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Topic: Is Liefeld right? Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Rick Whiting
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 22 April 2004
Posts: 2263
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 2:47am | IP Logged | 1 post reply
Rob Liefeld explains what's wrong with current Marvel superhero comics and he is actually right. He says that the lack of action in the comics in favor of characters standing around talking, writers trying to write superhero comics like TV dramas in order to impress Hollywood, newer creators being put on major books instead of developing their skills on fill in stories or less popular poor selling comics, and the company putting out numerous spinoff books is the problem with Marvel. Is this one of those times that Liefeld is right? Here is the link to the interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVBV0LM_joI
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31792
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 5:00am | IP Logged | 2 post reply
JB’s been saying most, if not all, of this for 20+ years.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135452
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply
I was about to ask if there was an echo in here.
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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1640
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 2:45pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply
I haven't bought a monthly Marvel title for quite a while, but the constant relaunching of titles used to drive me crazy. 

No action and too much relentless action are equally dull to me; it's all about striking a balance.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135452
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply
I often point to Stan’s gift for combining action and soap opera. Spider-Man would fret about Aunt May’s latest health crisis while he battled the baddie of the month.

Somehow, by the time I turned pro, that was morphing into pages of characters standing around basically doing nothing.

Some trace the beginnings of this to a sequence where Gene Colan drew three pages of Captain America walking down the street. Just walking down the street.

Stan filled it with contemplative commentary from Cap, and the fans* LOVED it.

_____

* especially fans who were becoming “pros”.

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Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 13083
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply
> Gene Colan drew three pages of Captain America walking down the street. Just walking down the street. Stan filled it with contemplative commentary from Cap <

Fan-"pros"! Argh!

How about this... 

[1] the (even excellent) exception should never become the rule

[2] when y'all are as good as Colan and Lee, fine, then work out a rare exception
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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1640
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply
When I was a kid, there was a guy that used to have a Saturday stall selling comics in the local town. He confessed to not knowing much about the X-Men, but said that he'd 'skimmed' an issue and complained that it was just action on every page, with no character development whatsoever (this was late in JB's tenure).

Even as a youngster, I recall asking him what the hell he was talking about.
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Vinny Valenti
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8455
Posted: 31 December 2025 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply
"but the constant relaunching of titles used to drive me crazy."

--

It's even worse now. One of the X-Men titles is about to end, after just a year and a half with the tagline "The end of an era!"

If it was truly an "era", it wouldn't be ending so quickly.


Edited by Vinny Valenti on 31 December 2025 at 6:34pm
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