That Son of Mxy is such a rip-off bitch.

Quote:

Danny said:
...I tells ya.

A few of years ago I was all about the capes and tights. Superhero comics were kinda cool and fun and interesting. But then, a few years ago, I was fifteen. Lots of things seemed cooler then than they do now.

There are some interesting things happening in the world of superheroes. I anxiously await the second Ultimates TPB. Planetary is kinda superheroish, I guess, and that's cool. Morrison's New X-Men would be good if they could've found it a proper artist. Quitely, how I miss thee... (interesting pattern I've noticed in my examples: Slowness equates to quality). Um... what else is there? The Implausibles is pretty good (that's a comic I invented in my head on the way home from the train station today).

But for the most part, I look over the racks at the comic store and just see piles upon piles of stuff that looks like utter shit. Or what might be even worse... stuff that just looks dull. Yay, Superman is fighting vampires. Exciting stuff. Batman is looking grim on a rooftop. Spidey is cracking wise while punching Doctor Octopus. Gee, I'm glad I stopped by the comic store today.

I read the first Judd Winick Outsiders TPB the other day. It was fucking shit. Ooh, the robot doesn't get jokes so she takes them literally! Out-rageous! Shut the fuck up, Judd.

Let's look at Marvel's recently launched titles. The new stuff from the home of comic's hottest properties.
Iron Fist. She-Hulk. Captain America and the Falcon. Thank you for pushing the boundaries of the artform, House of Ideas. Didn't I watch these same books get cancelled two years ago? And two years before that? Fuckoo, Quesada. Fuckoo right in the eye.

Sigh. I used to like superheroes as a genre.

Ah, well. At least I have Hopeless Savages to keep me happy. And I still gotta get my hands on the latest Grrl Scouts TPB. Plus I've heard good things about The Losers...



I blame Vertigo, Danny. If not for generally high quality books written for mature audiences, we'd have no idea that comics can be something other than bogfodder.

I am increasingly of the view that superheroes probably aren't the problem. You can have well-written superhero genre comics. You won't get a Watchmen or a Planetary every month, but you might get a Black Panther or a Wanted.

The fundamental problem which everyone is missing is hack writing.

If most of these guys had any talent they'd be writing novels (Rucka does) or TV scripts.

You really think anyone would buy a novel by Geoff Johns? Without the crutch of continuity and a confusing cast of thousands in a meaningless slugfest, what would he have left to write about?

Even Marvel are sensible enough to give the scripts for their motion pictures to real screenwriters, not to any of the hacks in their bullpen. I didn't see John Byrne get anywhere near the Spider-man script.

Doug Moench once said in an interview that Warner Bros treated DC as the creative gutter in their house. Its where all the deadbeat writers end up, after all - writing She-Hulk and Green fucking Lantern.

Same recycled bird shit sandwiches we've been reading for decades. "JL Elite"? Who comes up with this crap? I don't know whether to blame the writers, or the editors, but the result is the same - the writing smells like a water-rotted turd that just won't flush after two weeks, and the weather is hot, and yoou're going to have to kneel over the cistern to fish it out. That's how much it stinks. Right there.

Innovation would hurt their poor brains, but it would be refreshing for ours.

Pimping my site, again.

http://www.worldcomicbookreview.com