yes. taking the time to clarify your meaning at length qualifies as some kind of obsessive fearfulness.
Roger.
that's ironically somewhat spot on. well played.
Say 'it hasn't happened' all you like.
"it hasn't happened" is really all that needs to be said for your argument to not have a point.
Quality isn't subject to opinion though. That was my point.Consider a movie with high production values but bad writing. One could argue over the story all they like, but the film itself couldn't be touched.
that's a premise based on someone establishing the writing was bad and/or the productions were high. it's all based on perspective and subjective opinion. for a more detailed example, this difference of opinion is clearly evidenced in every episode of siskel and ebert, every oscar nominee or snub, every discussion on the view, every
purchaser of a liefeld book, every reteller of the referees at the super bowl, and every utterance on the internet. ever.
Batman got a boost in sales because he got his own book apart from Tec. Batman's staying power is built on Batman. Not extraneous characters.
adding robin to the batman comic, months after batman was introduced, boosted sales
significantly. there's no debate or nitpicking here, that's simply what happened. this, quickly, defies your two points: (1) that batman has to be a solo character, when his solo run lasted less than a single year and the launch of his solo title featured robin on the cover. and (2) that batbooks with other characters reduce sales, when the number of prints doubled because of the addition of robin.
this, really, would conclude those specific points. in 1940.
By your logic, the issues that didn't feature Robin should have killed the sales.
i wouldn't make a claim that my personal preference is where sales are won or lost. that would be silly. books that i think are awesome can sell well or sell poorly, regardless of: author, artist, characters, extended families, crossovers, etc. personal opinions are not individually part of the industry's driving force, which is reinforced, every day, by... well, the industry.
we live in a world where american idol is by far the #1 show. where the kardashians are hollywood icons. where comic fans rave about captain america and poo on green lantern, but the box office is split between them by about 10%. with all the stuff continually being published or produced that you, specifically, loathe, i can't believe how that point isn't sitting with you.
as said very early on in this thread, i actually
agree with you on my bat-interests. i am more often than not interested in the "dark" stories, the solo stories. i'd rather not have any of the added family, even robin. i'd rather have a black cape than a blue cape. i'd rather gotham not relate to other, more "comic booky" cities in the DCU. i'd rather the batmobile, hang glider, smoke pellets, and other tools didn't feature a batman logo on them. but i'm very clear on all of this being my opinion, and having no real basis on how the universe, as a whole, sees and/or buys the character.
Instead of spending an ungodly amount of time organizing characters and budgeting their time according to the scenes at hand, you're just concentrating on the actual conflict of the story. Nine times out of ten, the former will be far more contrived than the latter regardless of what the conflict is. {SNIP} The key here would be having as few as possible. This, of course, conflicts with the modern principle of creating as many family members and associates as one thinks he or she can get away with and giving them all some face time at every available opportunity.
does that make the episodes of justice league and/or justice league unlimited the "10 out of 10"? or the authority's original run? the legendary claremont x-men years? batfamily involving bat arcs, like no man's land? does this de-qualify the millions (!) of batfans that
prefer batfamilies? or the obviously-numbers-based-decisions to create (and recreate) characters like batgirl, batwoman, batman inc., etc.?
these are beloved tales and characters to some folks out there, who would argue to the end that
they are the higher quality, and that 70 years of "batman versus bad guy" story lines would be on the lower end. i mean, geebus, there's a whole world of fans that like the fucking legion of super heroes. the legion of super heroes! i likely can't make a stronger argument about quality (and grouping size) being more subjective than the fucking legion of super heroes! (the legion! of super heroes!!)
The point is that Batman was designed to only have a few close family members being Alfred and Robin. And circa 86, Robin was given less and less face time. In which case, Batman worked quite well with just Alfred the majority of the time. Being more practical as a loner character, the stories tended to have more quality to them.
to you.
and, quite frankly, to me. and, certainly, lots of other folks out there. who share our
opinion.
but until the reverse is true, and the 10 months without "events" produce issues of glorious perfection, i just can't shake the notion.
I wouldn't expect perfection. Just better, more practical writing on average.
i'm quite certain you wouldn't need my help in naming dozens of bat books, miniseries, titles, and even eras where a solo batman book (or cartoon, or movie, or tv series, or video game) was shit.
I'm curious: would it have made you unhappy to have the book published as "Dick Grayson and Robin" even if the writing was exactly the same?
i honestly don't care much for what the book is called. in fact, i probably refer to it as "morrison's run" or "morrison's batman" more than "batman and robin." but, getting picky, naming it "dick grayson and robin" makes as much sense as calling other books "bruce wayne and robin," or "batman and damian" versus "batman and tim drake." grayson was (playing the role of) batman in the book - he was referred to as batman. and, again, one of the great joys i had in the book was the over-the-top obviousness of grayson
not being batman. damian noted it, gordon noted it, alfred noted it, and grayson noted it.
it was interesting to see the dynamic of how respect had to be earned, or was outright taken away. it was refreshing to see a new pairing between "established" characters. it was awesome to have the continual deference to bruce wayne's awesomeness.
you and i aren't all that dissimilar on our personal preferences, and i think you're really short changing yourself by not giving the first dozen or so issues a try.
