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Topic: When to Stop Reading Superhero Comics Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Rebecca Jansen
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Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4407
Posted: 30 March 2020 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

When I read a superhero story I'm not reading it to enjoy finding flaws in it, I am reading to enjoy it as what it is. I do want there to be logical motives and for characters, if they don't stay true to established character, to have a reason for that. What can make something less enjoyable is if something just plain magical is thrown in that makes no sense at all. Just because it's fantasy doesn't mean there are no rules, you have the rules that go into telling a good story. Andre Norton, Leigh Brackett, Jack Williamson and others knew how to write great fantasy without having totally random stuff occur to get the characters out of a spot (at least not so often it would run things). Usually when a fantasy story fails, be it Doctor Who or The X-Men it's because of that. Analysing Galactus' helmet to the nth degree is a bit weird but I swear on the cover of Thor #226 he looks like he wearing shorts and socks (Galactus was coming down a few pegs because of that story, needing Thor's help, although Firelord and Ego were shown as very powerful).

So, if you have The Hulk crying his eyes out because he was beaten by Willie Lumpkin you can't blame the fans, unless maybe they're reading a Not Brand Ecch or What The...?! Fantasy played straight still has to have a gravity of it's own for the readers to care about it, it's not no gravity make up anything, but it is don't sweat the minutia because it is not reality. If Iron Man being transistor-powered is a deal breaker you can't ignore and you can't bring your own explanation to it then you probably just can't enjoy old Iron Man comics. There are lots of modern era superhero comics I know I can't enjoy so I don't buy them or even try and read them usually. If someone else enjoys them great, if there are actually enough to support their continuing that is.

Edited by Rebecca Jansen on 30 March 2020 at 6:59pm
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Rebecca Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4407
Posted: 30 March 2020 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

I did pretty much quit reading superhero comics for a couple of decades around when I was 19-20. The last things I still followed regularly I think were Zot, Swamp Thing, Moonshadow and Starstruck. I would dip back in now and then for Bone, Love & Rockets/Neat Stuff/Hate/Eightball for an issue or two, catching up on Elfquest post the original story, any new Dave Stevens Rocketeer, Xenozoic Tales (Cadillacs & Dinos)...
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Michael Penn
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Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12406
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 6:32am | IP Logged | 3 post reply


 QUOTE:
Lifelong reader over here...


Your bona fides as the best kind of reader have, in my
opinion, been demonstrated time and again on the JBF,
Wallace. :)

But I'm curious if you have also been a lifelong
buyer/collector?
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Tony Marin
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Joined: 28 August 2018
Posts: 96
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 7:30am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I think the thing that made me stop reading comics was the the overly long story arcs with no payoff. The whole written for trade thing is ok once in a blue moon but it makes for a really boring read most of the time. Oh,  and there was that FF issue that Mark Millar wrote where Johnny Storm was interrupted from having a threesome with 2 female cosplayers dressed as Storm and Scarlet Witch I think. That pretty much showed me that this stuff had left me behind now and was meant  for I don’t know who.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 8:21am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

That pretty much showed me that this stuff had left me behind now and was meant for I don’t know who.

•••

Overaged fanboys who are embarrassed to still be reading comics and want to be able to show that those comics are not “kid’s stuff”.

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Bill Collins
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Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11245
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 9:11am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

The Wasp/Hank Pym shrunken cunnilingus scene in an
Avengers comic, put me off. I`m no prude, but that was
just inappropriate.

Just buy the odd digital back issue or new title
nowadays. Not the numerous titles a month i used to.
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Ben Herman
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 01 March 2020
Location: United States
Posts: 113
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 9:14am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Oh,  and there was that FF issue that Mark Millar wrote where Johnny Storm was interrupted from having a threesome with 2 female cosplayers dressed as Storm and Scarlet Witch I think.

•••

You're serious? This actually happened? Oy vey!

This sounds like one of those incredibly stupid ideas that if nearly any other writer had suggested it they would swiftly get shown the door by editorial, but since a "hot" and "superstar" writer like Mark Millar suggested it they eagerly rubber-stamped it to keep him happy.

See also most of the super-hero stuff written by Kevin Smith. When I heard about the nonsense he got away with in Batman: The Widening Gyre my reaction was a really sad, frustrated facepalm. Again, if nearly anyone else had tried to do any of that crap in their work, DC Comics would have laughed them out of the office. But because it was famous celebrity movie director Kevin Smith who pitched it, they gave him carte blanche to use all his ridiculous ideas.


Edited by Ben Herman on 31 March 2020 at 9:15am
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Tony Marin
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Joined: 28 August 2018
Posts: 96
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 9:30am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

It’s just so sad. Every now and then  I’ll see what’s happening in say, Batman, and it’s nothing but navel gazing. Always about him having some sort of nervous breakdown or being deconstructed. Remember when it was just about him fighting a great rogues gallery and solving crimes? Now they ask questions like why a rich guy is beating up poor people. They’ve really taken the fun out of these characters. What they’ve done to poor Superman is just as bad now.
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Wallace Sellars
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Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17659
Posted: 31 March 2020 at 9:34am | IP Logged | 9 post reply


 QUOTE:
But I'm curious if you have also been a lifelong
buyer/collector?


My dad got me comics as a kid, and when I was old enough, I bought them myself. So if we disregard those years when I was too young to read (or buy them myself), I'd consider myself a lifelong buyer. I don't call myself a collector, though I do still have several long boxes in the attic.
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Shawn Kane
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Joined: 04 November 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 3239
Posted: 01 April 2020 at 6:39am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

I still buy comics on a weekly basis. I quit reading from '95-'01 but I was still browsing at Waldenbooks and Books-A-Million to try and find something to bring me back. When I got back into comics, I could afford many of the old comics that I want. My new comics list is small but there are still many back issues to buy and re-read!
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Craig Earl
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Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1204
Posted: 10 April 2020 at 5:29am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

For me, it all comes down to the story. If it's good, it doesn't matter if it's horror, crime, war, western or superhero. I've had some real enjoyment from reading a lot of superhero comics lately.

Problem is, they are all from 35 years ago... 
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Tony Marin
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 28 August 2018
Posts: 96
Posted: 10 April 2020 at 7:01am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Part of me hopes after this stopping of new comics might give the powers that be time to rethink what they're doing. Everything seemed to be selling so poorly before this pandemic was even here I think they'd be better off stopping all the storylines they're working on and just restart all the universes from scratch. Just relaunch everything from the beginning without any link to past storylines or explanations as to what happened. Give us the iconic characters back without all the barnacles and multiple versions that have been diluting them for so very long now. It's not like there are many readers out there that would notice now, even the longtime fanboys are jumping ship. Just Man of Steel the entire line. It's probably too late even for that drastic measure anyway.
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