You can skip to the bottom if you read comics you don’t enjoy and don’t want to be lectured to.
10 Comments | Posted: June 17th, 2009 | Filed under: Meta, Thinking About ComicsOK, here’s the thing. People email me wanting to know what I think about things. Not, like, things I care about, but things like DC’s upcoming Blackest Night or the return of Steve Rogers. I think it’s nice that people want to know my opinion on something that obviously means something to them, but (and God, this sounds even more egotistical than usual) I don’t spend any time at all thinking about that sort of thing anymore. Over the last year or so, I’ve started to create more than react, and I’ve opted to be more positive in general about comics, sticking to talking about what I like and actually want to read versus whining about matters that don’t interest or excite me at all. So, if you want to know what I think about comics happenings along these lines, the answer is more-than-likely going to be “I’m not.”
If DC wants to do a Green Lantern-themed remix of Marvel Zombies, that’s fine. It’ll probably sell very well to the sort of people who want that sort of thing. (I actually really enjoyed The Sinestro Corps War, but that seemed to fill up my space magic-ring-themed mega-event reserves to their required levels pretty handily, with the upcoming Wednesday Comics strip by Busiek and Quinones keeping things topped off.) If Marvel wants to resurrect a character that nobody with half a lobe in their skull thought would stay dead, that’s fine. I’ll read it in the book format because I think Brubaker’s done a bang-up job with the title, and I’ll write a one-off comic strip about how the marketing stunt around it ended up doing at a fictional comic shop because that’s the sort of thing people like, but I can’t imagine devoting any real thought to the matter unless it was my bottom line that was being affected by the whole issue.
In the past couple of months, I’ve seen some people who I thought were smarter get caught up in grinding out content about what they hate about comics, and it baffles me. Why rehash the “news cycle” that Newsarama and CBR are working when you can celebrate how cool, how vital comics are by pointing out smaller titles that you enjoy? Don’t get me wrong: there’s some reviewers whose insightful savaging of the mainstream is something I enjoy and look forward to, but they’re actually coming up with useful analysis of the medium and its trends, not pissing and moaning about how comics aren’t what they think they should be and how Dan Dildio (I swear I saw that yesterday) needs to fuck right off.
(The short version: If you don’t think you’ll like something, ignore it. Something better will come along. That’s what I do and don’t you want to be just like me?)
You’re right, it’s not worth the headache. My only issue is when the big events shoehorn themselves into books I AM enjoying, but Pak and Van Lente managed to make gold out of Herc’s involvement in Secret Invasion.
Hear, Hear!
That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask: Who would win in a fight, Spawn or Future-Spawn?
The only possible answer to those kind of questions is “Hitler” which Godwins the whole thing, making the argument irrelevant.
So, Hitler.
That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask: Who would win in a fight, Spawn or Future-Spawn?
Caveman Spawn, as they’d likely beat each other to a pulp and he could swoop in from the past and defeat them both handily.
Ditto.
I dunno, Restoration Spawn shouldn’t be underestimated, even with the silly collar.
I hope you’re not talking about this. I hate to presume, but just in case, I should say that I thought I was trying to suggest positive changes, and not just criticize how things are done.
Oh, god, no, Sandy. You were addressing the business, not the editorial-mandated changes and whining about it like Blackest Night had bent your seventh-grade girlfriend over the coffee table and was making an o-face as she gave you a thumbs-up.
But without my bitterness and spite I am nothing!!!