So let's talk about comic books.
I guess my childhood was one long, drudgerous episode of National Geographic Explorer. One of the really crappy ones, where they spent the whole time interviewing late-night gas station workers. I never got around to reading comic books a child. Which is a shame, because if I had, I have a sneaking suspicion my current career goals would be a) Avenger, b) S.H.I.E.L.D Operative, and c) World-Take-Overer.
In any case, thanks to my good friend Dillion, I'm now catching up on what I've missed. X-Men, Captain America; I'm getting there. Slowly but surely, my belated Marvel indoctrination is taking over facets of my life. I'm making sound effects a lot more than previously. I worry about psychics a lot more than I used to. I plan to someday visit Genosha and pay my respects. And you know what? None of those are bad things. Is Astonishing X-Men Nobel Prize-winning stuff? Nope. But it's still a good thing.
However, I have come to a conclusion. I think I know why comic books are losing popularity, and it's the same reason nobody worships Zeus anymore. When you get to the point that your characters are saying things like "Relax, kid. We've been offworld loads of times." then you're going to lose some humanity. Let's face it: we don't want to read about anybody, even superheroes, who have been offworld loads of times. We want them to be surprised. "Yugi! What's that thing?!?"
You just get the feeling that a lot of these characters have just seen too much. They're not gods, but they're pretty much close enough. Space? Not a mystery. Giant psychotic monsters? Mrenh, mrenh. Death? Been there, done that. Will there ever really be a challenge or a threat here on Earth that grabs your attention after you've seen the whole flippin' galaxy on the brink of annihilation...again?
The same thing happened to the Greeks. Sure, Titans were cool for a while, but you can only bring them back into the storyline so many times before the amphitheater crowd yawns and starts wondering what Monotheism is up to these days. And to be honest, that's what I'm doing. I haven't seen it all, I'm stuck on Earth, so why do the X-Men just sort of take it for granted that there's a giant alien-robot thing right there?
I probably shouldn't be so general. I'd highly recommend the Captain America comics from the last few years. It's like reading the Bourne Identity--except you've got one-armed Bucky instead of Matt Damon. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Also, kudos to this awesome guy. "I'm on a horse. Hyah!"
I see what you're saying. The inherent problem with superhero comics is that they consist of never-ending stories. It's fun to jump into Spider man for a time and see what's happening there, but in the end, it can't really be as satisfying. Furthermore, the nearly 40 years of continuity in Marvel comics (DC's at least as weird, continuity-wise) doesn't help matters.
ReplyDeleteI've been itching to read actual series that have a beginning, middle, and end, rather than just a beginning and middle. Those stories exist, and they're often fantastic, but they're much harder to find, and often very, very R rated. If I could have a somewhat censored version of Y: The Last Man, that would be awesome, but as is, reading it makes me kinda uncomfortable.