The 90's....worst decade for comics?

[kguillou]

I dont care what anyone says, i was enjoying the hell outta spawn when it first came out....then again i was like 8 years old at the time so....

 

[E-Man]

I liked Spawn too. Probably more at the time because he really was the first ultra powerful black male hero I knew at the time, so I looked up to him hardcore. Reading him now though isn't the same. The concept is great, but I think it was more style over substance. I don't think they reached Al Simmons' potential like they should have.

 

[kguillou]

Spawn was also the last new comic book hero to break into the mainstream. I guess you could sorta count Invincible, but Spawn was the last one to get major mainstream attention, plus a movie to boot. Its damn near impossible to create a new comic book hero nowadays. Just goes to show you how differently comics were perceived back then in the mainstream.

 

[E-Man]

Spawn really could have been the new icon of comics. The late 30s had Superman and Batman, the 40s had Captain America and the older(and now DC) guys from the JSA, the 60s belonged to Stan Lee's creations, the 70s Wolverine, and so on and so forth. We haven't had new icons made in years, and Spawn was well on his way to that. The problem is longevity. After his boom he faded into obscurity.

 

[Chris Wallace]

The worst ten year period would have to be the mid-40's to the mid-50's...not that this would be considered a "decade" by the standards of this thread.

Superheroes declined to the point where by 1950 the Golden Age was over, and superheroes were all but dead.

Then, controversy over Horror comics spread and eventually led to Seduction Of The Innocent and Congressional hearings. This led to the adoption of the Comics Code Authority, and the raping of EC Comics.

This unethical and shameful act basically forced superheroes back into prominence, and I don't particularly celebrate this. The quality of superheroes did improve after though by the late 50's.

Most of us weren't even alive when that stuff happened.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Spawn was also the last new comic book hero to break into the mainstream. I guess you could sorta count Invincible, but Spawn was the last one to get major mainstream attention, plus a movie to boot. Its damn near impossible to create a new comic book hero nowadays. Just goes to show you how differently comics were perceived back then in the mainstream.

The reason it is so hard to create your own property nowadays is the exact reason why Image was published. Creators wanted rights to their own creations.

There are some gems out there. DMZ, Northlanders, Scalped, The Boys, The Sword, are all great creator-owned properties.

 

[kguillou]

Thats the irony of it all, Image Comics should have been the beginning of a new age of comic book heroes, instead it was the end. After Spawn, no one cared about any other new super hero. Of course there are many critically acclaimed indie series (Scalped, The Boys, Y the Last man, Invincible) but there havent been any more new superheroes that have stuck since Spawn. Its a shame.

 

[Heretic]

Most of us weren't even alive when that stuff happened.

That doesn't mean it didnt happen. When you're talking about the worst ever period, it kind of means since the beginning. In comics, the ten year period Im talking about is the worst.

 

[Heretic]

Thats the irony of it all, Image Comics should have been the beginning of a new age of comic book heroes, instead it was the end. After Spawn, no one cared about any other new super hero. Of course there are many critically acclaimed indie series (Scalped, The Boys, Y the Last man, Invincible) but there havent been any more new superheroes that have stuck since Spawn. Its a shame.

I would say that Witchblade took hold to a degree. Unfortunately, most old school comic readers prefer Marvel or DC, and arent going to give a new hero a long-term try. Kids MIGHT if the hype is big enough, but most of them read whatever is getting the most coverage, and will drop a book if it isnt part of the newest hyped story.

Image had a real shot there for awhile. Their books were extremely popular. The problem was that the creators didnt value their own creations enough to protect them. While Spawn and Savage Dragon were the priority of their creators, the rest seemed to pump out an endless supply of spin-offs that went nowhere and shipped 4 months late every issue. That lack of quality, lack of a proper shipping schedule, and the quick explosion of the Image universe cost them in the long run. Had they focused on one or two titles per creator and really made sure that they shipped on time and were of high quality, it could have worked. Spawn, Witchblade, The Darkness, Savage Dragon, along with some decent quality books from the other guys (which didnt happen) could have still been a force in the business today.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

The 90's rocked. Not just comics. Movies, music, tv shows. Everything was better.

I'm probably in the minority here but I loved Lobdell and Nicieza on the X-Men books. Peter David's X-Factor, too.

 

[Chris Wallace]

That doesn't mean it didnt happen. When you're talking about the worst ever period, it kind of means since the beginning. In comics, the ten year period Im talking about is the worst.

Because we weren't alive then, we didn't witness it. This is in reference to a period we actually witnessed. The 90's got bombarded with a lot of nonsense-armored costumes, alternate realities, unnecessary pouches, stupid retcons, and the collector's market that almost destroyed the medium, bringing along multiple variant covers and skyrocketing prices. The following decade brought on a lot of bad moves as well, particularly the Hollywood-inspired "realism" movement.

 

[Chris Wallace]

The 90's rocked. Not just comics. Movies, music, tv shows. Everything was better.

REALLY?
Movies-Batman & Robin, TMNT 2 & 3, Mortal Kombat, Judge Dredd, Barb Wire, Steel, The Crow: City Of Angels, Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, Crooklyn. Don't get me started on how unfunny Eddie Murphy became or Whitney Houston's attempts at acting.
Music-N'Sync, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys, "Gangsta" rap, Hanson, RuPaul, The Macarena, R. Kelly, Vanilla Ice, M.C. Hammer, Marilyn Manson-there are very few bright spots to speak of.
TV-do we really wanna go there?

 

[ObakeTora]

How dare you fail to include a "II" to that Mortal Kombat reference!!! The 90's kicked ass!!! You had Terminator 2, Mortal Kombat 1, Blade 1, Saving Private Ryan, Demolition Man, New Jack City, Dead Presidents, Boys in the Hood, Men in Black, Friday, Independence Day.....

Music... Lisa Stansfield, Color Me Badd, Digital Underground, NEW JACK SWING!!!, Today, Mint Condition, Troop, Jodeci, Portrait, Blackstreet,

Tv? Yes we do!!! Family Matters! Fresh Prince of Bel Air, FREAKAZOID, Fox Kids, Spiderman! , Living Single, New York Undercover, In the House, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter on USA, Beast Wars, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, Toonami before the anime crap influx, X-men, first season Pokemon, Dexter's Lab..... Could go on and on.....

90's was my favorite decade, and I was born in the early 70's.

 

[kguillou]

Let's not forget also that the 90's were practically the era of the Saturday morning cartoons. Saturday mornings in the 90's gave you a reason to wake up at 8am, there were so many great cartoons its not even funny. From Fox Kids, to Kids WB, ABC kids, to Nickelodeon, to Cartoon Network. If you were a kid in the 90's, 8am to 12pm on Saturdays were the BEST! What do we have today? Nothing! In fact i would argue that kids don't watch cartoons anymore, or at least like they used to. Its all video games nowadays.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, I'm not so sure on live action, but the '90s was easily the golden age of animated as far as American is concerned. You had the Renaissances era of Disney in full swing, all the great animated shows like the DCAU stuff, Gargoyles, and all the great, high-end gag shows. Great, great stuff.

Though, admittedly, not all the stuff holds up that well (the majority of the Marvel animated shows are damn near painful to watch now), but generally speaking, most of it still stands the test of time fairly well.

 

[Watchman]

Back in my day women couldn't vote, all you could get at Mcdonalds were cigarettes and black coffee, and (I take that back what I said about the comics. It was the heat of the moment) . Not today with you kids and your skateboards, pagers, and videa games.

Because we weren't alive then, we didn't witness it. This is in reference to a period we actually witnessed. The 90's got bombarded with a lot of nonsense-armored costumes, alternate realities, unnecessary pouches, stupid retcons, and the collector's market that almost destroyed the medium, bringing along multiple variant covers and skyrocketing prices. The following decade brought on a lot of bad moves as well, particularly the Hollywood-inspired "realism" movement.

All of your arguments have been focusing on such a small fragment of the comic book medium it's so sad. The 90's were not just about EXTREME! but it also was rooted in such a strong want of experimentation and innovations that led to some brilliant results. This was coming off the wave of the British Invasion which led to some strong books that I've named in my previous post.

REALLY?
Movies-Batman & Robin, TMNT 2 & 3, Mortal Kombat, Judge Dredd, Barb Wire, Steel, The Crow: City Of Angels, Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, Crooklyn. Don't get me started on how unfunny Eddie Murphy became or Whitney Houston's attempts at acting.
Music-N'Sync, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys, "Gangsta" rap, Hanson, RuPaul, The Macarena, R. Kelly, Vanilla Ice, M.C. Hammer, Marilyn Manson-there are very few bright spots to speak of.
TV-do we really wanna go there?

And another

Yeah if you only want to concentrate on the **** but I'll go with TV. 90's was the age of Simpsons, Seinfeld, Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks, the large amount of quality animated programs from Saturday Morning to Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I go on forever.

 

[Mario_Galaxy]

^Yeah, you can't just take a small portion of an entire decade. I can find some outright atrocious ideas in comics,TV,movies, and other pop culture for any decade

 

[JewishHobbit]

For the record, I enjoyed nearly everything mentioned above that was supposed to be bad about the 90's.

 

[SuperFerret]

And there is where the problem lies. If you are forced to look at the entirety of a decade for the entirety of a medium (in this case, comics), you can't pick out what the "worst" or "best" is.

Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what was so "unethical" about the Comics Code stuff being implemented.

 

[kguillou]

Let's not forget the #1 thing that made the 90's the greatest era ever.......POWER RANGERS!! Even though technically it was a 70's japanese show, Power Rangers ruled during the 90's (well the first few seasons anyway). God i miss being a kid.

 

[Heretic]

Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what was so "unethical" about the Comics Code stuff being implemented.

The Comics Code was formed by the comics companies to censor comic books. Once enacted, if your book didnt have the seal, it didnt get distribution.

The Comics Code existed for one reason...to shut down EC Comics. The other publishers could not compete in terms of sales or quality, so they got together and formed the Code, which basically forced the cancellation of EC's entire line of comics. Among the rules were that comics could not feature titles with words such as horror, terror or crime (all titles on the top selling EC comics line). Once EC Comics folded, of course, that rule was no longer enforced. Vampires, werewolves and zombies (not to mention homosexuals) were banned entirely from comics BY THE COMICS COMPANIES. EC Comics based their business off of horror (and they were kicking superheroes butts in sales) and the Code ran them out of business.

Then you had ridiculous policies such as all publishers were not allowed to treat "policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions ... in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority" and "in every instance good shall triumph over evil" which limits the options of storytellers.

Can you imagine if movies, tv or video games had this sort of self-censorship? Wouldn't be very fun, would it?

 

[SuperFerret]

Which surely sucked, but it doesn't exactly strike me as unethical.

 

[Heretic]

Which surely sucked, but it doesn't exactly strike me as unethical.

An agreement made to screw over the readers, to unnecessarily limit the creativity of the creators, and to shut down a competitor that you are unable to beat through quality...and you don't think that is unethical?

 

[Chris Wallace]

How dare you fail to include a "II" to that Mortal Kombat reference!!!

Believe it or not, you're right. I meant to. I actually liked the first one.

Music... Color Me Badd, Digital Underground

Hated both of those. As for the others on your list, while I did find them enjoyable not one of them lasted. Staying power is a testament to great music.

Tv? Yes we do!!! Family Matters! Fresh Prince of Bel Air, FREAKAZOID, Fox Kids, Spiderman! , Living Single, New York Undercover, In the House, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter on USA, Beast Wars, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, Toonami before the anime crap influx, X-men, first season Pokemon, Dexter's Lab..... Could go on and on.....

90's was my favorite decade, and I was born in the early 70's.

The ones in red I emphatically disagree with. Looking back, "Spider-Man" had a really good first season despite being watered down for kids, and it just went downhill from there. And there was Seinfeld, Lois & Clark-which started out enjoyable but gradually turned into a forum for has-been sitcom actors to have 15 more seconds of fame, the abysmal Nightman, the ridiculous Generation X pilot, HOMEBOYS IN OUTER SPACE, In Living Color, (after the Wayans' left) Saturday Night Live became increasingly unfunny, all the trash talk shows-I could go on and on.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

That lack of quality, lack of a proper shipping schedule, and the quick explosion of the Image universe cost them in the long run. .

I agree, especially because I was a HUGE fan of PITT.

Dale Keown (well known Hulk artist) would come out with one issue every 6 months, sometimes I'd literally wait years and then look for them and realize I only had to look forward to 3 whole issues.