I found this at a thread in the Oddball Comics section at the CBR Forums. Buzz makes a good point:
Quote: Buzz Dixon said (at CBR Forums): Y'know, some things are just...over.
LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND was a classic example of the American comic strip.
It's over.
WHIZ comics and the affiliate Marvel Family titles were great super-hero comics.
They're over.
THE SHADOW was the great pulp magazine and/or radio show ever.
It's o.v.e.r.
There's nothing wrong with having fond nostaligia for the things that entertained us as kids, or to recognize worthy accomplishments of the past. Old material and old art forms can still be entertaining to modern audiences.
But they're over.
Nothing lasts forever; everything has a life cycle. Some intellectual properties can stay fresh for a long, long time and stage effective comebacks before fading away.
But sooner or later they're all over.
This is especially true for visual and musical media (print and dramatic media has an advantage; a good concept, strong characters can keep a property going in ancillary venues long after the original property in the original medium is passe' viz TARZAN and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA). Case in point: I love Laurel and Hardy, I think they're the funniest comedy duo in history, but they are over. Anybody who discovers them today discovers them as celluloid fossils, not as vibrant contemporary performers.
Bugs had a long run.
But he's over. Everybody has seen every Bugs Bunny cartoon they want to see; there is nothing new to be said in the Bugs Bunny universe. Nobody is looking for new Bugs material -- they're looking for FRUITS BASKET and GET FUZZY and KIM POSSIBLE (and some of those may have already started their inevitable declines but that fact won't be obvious for a few months or years yet).
I'm not saying this to be cold or indifferent: You're talking to somebody who considers himself a historian and connisseur of pop cultre and I dearly love silent movies, 1950s West coast jazz, Republic serials, Merrie Melodies, MGM musicals, and George Pal sci-fi movies.
But they're over.
I begrudge no one their pleasure. But some things are just plain ol' over and no amount of fond memories of wishful executive thinking will ever bring them back.
I wonder whether this thought ever crosses the minds of the editors at DC and Marvel in regards to their more antiquated properties?
