Comic Book Dorks Unite!

[DuchessOfDork]

The summary of that pilot made me so sad. Is it really that hard to write for Wonder Woman? It's such an easy gaddamn premise. Even if it were of Xena-like production quality, it would STILL be acceptable!

 

[Orion Crystal Ice]

Marvel is my preference, all of my favorites are there (Moon Knight, Quasar, Elektra, Cap..) and though they've certainly got some garbage characters in the ranks, as a whole I feel like their characters are more well-rounded, believable (take that with a grain of salt, it is comics), and less forced then that of DC. The best arcs and crossovers (e.g. Moon Knight 'The Bottom', Iron Fist 'Seven Capital Cities of Heaven', Annihilation + Annihilation Conquest, the S.H.I.E.L.D. ongoing, etc) beat anything out there. What I HATE is how a few characters, Wolverine comes to mind, are so ridiculous now I hold no enjoyment in them. His healing factor is so great, he can't even hardly be killed anymore, and he wouldn't be anyway, because despite being a rough Canuck he knows a billion languages and fighting styles, oh, and he's in half the books Marvel puts out in a month's time. I also can't stand how death means next to nothing in the MU anymore......... The writing has stepped up to a hugely mature and glorious standard in the past decade, but the drama of the death of a character has gotten way stale now and is a turn off. Thor is probably going to die at the end of Fear Itself, and...who cares? He'll be back. And unfortunately that also means that Sentry will be back.

 

[Comic Book Dude]

The writing has stepped up to a hugely mature and glorious standard in the past decade, .

Unfortunately, I feel this is one of the main reasons why comics are struggling the way they are...they're not being marketed to a wider and younger audience. The industry is catering to an aging audience instead of trying to foster interest with younger readers....I guess it's too tough to compete with video games. They really should have tried to learn from the anime explosion a few years ago....not only were younger kids buying that stuff up, but so were GIRLS. Something you don't see as much with Marvel and DC.

 

[Diabolik]

Unfortunately, I feel this is one of the main reasons why comics are struggling the way they are...they're not being marketed to a wider and younger audience. The industry is catering to an aging audience instead of trying to foster interest with younger readers....I guess it's too tough to compete with video games. They really should have tried to learn from the anime explosion a few years ago....not only were younger kids buying that stuff up, but so were GIRLS. Something you don't see as much with Marvel and DC.

last year at C2E2 I saw this girl buying Age of Heroes #5 and an Avengers book....I was going to ask her to marry me.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Unfortunately, I feel this is one of the main reasons why comics are struggling the way they are...they're not being marketed to a wider and younger audience. The industry is catering to an aging audience instead of trying to foster interest with younger readers....I guess it's too tough to compete with video games. They really should have tried to learn from the anime explosion a few years ago....not only were younger kids buying that stuff up, but so were GIRLS. Something you don't see as much with Marvel and DC.

I totally agree. I used to buy comic books from grocery stores, in the 90's! My mom would never have bought comics for me, if she saw this on the cover:

And for that matter, do they even sell comics in grocery stores anymore?? I come from a pretty urban area, so we didn't really have comic book stores. Unless they sell them in places like grocery stores or 7-11's, and looking less like straight-up porn, I don't see comics being as popular with kids as they once were.

 

[Comic Book Dude]

And for that matter, do they even sell comics in grocery stores anymore?? I come from a pretty urban area, so we didn't really have comic book stores. Unless they sell them in places like grocery stores or 7-11's, and looking less like straight-up porn, I don't see comics being as popular with kids as they once were.

No, not really....I flipped out a couple of years back when I visited family in Maine; they live in a VERY rural area, and their grocery store actually had a spinner rack with comics for sale! It brought me back to my youth at the local drug store, pouring over their racks looking for the new Spiderman or X-Men. The direct market (comic book shops), in the long run, has actually hurt the comics market (in my opinion!). Instead of being an impulse buy at the market, where a parent can buy a comic for their child at the grocery store, they now have to hunt down a local comic shop to find comics. On top of that, a lot of comic shops have become club houses for comics dorks, and that's not always very welcoming to young readers. Also, the cost of comics has become pretty damned expensive!

 

[Orion Crystal Ice]

I wonder if it's too late. I mostly see kids leaping at the sight of anything approaching manga, and kind of looking bored at traditional comic art. But it goes in cycles I guess. Hey, there's still the Young Avengers and the Runaways for kids to start with...well, there was the Runaways, it will probably come back.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Well one thing I really appreciate about DC is how they have lowered their prices to 2.99. I think in my day, comics were like.. 1.50, or 2.50, something like that. It's gotten to the point where comics are what, 3.99 now? I'm glad DC was able to lower their price, but I don't think things will change unless we get comics in more stores again.

'cuz you're right, I probably wouldn't have felt very comfortable in a comic shop, as a kid. And my mom never would have let me in there, with all the boobies. XD

 

[TheLongshot]

Well one thing I really appreciate about DC is how they have lowered their prices to 2.99. I think in my day, comics were like.. 1.50, or 2.50, something like that.

Well, when I started, comics were $.65 and were just going up to $.75.

'cuz you're right, I probably wouldn't have felt very comfortable in a comic shop, as a kid. And my mom never would have let me in there, with all the boobies. XD

It didn't used to be that bad. Most of that kind of stuff was often segregated.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Yeah, I didn't get into comics until the early 90's.. and I remember seeing a lot of boobies whenever I bought Wizard Magazine.

Dawn and Fathom were VERY popular. XD

 

[Orion Crystal Ice]

ugh, the price tag. Yeah, the new Bendis/Maleev Moon Knight is not worth one dollar, yet the price is $3.99.........

 

[TheLongshot]

Yeah, I didn't get into comics until the early 90's.. and I remember seeing a lot of boobies whenever I bought Wizard Magazine.

The trend started in the 90s probably around the time when Image was created. As you say, there was Fathom, but before that there was Witchblade. Then with the independents with Dawn, Lady Death, etc.

To be honest, that trend never got me to buy comics. I always felt they were trying to pander rather than write a good story. (Course, that was the story for most of Image's books.)

 

[Comic Book Dude]

To be honest, that trend never got me to buy comics. I always felt they were trying to pander rather than write a good story. (Course, that was the story for most of Image's books.)

Unfortunately, at that time, people weren't even buying comics because of the boobies....they were buying them because they thought they were going to be worth a lot of money. The speculation market nearly destroyed the comics industry (hmmm....kinda like the housing market....everybody wanting to make an easy buck). Common sense would tell you that Spawn #1 wouldn't be worth much since it sold over a million copies, but people just kept buying. It alienated the real fans (a lot of them stopped buying), and once the speculators figured out most of these books were worthless, they left too. The market still hasn't fully recovered.

 

[TheLongshot]

Unfortunately, at that time, people weren't even buying comics because of the boobies....they were buying them because they thought they were going to be worth a lot of money. The speculation market nearly destroyed the comics industry (hmmm....kinda like the housing market....everybody wanting to make an easy buck). Common sense would tell you that Spawn #1 wouldn't be worth much since it sold over a million copies, but people just kept buying. It alienated the real fans (a lot of them stopped buying), and once the speculators figured out most of these books were worthless, they left too. The market still hasn't fully recovered.

Yeah, I was kinda guilty of that at times. (X-Men #1 comes to mind...)

 

[Justin G]

The thing is, that's what people wanted to buy. I ran a comic store from 91-98 and no matter how hard I tried to push titles with great stories and real creativity, the people who kept us in business were the guys buying flashy Image books, inane X-Men spinoffs and oh yeah anything with T&A. And that's not counting the variant covers and other ways to get people to buy the same issues multiple times. Books like Bone, Preacher, Astro City and Hellboy sold in the single digits while anything with a sexualized cover went flying off the shelf.

As to prices, when I left the business $2.95 was high end. Since then I've gone to trade paperback and hardcover collections exclusvely.

 

[TheLongshot]

Just to let everyone know, I saw "X-Men: First Class" tonight and it exceeded my expectations. It hit the mark with all the things that were important for the most part, and reminded me of all the things that made me fall in love with the X-Men in the first place.

For those avoiding it because it doesn't follow any comic continuity, get over it and go see it. Personally, the continuity of the X-Men comics is convoluted, FUBARed and in need of an enema.

 

[Diabolik]

Just to let everyone know, I saw "X-Men: First Class" tonight and it exceeded my expectations. It hit the mark with all the things that were important for the most part, and reminded me of all the things that made me fall in love with the X-Men in the first place.

For those avoiding it because it doesn't follow any comic continuity, get over it and go see it. Personally, the continuity of the X-Men comics is convoluted, FUBARed and in need of an enema.

I have to agree....for months I was blasting this movie....I saw it 2 weeks ago and it is one of the best super hero movies. Had a great feel. People need to see it.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

That being said, I did find it interesting that a movie with so many civil rights themed would kill off it's only black character at the very beginning. A bunch of my friends were making jokes along the lines of, "Oh mean, civil rights was an important and amazing part of history! We should use those themes!" "Can we do it without the blacks?" "Of course we can."

 

[Diabolik]

That being said, I did find it interesting that a movie with so many civil rights themed would kill off it's only black character at the very beginning. A bunch of my friends were making jokes along the lines of, "Oh mean, civil rights was an important and amazing part of history! We should use those themes!" "Can we do it without the blacks?" "Of course we can."

Darwin isnt dead. Darwins power is that he can change his body to anything that is happening to him. So when he exploded his body will reform. I am sure more people missed this fact.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Darwin isnt dead. Darwins power is that he can change his body to anything that is happening to him. So when he exploded his body will reform. I am sure more people missed this fact.

That makes sense!