While I don't fully agree with all your picks of what's still worth reading among the newer material, Pig Iron, I do agree wholeheartedly with the thrust of your argument, that the overwhelming number of new books --the prevalent ultra-serious, overblown, pretentious style that runs through most new books-- makes me not want to support them.
As was said in the old DC message boards topic,
"Why do Comic Fans live in the PAST?" :
Richcraft, posted May 06, 2002 09:46 PM:
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Simple answers to that question. Nostalgia value (never overlook that--it keeps Nick at Night and TV Land rolling in the bucks)
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Those comic books were better in that they were self-contained stories for the most part (okay, Marvel went overboard with the multi-part story at times).
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Also, George Perez's artwork could show a variety of scenes like a TV show or film even though you may only see one eye and half of a nose and smile. Your imagination filled in the blanks.
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Speaking of artwork, give me silver age Perez or Jerry Ordway any day. This new "artwork" leaves me cold because it doesn't even seem to try to look like real heroes and villains.
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Also, dialogue was written in smaller type, so you got more dialogue and thoughts expressed than they are now. I can read a modern comic book in about 2 minutes now. That's how skimpy the art and words are. But in my youth, I could take up to ten minutes to read one.
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More panels, more words, more quality, more pride in the work. Pure and simple.
whomod, posted May 06, 2002 04:24 PM:
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I'm finding myself buying more and more Silver Age books as of late, instead of modern fare.
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My thoughts on the Silver Age vs now is that IMO comics back then emphasized a good story over gimmicks and soap opera.
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Any given comic I buy from the Silver Age, and even Bronze age, does the job it set out to do. Grab you with the cover, which usually was the "hook" to get you to read the COMPLETE story inside.
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No year-long plots inside, no Part 1 of 5, no multi-title crossovers. Just good solid to the point and brief entertainment for your money. And getting back to the cover, look at any given comic book today. What do you see?? Usually it's a portrait of which i'm sure the artist will later sell the original art over at E-Bay. Nowhere does it actually try to sell the book or story. I'd be hard pressed to remember what it was I read last month by simply looking at the cover.
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A Silver Age book, however, just looking at the cover reminds you of the story inside. Perhaps also because you have the whole story inside as opposed to just a little bit of it like most modern age books. Comic book fans seem to enjoy modern comics though. I however find that today i'm not getting nearly half the fun I'm getting from reading Silver Age books.
Dumas, posted May 07, 2002 12:01 AM:
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Well, as Bono said... You glorify the past when the future dries up.
Dave the Wonder Boy, posted May 7, 2002, 8:34 AM:
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Whomod, Richcraft and Dumas all touched on my opinion of why I prefer the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's material to what I consider the drek being published now.
The characters were more likeable, the stories far more inventive and fun in past eras.
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Now it's all about attitude, cynicism, the "roller-coaster ride" of shocking violence, gore, sexual perversion and general twistedness ( Morrison, Ellis, Ennis, Azarello, Bendis).
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Or somber, pretentious humorless overblown epics that pass themselves off as "adult" or "mature" but are in my opinion just bland and silly (Busiek's MARVELS and ASTRO CITY, Waid's KINGDOM COME, Robinson's STARMAN and THE GOLDEN AGE).
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When I used to finish a comic, I used to think: Wow, that was great !!
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Now I think: I was robbed!!
or: That's IT ?? Where's the rest of the story ?!?
or: What a pretentious wanker this so-called writer is, using cheap gimmicks, and then thinking he's so frickin' clever!!
or: God, I'm depressed. I used to feel good when I finished a comic.
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Like Dumas hinted at: When the well has dried up, you look back at when the well was overflowing.
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Writers like Dennis O'Neil, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Archie Goodwin, Don McGregor, Jim Starlin, Dave Sim, Paul Levitz, John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Roger Stern, Doug Moench, David Michelinie, Bruce Jones, Bill Mantlo, Jan Strnad, and so many others told stories that dealt with mature themes and issues, without having to resort to the relentlessly over-the-top extremes of the current school of writers.
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I still think there's tons of great art in comics. But there is a definite writing crisis. And it's made many of us pine for the days when we weren't largely disappointed with our purchase of new books.
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Thank God for back issues. I'm amazed how I can continually find great reading from past eras, even as my occasional samplings of new books continually prove so disappointing.
Of the new books, the only ones I buy regularly are:
SOJOURN (I love Greg Land's art, and the story has a lot of fun elements. But it is drawn out, in the padded, drawn-out, trade-filler modern style. The mix of humor and adventure reminds me of the Bruce Jones/Brent Anderson KAZAR series from the early 1980's. Although I think the writing was better in KAZAR),
HELLBOY (and
only Mignola written/illustrated HELLBOY at this point. The other HELLBOY stuff by other creators is overwhelmingly crap),
GROO (and anything by Aragones),
LEAVE IT TO CHANCE by Robinson and Paul Smith
the various projects P. Craig Russell produces,
The new Busiek/Nord CONAN series from Dark Horse. I like the art, and while the story is barely passable, I'm trying to give the series a chance, because I love CONAN and would llike to see it get better.
and a one-shot here and there.
Most new series I try, I read one issue, and then, with disappointment and disgust, I stop buying.
The recent FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE trade (collecting the six-issue miniseries) perfectly captures the tight scripting, clean art, clever dialogue and
FUN that has been missing from the new books for a long time.
Like BSAMS said, the point where Image Comics launched in 1992, and poisoned the well with their mindless, poorly illustrated megamacho crap, and that style became widely imitated, is what destroyed the industry.
I'd also add the dark, morose, pretentious Vertigo line of DC as the other dominant style that has left its dark machine-stamped mold on the industry. Even at its best, SANDMAN was annoyingly smug and pretentious. And it only goes downhill from there with the Vertigo titles.
And more recently, I've despised the current Marvel titles since Quesada took over. Despite the pretty art, the books remain dark, laden with rude attitude, poorly written, and ultimately, unreadable.
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"This Man, This Wonder Boy..." 
