Is anyone else burnt out on anti-heroes?

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Jan 18, 2013 8:12:13 GMT -5 darthalexander said:

When I was reading comics in the 90s I got seriously sick of anti-heroes. It seemed like every damn comic book tried to turn everyone in it into some kind of badass and it got annoying pretty fast. The 'grim' storylines got annoying too.

as opposed to the bright shiny heroes we have whose adventures feature tonnes of rape and graphic violence now

[Deleted]

Yes, definitely.

It seems like it has become the rule rather than the exception. Not every hero has to be "gritty" to be cool.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I'm a fan of anti-hero that's done right, but too often these days TV shows and movies will star people who aren't anti-heroes, but flat out pricks.

I used to joke that Skins should be called c***s, because all the characters are just that. Every single one of them is horrible, so why should I care what happens to them? Oh, bad things happen to them. Bad things happen to everybody, and it's not an excuse.

[austinariesfan88]

I kind of agree, I think when done right they can be interesting but tbh I am more of a fan of the standard good guys, Spider-Man, Captain America types.

[Hit Girl]

I'm also burnt out on anti-villains.

I'm sick of misunderstood or conflicted villains. I like villains from the 1980's who were just plain evil.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Jan 18, 2013 10:12:49 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

I'm also burnt out on anti-villains.

I'm sick of misunderstood or conflicted villains. I like villains from the 1980's who were just plain evil.

anti-villains are great well pulled off properly. it's just too many times a writer thinks "oh the bad guy's daddy didn't love him enough so he wants to kill everyone but it's ok he's justified" (see. Final Fantasy X, the absolute nadir of terribly written so-called "anti-villains").

[aka Cthulhu]

A bit. I can be a fan when it's done right. Take Sam Vimes from the Discworld for example. He's got the grumpy bits here and there, and there's a dark nature in him that he tried to keep down, yet at the same time there's that good in him that give him a heroic quality.

And yeah, great anti-villains can be made, but it's best to avoid the whole I have a sad past that can explain my actions.

[salsashark]

You bring this up a lot. Like a few others have said, I don't really think it matters -- a well-written character is a well-written character. I have limited interest in boy scout types myself because I find a black-and-white morality compass too simple and generic, but then again, I enjoyed the way Captain America was portrayed in his film, so it's doable. I would say I prefer the anti-hero more than the regular ol' babyface because it speaks more to life's truths (situations are not black and white; Batman, for example, would probably be an utter asshole if he was real), but again, it's based on the portrayal.

Jan 18, 2013 10:12:49 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

I'm sick of misunderstood or conflicted villains. I like villains from the 1980's who were just plain evil.

That being said, I think is kinda silly. As much as I'm sick of every villain origin story in comic movies nowadays being something overly sympathetic, this is really flat, too. What kind of people are evil just to be evil? In real life, even most terrible people think of themselves as heroes or good people or saviors of some sort.

Jan 17, 2013 20:43:40 GMT -5 FinalGwen said:

Rorschach is a fantastically written character. The unfortunate thing is that 90s comic writers thought "wow, he's cool", and didn't realise that the fact that he was so different from the norm was part of what made him stand out, and making every character like him was a recipe for disaster.

This is an excellent point. In all the late '80s hype around Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Year One, etc., everyone just decided to make characters dark, which totally defeated the complexity of those stories. I mean, I'd be very happy to read a book with a really optimistic character if there was enough depth to their character to justify their optimism and make them fresh and fascinating.

[JDviant]

Jan 18, 2013 11:21:17 GMT -5 salsashark said:

Jan 18, 2013 10:12:49 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

I'm sick of misunderstood or conflicted villains. I like villains from the 1980's who were just plain evil.

That being said, I think is kinda silly. As much as I'm sick of every villain origin story in comic movies nowadays being something overly sympathetic, this is really flat, too. What kind of people are evil just to be evil? In real life, even most terrible people think of themselves as heroes or good people or saviors of some sort

But a villain doesn't have to be evil to be a villain either. The good thing about a guy like Gravitron is that if he has these powers, why not use them to be rich and powerful? If I could basically be a god tomorrow, I'm sure I'd end up doing all sorts of things that would be considered crimes.

[Deleted]

Poorly written ones yes.

When they first hit the zeitgeist only a handful of writers (tv, film, etc) were creating them and they put a lot of work into making sure the quality of their characters far exceeded that of what had been done before.

Now, every one and their brother is creating anti-heroes and they have no clue how to make it work.

Its less about character types than it is about character quality and because anti-heroes are an easy way to create drama, people end up writing a ton of shitty anti-heroes

[hotshotalex]

Jan 17, 2013 21:46:18 GMT -5 @mdoggdx316 said:

Eh, the only one I've really loved is The Punisher. Definitely my favorite comic book character and the Punisher MAX series from 04 (I believe) is probably my favorite comic series.

This.

Garth Ennis' entire run in The Punisher was awesome.


He's the only one I am a really big fan of.

[darthalexander]

Jan 18, 2013 8:53:04 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

as opposed to the bright shiny heroes we have whose adventures feature tonnes of rape and graphic violence now

They sound delightful.