tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post9060382048083098090..comments2024-02-29T14:12:01.955-05:00Comments on Flashback Universe Blog: The Bronze Age: Part Deux?Jim Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05006833955333061262noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-68168644935370451602011-08-16T16:34:29.478-04:002011-08-16T16:34:29.478-04:00Found this story late, but here goes:
Comics are d...Found this story late, but here goes:<br />Comics are definitely trying to be more graphically violent and sexy/sexist, not necessarily more realistic. Almost all plots seem to be engineered to torture the character or even kill them, then either undo it or change the character in a way that was really unnecessary. Jeff Johns made GL have pain when he uses his ring, for instance. Truly ridiculous and does nothing for the character except prove how dedicated he is (a reminder not needed) and how tough he is (ditto).<br />Also, as the author here states, ongoing universe sweeping stories or drastic changes throughout the comicverse are commonplace. I would think it hard enough to actually be a superhero without having your world in complete turmoil all the time.<br />They also continue to resist making superheroes anything like what they must be in reality. Most weak or non-superpowered beings would need a support staff (including medical and legal plus more), an informant network, and would have to be very good to avoid cops who demand ID and WILL remove your mask if you don't provide it. Then, I'd like to see a real explanation of how vigilante-ism is accepted or if it isn't, see more results of that.<br />I think younger and new readers don't buy into the "beat the $#!+ out of bad guys and avoid consequences" premise. Nor the "cops are ok with this masked vigilante" routine. They wanna see more realistic portrayals and more real physics. As I have stated before, fewer stories that involve more than one continent being destroyed as a possibility, much less the galaxy or the universe. It is just to unrealistic even for make believe superheroes. It's hard enough believing heroes can survive punches carrying tons of force.<br />Sadly, I think the current caretakers of my childhood heroes will destroy the medium altogether. Hollywood is certainly doing their best to ruin them. How can non-fans get excited abut heroes when they change them all up from the wondrous, awe-inspiring GOOD guys they were meant to be?nude0007https://www.blogger.com/profile/17427383503777946860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-45107253240344971982010-08-04T19:11:07.557-04:002010-08-04T19:11:07.557-04:00@RKB Thanks for your response!
I'm gonna call...@RKB Thanks for your response!<br /><br />I'm gonna call a "wait and see" before I decide that Rise of Arsenal is the end of it. Though it's probably notable that even some folks who usually like the superhero comic fare served cynical didn't seem to care much for Rise of Arsenal either. So who knows? Maybe the industry did finally hit a wall on what sometimes seems like a mad quest to turn superhero comics into Saw.MattComixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14015552734150732758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-30213604363251665072010-08-04T03:05:35.500-04:002010-08-04T03:05:35.500-04:00"If you wanted to see heads fly you went to C..."If you wanted to see heads fly you went to Conan, not JLA".<br />3 cheers for that, and it was done better in Conan back then too. If Marvel wants me to like, like them again having Spidey do a deal with the devil to get back a unmarried Peter Parker isn't the way to go about it. Da' Q should never give interviews again, he and Marvel would be better off. You do get the whole 'everybody always says it was great way back when, but comics are moving on' comment from time to time. I would just say it's not only nostalgia, it's I've read these stories before, done better the first time around. No one needs to read recycled stories and character resurrections any more, these days the iconic run current creators seem to want to do over (tweaked by them to make it 'better') is probably readily available to anyone in a trade, or if not anyone can go on a online back issue hunt. It set's a higher standard all around when you can take a current issue of any comic and you TPB out, then go through and compare and contrast page by page.<br />*****************************<br />The Bronze Age had serious themes/characters, and silly themes/characters, but they didn't throw in the gore in every book because they thought it would make it sell better, editors/creators knew better than that. Having off-colored blood (not too red, if it's red at all) didn't hurt sells then, splashing it about all over the place doesn't help much now. Mangled up bodies in mangled up stories is a hard sell for 3 bucks, let alone 4. <br />**************************<br />Their are some good titles out and about now, and all the retro-story lines/ and just making things bloodier did serve one purpose: The dark age of comics started with Watchmen/The Dark Knight Returns ended with the Justice League -Rise of Arsenal mini. Something that bad/sad/pointless so afflicted with the 'Sipwicz syndrome' (something I just made up, but meaning going so far down the old 'you got to tear a character down, before you can build them back up' path you end up with gallows humor wondering just what is left to do to a character to show his 'heroic suffering' cause options are running out, and so are relatives to kill) so too much of a unintended joke not to herald the ending of an age. Done right you get Spider-Man and the death of Gwen Stacey storyline among others, done wrong the Dark Age of comics are done. [I thought they might have ended with Evil Hal Jordan, but time proved me wrong]RKBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17224002908502972813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-7648781191139262512010-07-30T13:08:32.178-04:002010-07-30T13:08:32.178-04:00@Trey Thanks for the welcome! Let me see if I can ...@Trey Thanks for the welcome! Let me see if I can answer your question. <br /><br />I agree that the seeds of what comics become were planted in the Bronze Age, something like HTH was an exception rather than the rule. With the Punisher he was a villain. His methods were not meant to be considered cool. The adult black and whites served their function because that's an itch the mainline superhero titles were not expected to scratch. <br /><br />I'll put it this way, if the SA was too wacky for you and modern mainline superhero comics are too nihilistic and cynical the Bronze Age to my eye represents a middle-ground that I think really works. <br /><br />A kind of heroic melodrama that is not ashamed of how grand a colorful fantasy it is or even how funny it is with kids and older readers alike being more or less invited to the party. <br /><br />If you wanted to see heads fly you went to Conan, not JLA.MattComixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14015552734150732758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-92137869984076550842010-07-30T10:32:37.163-04:002010-07-30T10:32:37.163-04:00Agree wholeheartedly. It's hard to consider co...Agree wholeheartedly. It's hard to consider comics fun when characters are being killed and maimed right and left...or are the ones doing the killing and maiming.cash_gormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12071052539938367439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-9555180311786732602010-07-30T08:31:13.807-04:002010-07-30T08:31:13.807-04:00Welcome, Matt! I'm a bit confused, though, as...Welcome, Matt! I'm a bit confused, though, as to what exactly you're praising about the Bronze Age. They were "fun" seems more the line that older fans have always used to refer to there era (SA vs. BA), (SA vs. "Modern" Age), whatever, as opposed to the current one.<br /><br />Aren't pretensions of "realism" and "relevance" who of the hallmarks of the Bronze Age with stories like "Hard-Travelling Heroes" and the Harry Osborne's on drugs storyline, or the exploration of the urban black experience?<br /><br />Wasn't Punisher born in the Bronze Age, and didn't he appear in "adult" b&w mags in the period?<br /><br />While I don't disagree with your point about modern comics, I think a lot of your dissatisfaction is perhaps more "been there, done that" than any big change in comic book themes.<br /><br />The real problem, I think, is that <i>most</i> comics haven't gotten appreciably better since the BA--only cynical and slicker.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.com