Good article on saving the industry

[Le Messor]

lol 'doh. I thought you were one of the Canadians. I guess it's an Alpha Flight fandom thing... our like-minded tendencies... particularly humor.

People keep thinking that.
I live in Oz.

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No, not that OZ!

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No, not that one, either! What is wrong with you?

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Yeah, that one!

And yeah... Wasn't Loeb a writer for 'Heroes'? I got the impression that was why he's sooooo special, but to be honest, I thought the dialogue and pacing for Heroes was one of it's biggest week points.

He worked on Heroes, but I thought he was treated special before that.

But what about the manga? Manga tends to be very different from anime in it's pacing and depth.

It's more a cultural issue for me; I've found most Anime / Manga I've experienced inaccessible. That's too strong a word, but I don't know a weaker one. Less-than-accessible?

If they had done that then the first comic ever produced would be the only comic ever produced and we'd never have had AF.
Why put out an AF comic when they can just keep Byrne on X-Men?
Why create the X-Men when you can write the best possible stories for FF?

The second? Because just one series couldn't sustain a company.
The first? Because a lot of readers of X-Men asked for it.
The question I ask that prompted your answer (which, I know, wasn't clear in my post) is 'Why create three X-Men titles and I don't know how many general X titles when Uncanny, the flagship, isn't being done to the best of your ability, and hasn't had the magic since the 200s or so?'

By all means, try new titles - but don't print 52 per month. And if you must print 52 a month, try to make them 52 different ones, 'kay? Not 52 comics about four characters / teams.

Again, that's not a fault exclusive to Marvel. It's a common business fault.

I guess my 'who knows what drives Marvel' post is to blame, but I don't - and never have - exclusively blamed Marvel.
I think there's a problem in the industry overall.

But who's to say that an event comic isn't a good comic?
A lot of people clearly like event comics.

This is one of those problems; but you're fully right; an event comic can be good.
The problem isn't the comic itself; it's when you're reading along, trying to have fun in your own series, but you can only get two or three issues before being tripped up by the latest event. And if you don't read the event, you don't know why your chirpy, happy character is suddenly wearing black leather with spikes - on the inside. (When I started that sentence it wasn't a real example...)
And you're expected to not only read the main event, four-to-twelve issue mini, you're expected to read the prologues, the side-books, the front lines, the minis about the series for each and every comic the company is producing, etc...

And when companies do one per year, regardless of quality, it gets into event fatigue.

The majority of people who read buy comics now, picked them up as a kid.

Yep. And, per an earlier post of mine, so many of the comics now wouldn't appeal to kids - if their parents were irresponsible enough to let them read them. When I'm reading 52 and have to keep checking I didn't pick up A Nightmare On Elm Street by mistake...
Or somehow got a porno in my comics collection...

Comics take themselves far too seriously these days - and I'm just not seeing comics that appeal to me anymore. They seem to think that comics have to be adult-oriented to be read by adults, instead of aimed at kids but readable by adults. Y'know, like the ones that I got me into the hobby in the first place?

And yes, like the stereotyped fanboy, I whinge a lot about comics back in my day. But I can't help noticing that comics from the period I advocate - 70s and 80s - sold far better than comics today.

I've been realising more and more lately that I'm buying a lot of comics I'm not enjoying.

If you don't mind me asking; Why? As soon as something gets too awful for me to read I drop it as quick as I can. My money doesn't stretch far enough to pay $4 for something I loathe.

So... why DO you keep buying bad comic books when the writers abuse characters you like? Masochism? I get masochism, but sometimes you have to take a stand!

I blame you guys.

Hey, how does that work?

It doesn't, it just goes to prove how great I am!


Okay, serious answer?
This is why I've been thinking so hard about it lately. I'm seriously considering dropping most of my titles.
Caveat: I never said I loathe any of them. It's just lost the magic for me, and comics I used to love now leave me flat.
Reasons:
1. Misguided loyalty.
I've got, um, 'addicted' to Alpha Flight, and feel the need to collect every appearance they have, including the current run of X-Men. I keep reading the Appearances threads and thinking 'I'd have that issue if I hadn't dropped X-Men in the 90s!'! When I think about dropping the X, I remember that and go 'no, not again!'
I'm seriously considering dropping X-Men with the reboot, though.
2. No back issues.
I don't want to ditch comics altogether, but as mentioned above, there's nothing much being produced that appeals to me. Could they at least send their colourists outside on a sunny day once in a while?
No?
'bye, then.
The more comics of today I read, the more 70s and 80s comics I want to read - but the two stores in Canberra both have mostly-naughties collections. The nearest place I can buy 70s-80s (that I know of) is in Sydney, 3 hours away. And being in that shop is like being served at Black Books.

It's one reason I like the Marvel Premiere Classics so much; they're reprinting a lot of comics from 'my' era, so I'm getting the good stuff. And sometimes the bad. But mostly the good.

Oh, there are a couple of good things nowadays; Buffy is good when it's not preaching 'sex über alles'. I'm really enjoying Batgirl and Superboy, and hope to keep reading them for a long ti-

Oh.

- Le Messor
"Sometimes you have to march in and demand your rights! Even if you don't know what your rights are, or who it is you're talking to. And, on the way out, slam the door."
~ Jack Handey