Alex Ross's design for Magog in Kingdom Come, making fun of characters like Cable). People seem tired of this. People also are quick to make fun of the campy stories written back in the day. There's got to be some balance, and a strong sense of care for characters. That's nearly impossible today, because there's always someone else writing the character after a time. There would have to be a lot of solid and dedicated writers, who arent afraid to look to the fans for suggestions. They also have to be able to look to the material to make sure what fans demand isnt straying from it too much.

I really do hope a lot of these comics find what they've been lacking lately.

The stories of yesteryear were not campy. In other words, the writers did not wink to the audience and say, "Look how dumb this is!" the way they do today.

 

[Gregatron]

Spider-Man comics in the early days definitely usually had a more or less predictable formula to them (especially when new villains were introduced).
It's not that a formula is bad in and of itself, but it's that the current formula is a bad one. I like the formula from the early days. It worked well and didn't come off like an obvious attempt to cheat the fans.

Also, the fact that Stan Lee filled every page with lots of words that were not merely repetitive filler (it was often something said previously in another issue, but it wasn't that over-and-over, stuttering, mindless bull$hit that Bendis can't live without) makes a real difference. That's another thing Joey Q should come out and say Stan "spoiled" the fans with. God forbid you have a real writer doing several books at once instead of a an overgrown teenager who rarely ever writes in a character's "voice" instead of his own.

You've touched on something important here.

The classic Marvel character all had their own "voices". Spider-Man's, in particular, was very well-defined.

Today's creators mainly write stories as though it's "Me, but with superpowers". They give no thought as to how such well-established characters would behave in a given situation, or what they would say.

 

[Norman Osborn]

You've touched on something important here.

The classic Marvel character all had their own "voices". Spider-Man's, in particular, was very well-defined.

Today's creators mainly write stories as though it's "Me, but with superpowers". They give no thought as to how such well-established characters would behave in a given situation, or what they would say.

You need go no farther back than right after the "Other" nonsense...

.....Peter being examined in front of a room full of scientists with his mask off. Sure there were many who defended the scene by questioning how any of those present would know who Pete was from a hole in the wall.....but this defence misses the point all together....

.....it's simply something the character would never do....hell Pete wore a damn grocery bag over his head on the oft chance someone would recognize him swinging home across the rooftops!

 

[Cullen]

Good. Classic. Oh dear God, why don't they think of the children?

 

[Cullen]

I'm 24

Well that explains a lot right there. Heh heh heh.

For the record, despite claiming I had a pet dinosaur as a child, I'm early thirties. I only feel old

and gray

and useless.

I lived during the glory days of the eighties, where comics were really overwritten and damn proud of it. Good stuff. Fun stuff. Classic stuff.

 

[Herr Logan]

Spider-Man was the first to really make extensive use of (and popularize) thought balloons in comics.

Now, all we have are pseudo-Frank Miller-esque first-person narrative caption boxes:

"I hit him hard. He hits me harder. I stab him with my stingers. He spits at me, then falls and dies. Sometimes a superhero's life is full of hard decisions. But it's easier when you have a hot wife at home to ****."

Heh!!

 

[Herr Logan]

The stories of yesteryear were not campy. In other words, the writers did not wink to the audience and say, "Look how dumb this is!" the way they do today.

They did wink to the audience quite a bit, which is one of the things I found enjoyable. They did not, however, wink to say how dumb the stories were.

 

[Herr Logan]

Well that explains a lot right there. Heh heh heh.

For the record, despite claiming I had a pet dinosaur as a child, I'm early thirties. I only feel old

and gray

and useless.

I lived during the glory days of the eighties, where comics were really overwritten and damn proud of it. Good stuff. Fun stuff. Classic stuff.

You already knew how old I was, old man. Now eat your extra-mashed apple sauce. There ya go... don't make a mess, now!

 

[Cullen]

You already knew how old I was, old man. Now eat your extra-mashed apple sauce. There ya go... don't make a mess, now!

Damn it! You're right.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

God damnit...they broke up Scott and Jean and now this...leave one marriage untainted...MU is starting to look like Hollywood.

 

[Cullen]

God damnit...they broke up Scott and Jean and now this...leave one marriage untainted...MU is starting to look like Hollywood.

Um, Sue and Reed's marriage is untainted. Isn't it?

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Um, Sue and Reed's marriage is untainted. Isn't it?

We have one...I guess until they kill one of them (supposedly) right...or did that turn out to be a hoax.

...also I should mention its been revealed that Sue went skinny dipping with Black Panther...I guess we know what she likes.

 

[shinlyle]

Um, Sue and Reed's marriage is untainted. Isn't it?

Well....they're supposed to be split apart during the Civil War, from what I've heard. Nothing permanent, but seeing as how Reed sides with the Pro-registration side, and Sue is anti-registration, there are bound to be some irreconcilable differences there.

Hey, Marvel, why do you HATE marriage so much?

I must be a mutant since I love my wife and am happily married.

At least, I was a mutant until that "House of M" thing...

 

[Cullen]

All my illusions have now been shattered.

Thanks!

 

[shinlyle]

All my illusions have now been shattered.

Thanks!

Sorry, man. My illusions were shattered after I watched Spider-Man eat a guy's head.

 

[Cullen]

Sorry, man. My illusions were shattered after I watched Spider-Man eat a guy's head.

All of my illusions about Spider-man died at "Sins Past". Marvel, however, still had one or two phantoms to be dispelled by the light...

 

[LarryLegend]

Well....they're supposed to be split apart during the Civil War, from what I've heard. Nothing permanent, but seeing as how Reed sides with the Pro-registration side, and Sue is anti-registration, there are bound to be some irreconcilable differences there.

Hey, Marvel, why do you HATE marriage so much?

I must be a mutant since I love my wife and am happily married.

At least, I was a mutant until that "House of M" thing...

Maybe they don't have successful marriages.

 

[shinlyle]

Maybe they don't have successful marriages.

I guess not! I always wanted to draw comics for Marvel, but now, I think I'd better go to DC. Marriage seems to be appreciated over there.

 

[LarryLegend]

I guess not! I always wanted to draw comics for Marvel, but now, I think I'd better go to DC. Marriage seems to be appreciated over there.

Say it ain't so Shinlyle.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

I always wanted to write fer Marvel...but not if this' th' **** I'll be writin' when I get there.

 

[shinlyle]

Say it ain't so Shinlyle.

Nah....I'm too much of an optimist (suprise, I know). I think one man can really make a difference....and I'm determined to be that one man.

Unless my own comic takes off, at which point, who needs 'em!!

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Someone's been watchin' Knight Rider again.

 

[shinlyle]

Someone's been watchin' Knight Rider again.

What are you talkin' about? My life is a journey....a journey into the shadowy life of a man....who does not exist....