So it has been awhile since I’ve bought comics regularly. Money is tight these days. The wife and I recently bought a house, there is a financial crisis lurking around, and when it came to saving my hefty weekly comic book fund was put on the chopping block. A shame to be sure, but I kept up as best I could by reading a few forums and checking out the publishers official sites and browsing sites like Newsarama and others. I’ve picked up a few trades now and again but it’s been almost two years now since I’ve stopped reading comic regularly.
Well the other day a few friends and I paid a visit to our once regular comic shop. We were making the journey to see what was new and to help point out some good X-Men trades for one of our group who was just getting started down the long winding X-Men path. While we were pointing out trades and suggesting writers from the X Universe that she might enjoy, she made the off-handed comment that Wolverine seemed to be in a lot of these books. The more veteran comic enthusiasts among us had a good chuckle. Someone mentioned Wolverine’s apparently unspoken ability to warp time and be in every place at once, and I joked that Marvel should just make a new title that consisted of nothing but Spider-Man and Wolverine and just get it over with. We chuckled and sighed.
However after I said that, one of the shops other patrons, who just happened to be lurking around nearby, walked up to us and said “You joke, but that’s actually on about issue three now.” It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about, but then he walked over to the shelf and pointed down to a book entitled “Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine #3”
Grueling hours of writing must have been put into creating this concept . . .
My only response was “You have got to be shitting me.” But alas he was indeed not shitting me. There it was plain as day, selling out incarnate. Upon further inspection I saw that it is only a 6 issue story arc where Spidey and the runt get caught up in some crazy whirlwind adventure that takes them all over the Marvel universe. I also realized that the series is written by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert which are some names with some clout. When it comes to Jason Aaron I could take him or leave him, but Kubert has some pretty impressive artistic credentials.
From the few reviews I’ve parsed through dealing with this series it sounds like fans are enjoying it for the most part, even though many had the same trepidations about its selling out potential. The only real complaint I’ve been able to gather is that it is constantly late, I guess it’s taken about five months to get the first three issues out, but then again what good Wolverine mini-series doesn’t take years to complete?
Going back to one of my earlier blog posts about the death of Johnny Storm, and the hint at several more main hero deaths to promote book sales, and now this; literally a clichéd joke come to life, it makes me worry about the future of the comic books industry. I long for the days when creators were creating and building up the comic universes they wrote within. Writers like Simonson and Gerber introducing crazy characters, that when you try to think of them off the page seem to be insane, but when they laid it out in the panels and ink they brought something new, imaginative, and at the same time tried to make a point and actually speak to the readers. Today however writers simply struggle to put “hot” characters into some sort of mildly adventurous and entertaining plotline that will sell books. Or barring even that level of creativity writers seem to enjoy tearing apart the history of past creators to make use of the easy concept of “dealing with change” while at the same time being able to avoid the burden of actually coming up with some sort of point.
Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes created Omega the Unknown, what I consider to be the Pulp Fiction of super hero books.
It’s like building a huge house for a family so that you can see the family grow and evolve and spark all these great events, only to come back later and tear it down just to watch them cry without really thinking beyond how cool it will be when you snap a heart wrenching photo of them in a sobbing embrace.
Perhaps that’s a bit of a melodramatic analogy, but I’m all worked up and pissed.
With both of the biggest comics companies now under the boot of major corporate control (DC/Time Warner and Marvel/Disney) I have a gradually growing anxiety that the days of the comic industry are in their twilight. With more and more corporate involvement, mixed media with large-scale Hollywood productions, and the digital revolution at hand I worry that the days of the small, privately owned neighborhood comic shops are on the way out. Comics are becoming more streamlined, sticking to “popular characters” while letting others fall to the wayside, they’re experimenting less and less and the things we get beyond the printed pages such as DVDs, cartoons, and even movies are often rehashes of old concepts and storylines, despite how well produced they might be. The comic book industry is like a band in the “Greatest Hits” phase of their career, which of course as we know often signals the end. When the diversity of a company starts to slide people get bored. Contrary to popular belief fans do enjoy seeing heroes other than Wolverine and Batman.
Green Lantern Mosaic a series cancelled not due to sales but rather executives not agreeing with the books tone.
Although I was not around during the 70’s I look at the comics from that era and pine for those days. When heroes were aplenty, the Thing was the hot property of the Marvel universe, and there was at least a pinch of some sort of social, moral, or philosophical commentary mingled with our comic books. Of course there were a great many shitty comics back then too, but even the shit seemed to have a heart. Perhaps I have just grown too cynical about the current state of comic books. There have been several periods in the past when people thought the industry was on its deathbed. I realize there is still some great stuff out there today. Green Lantern’s Darkest Night was epic, Marvel brought back some old school sci-fi adventure with Secret Invasion, and there are other great reads among the non-hero comics such as the Walking Dead. I suppose I am just disheartened by the corporatization of the world at large and the comic book industry in particular. Back in the day we humble comic fans dreamt of a huge geek revolution, where everyone knew the names of the Avengers and previously second tier heroes like Green Lantern could star on the big screen. Oh but be careful what you wish for, for how many Mephistos must we bargain with to make our dreams come true? How many hands will reach to reap the rewards of that popularity? And how will our heroes change in order to maintain their corporate perceptions?
Thor #337 by Walt Simonson and the first appearance of Beta Ray Bill
I guess one thing I’m getting at is that each era of comic books has its own tone and general spirit, and that I am not a fan of this current up and coming era which I would dub the Mercury Age of comics, for its fast paced mutability that seems to run all over the place without maintaining any real substance.
It all reminds me of the storyline from Doom 2099 where . . . . ah hell I’m done, I’d just continue rambling forever!
That is all!
Mindless Philosophy 