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

[Herr Logan]

Wow. You really need to lighten up.

Lighten up, dumb down... it's all the same in this case.

 

[Themanofbat]

Wow. You really need to lighten up.

But he has a point... especially with this line.

Why is it that back when comics were aimed at younger people (and written as all-ages friendly), the material had so much more dignity and class?

Anyone care to take a stab... because I can't answer that question... at least, not at the moment, because I'm focusing too much on work.

 

[TheWhiteSpider]

I'm tired of all this.

Why is it that back when comics were aimed at younger people (and written as all-ages friendly), the material had so much more dignity and class?

UGH.

My friend, I think the real question is: "Why isn't it that way today and why does it look less and less likely that it'll ever be that way again?" Unfortunately, we know most of those questions' answers, and they aren't pretty.

 

[Herr Logan]

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.

 

[onceasaint]

My friend, I think the real question is: "Why isn't it that way today and why does it look less and less likely that it'll ever be that way again?" Unfortunately, we know most of those questions' answers, and they aren't pretty.

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.

 

[onceasaint]

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.

Amen to that one.

I feel the same way and I'm two years younger.

 

[Themanofbat]

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.

Well, I'll be 39 in the fall, and I'm very happy to have been reading comics in the 70's and thanks in part to Marvel Tales, I was able to get a good fix on "early" Spider-Man issues.

I know that stories are currently written to be in nice little 6 issue arcs so that they can be packaged into TPB's. Nice little begining, action in the middle, and an end where the staus quo remains the same... <yawn>

Give me the days where action occured, and sub-plots developped (be it single panel, or one page sub-plots). And when the current action ended, sub-plots became the foreffront of the action, and yet even more sub-plots developped. Sometimes, there were longer sub-plots the ended after many issues had passed. But the point was that despite constant Spidey action, there were reasons (aka the sub-plots) that kept me coming back for the next issue. Thus the never-ending soap opera that was the Amazing Spider-Man kept this kid running back to the store every 28 days.

Why comics can't be written THAT way these days, beyond the dollar value of the TPB market, is beyond me.

 

[Niobe]

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

...and so do we. So why the hell wont they just admit it?

So Peters marriage is what destroyed the comics? Im at a loss for words...

 

[stillanerd]

Just so you know, all of our reactions to the Wizard Interview with Joe Quesada and JMS made to Fandom Wank here and hereCelebrate, panic, or complain how you see fit.

 

[Herr Logan]

Just so you know, all of our reactions to the Wizard Interview with Joe Quesada and JMS made to Fandom Wank Celebrate, panic, or complain how you see fit.

You and Greg got some spotlight!

They called you "whiners." How adorable is that? I think I'll change my opinion, since I wouldn't ever want to be a considered a "whiner" by whoever the hell runs that site or posted on it, or however this Wank thing works.

 

[TheWhiteSpider]

Just so you know, all of our reactions to the Wizard Interview with Joe Quesada and JMS made to Fandom Wank here and hereCelebrate, panic, or complain how you see fit.

Wow. An online forum for people who.. monitor online forums. For "wankiness." And feature the results in article format.. For discussion. Still, you better give me back that bottle of Excedrin I loaned you.

 

[stillanerd]

You and Greg got some spotlight!

They called you "whiners." How adorable is that? I think I'll change my opinion, since I wouldn't ever want to be a considered a "whiner" by whoever the hell runs that site or posted on it, or however this Wank thing works.

Hey, I'm stoked that I made the "highlights" list for TWO seperate message boards! And for the record, just in case you guys at Fandom Wank don't realize, ]this post was pure sarcasm, not "whining" on my part.

Wow. An online forum for people who.. monitor online forums. For "wankiness." And feature the results in article format.. For discussion. Still, you better give me back that bottle of Excedrin I loaned you.

*Tosses the bottle back* Better go easy on them, WS. Then not only will you be considered a "drugie" as well as a "whiner."

 

[dan1]

Well, I'll be 39 in the fall, and I'm very happy to have been reading comics in the 70's and thanks in part to Marvel Tales, I was able to get a good fix on "early" Spider-Man issues.

I know that stories are currently written to be in nice little 6 issue arcs so that they can be packaged into TPB's. Nice little begining, action in the middle, and an end where the staus quo remains the same... <yawn>

Give me the days where action occured, and sub-plots developped (be it single panel, or one page sub-plots). And when the current action ended, sub-plots became the foreffront of the action, and yet even more sub-plots developped. Sometimes, there were longer sub-plots the ended after many issues had passed. But the point was that despite constant Spidey action, there were reasons (aka the sub-plots) that kept me coming back for the next issue. Thus the never-ending soap opera that was the Amazing Spider-Man kept this kid running back to the store every 28 days.

Why comics can't be written THAT way these days, beyond the dollar value of the TPB market, is beyond me.

Right, the point being that it wasn't so formulaic and therefore so much more enjoyable, simply for the spontaneity.

Joe Quesada had a business plan and speech that got a standing 'O' from the suits a couple of years ago, that said 'Marvel will focus on Trade Paper Backs,' but why that means the trade paperback has to have a beginning, middle and end is ludicrous.

You can smoosh 6 issues into a tpb that are all one-shots and it would still be just as worth it to the Trade Paper back consumers, who just want an easier way to read and organize and stay up to date with their hero.

 

[Herr Logan]

Right, the point being that it wasn't so formulaic and therefore so much more enjoyable, simply for the spontaneity.

Joe Quesada had a business plan and speech that got a standing 'O' from the suits a couple of years ago, that said 'Marvel will focus on Trade Paper Backs,' but why that means the trade paperback has to have a beginning, middle and end is ludicrous.

You can smoosh 6 issues into a tpb that are all one-shots and it would still be just as worth it to the Trade Paper back consumers, who just want an easier way to read and organize and stay up to date with their hero.

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.

 

[Doc_OCK_4MUGEN]

Hey! I made it as well! Obviously Shinlyle made it... so we're "whiners"... according to some "whiners" checking forums for "whiners", and whine about our "Whining"...

 

[dan1]

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.

True, a formula then as well, but like you said, a better one. One that had plots, sub plots and sub sub plots, that ended in different intervals and a weaving web that eventually connected them to Peter Parker.

Bendis is completely over-rated, I agree. As long as you are respecting the character theme, history, continuity timeline, and you have some form of originality, I would rather have more dialogue than less, even if it's thought bubbles when the mask is on.

Thought bubbles were huge in my book.

 

[shinlyle]

Or it could be because the abuse you guys pour on people who have different opinions makes them not want to post. What's the point of trying to have a discussion, if you are trying to make a point and instead of debating you are called a mindless follower and a looser.

Or, it could be because they have no case. What they have is an opinion, one that they can't back up as being "correct", because the facts simply aren't there.

They come on here and start up ten "What du yu think about da Iron sPidy soot" threads, and then they run off. That's about the limit of their effectiveness, and their lack of contribution to threads where the creators admit that the ideas beign discussed are flops, well, that pretty much states that they are infact, worthless, mindless, cowards.

If you have an opinion and a well-tuned mind, angry, bitter fanboys like us shouldn't ward you off from this thread.

If you are too frightened to post here, that's your own issue. It's not like we can physically harm you. Get over yourselves.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Omg they linked this post lol. I'm such a whiner!

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

I'm just glad someone else nailed Greg.

 

[Herr Logan]

Omg they linked this post lol. I'm such a whiner!

Damn right, you're a whiner! Just like everyone who deviates from the teeming, mindless masses of conformist drones. Why, I dare say that the U.S. was built on the foundations of whining!

 

[Cullen]

"Think as I think," said a man,
"Or you are abominably wicked;
You are a toad."

And after I had thought of it,
I said, "I will, then, be a toad"

Stephen Crane
The Black Rider and Other Lines

One of my favorite quotes. I try to keep it in mind during arguing points (such as with the Sins Past fans), but more often than not I fail.

I read the comments over at "Wank" and the cliche "If you don't like it, don't read it" popped up, along with "Read Ultimate instead." Both posters no doubt think themselves wise and above it all and I wish hope the illusion lasts longer for them than it did for me. But you want to talk about a worthless site.

Makes me miss "Fanboy Rampage" all the more... Now THAT was a site.
​

 

[Gregatron]

True, a formula then as well, but like you said, a better one. One that had plots, sub plots and sub sub plots, that ended in different intervals and a weaving web that eventually connected them to Peter Parker.

Bendis is completely over-rated, I agree. As long as you are respecting the character theme, history, continuity timeline, and you have some form of originality, I would rather have more dialogue than less, even if it's thought bubbles when the mask is on.

Thought bubbles were huge in my book.

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 ****."

 

[Gregatron]

I'm just glad someone else nailed Greg.

...what?

 

[ScottishFogg]

it's always refreshing when leadership can admit to their mistakes.

but for the record, i liked "Sins Past." i can understand why some people, or a lot of people, didn't like it, but it was good, classic human drama.

i haven't read "The Other" yet, though, so i'll refrain from commenting on it.

 

[shinlyle]

it's always refreshing when leadership can admit to their mistakes.

but for the record, i liked "Sins Past." i can understand why some people, or a lot of people, didn't like it, but it was good, classic human drama.

i haven't read "The Other" yet, though, so i'll refrain from commenting on it.

Nothing much to know. In fact, read Zev's thread "Five Minute Spider-Man: The Other" thread. It sums it up rather nicely.