Post by Kevin Hamilton on Dec 24, 2010 23:52:57 GMT -5
DISCLAIMER: By old man I mean I'm 32.. so gettin up there in years, but ask anyone I'm still good lookin.. which is neither here nor there, especially when it pertains to comic fandom ha, this is separate from the main comics thread so as not to act as a buzzkill to those that are genuinely still excited by events, and is more a personal discussion END DISCLAIMER
Boy the way George Perez drew
Books by Romita and Buscema too
Comics cost a buck or two
Those were the days.
And you knew who characters were then
Reboots only happened every now and then
Mister we could use a man
Like Jack Kirby again.
Didn't need to go into debt
To keep up with a crossover set
I'm just a bitchy old man I bet, but
Those were the days.
I just don't care anymore. The big events that have come out over the last few years; I've only peripherally paid attention to when it comes to our longjohn heroes. I keep up with ONE superhero title nowadays-- that one being Captain America; and it's primarily because Brubaker's story throughout the entire run has been so well-crafted; and as soon as he's off the book I'm likely done with that too.
I'm sure there are an abundance of other good series here or there, and I'll pick up an issue or so of something every now and then that seems interesting, if it's a character I love like Superman, or something by an artist or writer I'm a fan of; but for the most part, if I read superhero stuff now, it's the aforementioned Cap or a standalone miniseries that has a beginning, middle, and end.
I just don't care anymore. Not to follow the main universe storyline stuff.
That's primarily a function of me being older probably, and having collected comics in some form or another for coming up on three decades; in that I've seen every permutation of character changes, death, universe shattering events etc rewritten again, and again and again. Over the years it's gotten to be same old, same old. Nothing changes for any length of time, and if it does eventually it'll be editorially mandated to return to status quo within a few years.
Ironically it's the generation of editors and writers older than me that seem hell bent on returning characters and stories back to what THEY knew when they were kids that's been most responsible for me not caring. No need to list the names, you know the players and what they've done to restore comics to 'what they were'.. and in so doing largely driven off this old reader.
Kids aren't buying comics anymore. How could they, they're four bucks a pop and if you're not keyed into whatever big crossover event that's happening and collecting the bulk of titles, you're gonna miss a large chunk of the storyline, and once the big event of the present is done there's another one coming right down the pike immediately afterward.
I know why that is of course, people still snap those up like mad. From a monetary standpoint, it makes perfect sense, churn out tons of books that seem to evoke major changes that are only transitory till the next major change; from a business tandpoint it makes perfect sense. I'm just an old fart that's burned out on the same stories I've been reading about for over twenty years.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the characters. As I said, occasional stand-alone stuff; the excellent DC animated films that come down the pike, the renaissance of good comic hero movies of the past decade or so--- love every bit of that.. it's just the main titles that are supposed to be driving all of that.. I've largely lost interest in.
And maybe it's just me; it's perhaps I'm in the distinct minority, I KNOW that by and large I'm not he audience they're trying to reach anymore, and that's cool.. just talking about what's been brewing in my fandom for years, maybe one of ya can relate.
Luckily comics as an artform isn't relegated solely to the same old/same old superhero genre I've seen deconstructed and reconstructed thousands of times over, and I've got stuff like the Vertigo books and various creator owned stuff in a myriad of genres to sate my sequential art love. There's a reason I've been collecting something like Fables faithfully for a decade now.
Dunno really where I'm going with this long-winded lil diatribe; I guess it's just an old man waxing nostalgic about how much better 'things used to be' and longing for that; just fire up the old victrola and stay off my lawn and I reckon everything will be fine.
But I can't be the only comics fan like this can I?
Boy the way George Perez drew
Books by Romita and Buscema too
Comics cost a buck or two
Those were the days.
And you knew who characters were then
Reboots only happened every now and then
Mister we could use a man
Like Jack Kirby again.
Didn't need to go into debt
To keep up with a crossover set
I'm just a bitchy old man I bet, but
Those were the days.
I just don't care anymore. The big events that have come out over the last few years; I've only peripherally paid attention to when it comes to our longjohn heroes. I keep up with ONE superhero title nowadays-- that one being Captain America; and it's primarily because Brubaker's story throughout the entire run has been so well-crafted; and as soon as he's off the book I'm likely done with that too.
I'm sure there are an abundance of other good series here or there, and I'll pick up an issue or so of something every now and then that seems interesting, if it's a character I love like Superman, or something by an artist or writer I'm a fan of; but for the most part, if I read superhero stuff now, it's the aforementioned Cap or a standalone miniseries that has a beginning, middle, and end.
I just don't care anymore. Not to follow the main universe storyline stuff.
That's primarily a function of me being older probably, and having collected comics in some form or another for coming up on three decades; in that I've seen every permutation of character changes, death, universe shattering events etc rewritten again, and again and again. Over the years it's gotten to be same old, same old. Nothing changes for any length of time, and if it does eventually it'll be editorially mandated to return to status quo within a few years.
Ironically it's the generation of editors and writers older than me that seem hell bent on returning characters and stories back to what THEY knew when they were kids that's been most responsible for me not caring. No need to list the names, you know the players and what they've done to restore comics to 'what they were'.. and in so doing largely driven off this old reader.
Kids aren't buying comics anymore. How could they, they're four bucks a pop and if you're not keyed into whatever big crossover event that's happening and collecting the bulk of titles, you're gonna miss a large chunk of the storyline, and once the big event of the present is done there's another one coming right down the pike immediately afterward.
I know why that is of course, people still snap those up like mad. From a monetary standpoint, it makes perfect sense, churn out tons of books that seem to evoke major changes that are only transitory till the next major change; from a business tandpoint it makes perfect sense. I'm just an old fart that's burned out on the same stories I've been reading about for over twenty years.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the characters. As I said, occasional stand-alone stuff; the excellent DC animated films that come down the pike, the renaissance of good comic hero movies of the past decade or so--- love every bit of that.. it's just the main titles that are supposed to be driving all of that.. I've largely lost interest in.
And maybe it's just me; it's perhaps I'm in the distinct minority, I KNOW that by and large I'm not he audience they're trying to reach anymore, and that's cool.. just talking about what's been brewing in my fandom for years, maybe one of ya can relate.
Luckily comics as an artform isn't relegated solely to the same old/same old superhero genre I've seen deconstructed and reconstructed thousands of times over, and I've got stuff like the Vertigo books and various creator owned stuff in a myriad of genres to sate my sequential art love. There's a reason I've been collecting something like Fables faithfully for a decade now.
Dunno really where I'm going with this long-winded lil diatribe; I guess it's just an old man waxing nostalgic about how much better 'things used to be' and longing for that; just fire up the old victrola and stay off my lawn and I reckon everything will be fine.
But I can't be the only comics fan like this can I?
if I got this for christmas I would shoot stuff from my fanny
