To be fair to the guy, some people actually like the Mary Jane-less Spiderman, and if he's talking about something like that then I totally sympathize. Because retconning peoples' entire collections out of continuity to satisfy the whims of an editor will turn even the nicest fan into this guy.
I suppose a better way to put it would be to hate new fans who refuse to read the now-more-easily-available-than-ever old comics just because those comics are old. People who assume the latest thing is always the best, or indeed only time something has been done so far (when the storyline in question IS A PUN ON ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS STORYLINES OF THE SERIES), while asserting "old = ewww" don't deserve even the new comics.
On the other hand: Dude, lighten up and let people who weren't even born when your favorite stories were written enjoy the New 52. The New 52 is funding your ability to binge-read the classics for cheap, so you have to at least give it credit for that.
Do you also feel that anyone who like a modern sitcom should be obligated to watch Gilligan's Island and the Cosby Show? Movie fans have to watch The Big Sleep and The Man in the Moon?
I'm saying that the best way to appreciate what you have now is to understand the related things that came before. As opposed to people I know in real life who continually live in the present and treat everything other than the latest thing as completely disposable. Some people I know, no exaggeration, will literally treat my property as disposable because they see no use for it, and I have learned the hard way that they cannot be trusted with nice things. I know this probably even more extreme than the people the guy in the above cartoon is speaking about, but it's an extension of "Only the most recent things are the best, and nothing old can be good."
As for sitcoms, I'm not saying people should be forced to watch entire seasons of The Cosby Show. But certain people should be forced to watch an episode or two. If not, they'll just keep obsessing over things where they don't even get the references because they don't pay attention to anything but the new shiny.
In comics, legacy and continuity are huge things. If you're entirely ignoring the best part about comics, stories published before you started, you should just go watch the adaptations. Stories adapted from comics in various media are among some of the finest entertainment available, and they very explicitly are not the same canon as the comics. If you're ignoring the past entirely, you just don't know how bad or good things are now, there's no point in reading comics.
Incidentally, this rule also applies to webcomics. It's less of a problem with webcomics, because the effort required to read old webcomic strips is equal to the effort required to read the current strips. But old comics are more accessible than ever.
There is no excuse for not having some kind of opinion on the current state of comics vs. previous years. You don't have to read every Superman comic ever to have an opinion on current Superman comics. But you do absolutely have to have some idea of what Golden Age and Silver Age Superman comics were like, or it's not even a hobby to you.
Well, using Marvel Comics as an example, the fans of the 60's comics felt that way to the readers in th1970's, the fans of the 70's run felt that way towards the new fans & readers in the 1980's, the fans of the 80's felt that way towards the fans of the 90's comics and… well, everyone feels that way towards the fans of the 90's comics cause, well, the comics in the 90's sucked.
"The comics in the 90's sucked" is the most-oft repeated lie in comics fandom.
Did some of it suck? Sure. Some comics from every era suck.
The 1990's had (In no particular order): Sandman Morrison's JLA Busiek and Perez's Avengers JSA Waid and Johns' Flash Bone Strangers in Paradise Ostrander and Mandrake's Martian Manhunter and Spectre Deadpool Tons of great Star Wars comics from Dark Horse Mark Waid's Captain America Peter David's Incredible Hulk John Byrne's Next Men Spider-Man 2099 Effing STARMAN, bitches The Milestone line of comics including Static, Hardware, Xombi, Blood Syndicate, Icon... Understanding Comics The Ultraverse Hellboy Age of Apocalypse Preacher Stray Bullets DC One Million 100 Bullets
What most people mean when they say comics in the 90's sucked is "I bought a lot of crappy Image comics, Heroes Reborn, and Spider-Clone comics that I thought were good because I was ten and since realized were crap."
fair enough. it's a common enough complaint, more often that not made by boring old farts like me, and there's a fair old few on that list that I wasn't a fan of, but there's enough to disprove the notion that the 90s were all crap. I'd like to add Shade the Changing Man & Elektra Lives Again, if I may.
The thing I hated about the 90's is that comics I did like turned crappy because of the current trends. Ignoring the big two we have Elfquest and their attempt at a giant multi-title shared universe with studio talent. We have Malibu's acquisition of good Eternity titles and turning them into a superhero shared universe complete with Liefeld clones illustrating. We have Hate, Ralph Snart, Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo, and of course Elfquest going full color, which really deteriorates the art in my opinion.
And yeah, I was a kid, and I did like Batman and X-Men and Spiderman. Until the 90's. I tried buying a copy of Love And Rockets in the early 90's and the shop owner wouldn't sell it to me because I was a kid, so I was kind of stuck with Lee's X-Men and Larsen's Amazing Spider-man. So I quit reading comics for about 15 years.
To be fair to the guy, some people actually like the Mary Jane-less Spiderman, and if he's talking about something like that then I totally sympathize. Because retconning peoples' entire collections out of continuity to satisfy the whims of an editor will turn even the nicest fan into this guy.
ReplyDeleteI suppose a better way to put it would be to hate new fans who refuse to read the now-more-easily-available-than-ever old comics just because those comics are old. People who assume the latest thing is always the best, or indeed only time something has been done so far (when the storyline in question IS A PUN ON ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS STORYLINES OF THE SERIES), while asserting "old = ewww" don't deserve even the new comics.
On the other hand: Dude, lighten up and let people who weren't even born when your favorite stories were written enjoy the New 52. The New 52 is funding your ability to binge-read the classics for cheap, so you have to at least give it credit for that.
Do you also feel that anyone who like a modern sitcom should be obligated to watch Gilligan's Island and the Cosby Show? Movie fans have to watch The Big Sleep and The Man in the Moon?
DeleteI'm saying that the best way to appreciate what you have now is to understand the related things that came before. As opposed to people I know in real life who continually live in the present and treat everything other than the latest thing as completely disposable. Some people I know, no exaggeration, will literally treat my property as disposable because they see no use for it, and I have learned the hard way that they cannot be trusted with nice things. I know this probably even more extreme than the people the guy in the above cartoon is speaking about, but it's an extension of "Only the most recent things are the best, and nothing old can be good."
DeleteAs for sitcoms, I'm not saying people should be forced to watch entire seasons of The Cosby Show. But certain people should be forced to watch an episode or two. If not, they'll just keep obsessing over things where they don't even get the references because they don't pay attention to anything but the new shiny.
In comics, legacy and continuity are huge things. If you're entirely ignoring the best part about comics, stories published before you started, you should just go watch the adaptations. Stories adapted from comics in various media are among some of the finest entertainment available, and they very explicitly are not the same canon as the comics. If you're ignoring the past entirely, you just don't know how bad or good things are now, there's no point in reading comics.
Incidentally, this rule also applies to webcomics. It's less of a problem with webcomics, because the effort required to read old webcomic strips is equal to the effort required to read the current strips. But old comics are more accessible than ever.
There is no excuse for not having some kind of opinion on the current state of comics vs. previous years. You don't have to read every Superman comic ever to have an opinion on current Superman comics. But you do absolutely have to have some idea of what Golden Age and Silver Age Superman comics were like, or it's not even a hobby to you.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI kind of want to hunt this guy down and kill him.
ReplyDeleteTake a number and get in line.
DeleteWell, using Marvel Comics as an example, the fans of the 60's comics felt that way to the readers in th1970's, the fans of the 70's run felt that way towards the new fans & readers in the 1980's, the fans of the 80's felt that way towards the fans of the 90's comics and… well, everyone feels that way towards the fans of the 90's comics cause, well, the comics in the 90's sucked.
ReplyDelete"The comics in the 90's sucked" is the most-oft repeated lie in comics fandom.
ReplyDeleteDid some of it suck? Sure. Some comics from every era suck.
The 1990's had (In no particular order):
Sandman
Morrison's JLA
Busiek and Perez's Avengers
JSA
Waid and Johns' Flash
Bone
Strangers in Paradise
Ostrander and Mandrake's Martian Manhunter and Spectre
Deadpool
Tons of great Star Wars comics from Dark Horse
Mark Waid's Captain America
Peter David's Incredible Hulk
John Byrne's Next Men
Spider-Man 2099
Effing STARMAN, bitches
The Milestone line of comics including Static, Hardware, Xombi, Blood Syndicate, Icon...
Understanding Comics
The Ultraverse
Hellboy
Age of Apocalypse
Preacher
Stray Bullets
DC One Million
100 Bullets
What most people mean when they say comics in the 90's sucked is "I bought a lot of crappy Image comics, Heroes Reborn, and Spider-Clone comics that I thought were good because I was ten and since realized were crap."
fair enough. it's a common enough complaint, more often that not made by boring old farts like me, and there's a fair old few on that list that I wasn't a fan of, but there's enough to disprove the notion that the 90s were all crap. I'd like to add Shade the Changing Man & Elektra Lives Again, if I may.
DeleteThe Ultraverse?
DeleteThe thing I hated about the 90's is that comics I did like turned crappy because of the current trends. Ignoring the big two we have Elfquest and their attempt at a giant multi-title shared universe with studio talent. We have Malibu's acquisition of good Eternity titles and turning them into a superhero shared universe complete with Liefeld clones illustrating. We have Hate, Ralph Snart, Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo, and of course Elfquest going full color, which really deteriorates the art in my opinion.
And yeah, I was a kid, and I did like Batman and X-Men and Spiderman. Until the 90's.
I tried buying a copy of Love And Rockets in the early 90's and the shop owner wouldn't sell it to me because I was a kid, so I was kind of stuck with Lee's X-Men and Larsen's Amazing Spider-man. So I quit reading comics for about 15 years.
"If you say something sucks, you are never wrong."
ReplyDelete