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Let's face it folks, comics are crap!

Started by Thread Zero, 17 June, 2002, 01:59:11 AM

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Thread Zero

Hmm been thinking...

I think I've outgrown comics. I read a bit of The Filth, some Grant Morrison thing. Thought it was awful. Well not awful but just self indulgent twoddle. Good luck to the guy, he pays the mortgage writing this stuff but I dunno....

Now we have Carey doing Carver Hale and 13. I like 13 more but I think the dialogue is pretty awful.

Tor Cyan:
John Tomlinson couldn't write a decent story if his life depended on it. Sorry mate but it seems that way.

Have you read this week's? Talk about a mess. Thank god 2k got rid of Tor Cyan. He had a great opportunity to reinvent Rogue and he screwed it up. Says it all really.

Anyway my main point is this - I think comics dumb down too much. This thought kind of came to me out of the blue. Deep down most comics are kinda crap. Just a bit of swearing and the odd fight. Nothing really intelligent.

Apart from 2k at its best, the only other comic i ever really loved was the Dark Knight Returns.

Serious and cinematic too. Like a summer blockbuster film aimed at adults.

People go on about Alan Moore. I read Watchman which was good but I thought the end was poor. I'm sure he's good but deep down who would want to write for comics?

I think I'd rather write a novel or a great screenplay.

I only really buy 2k out of loyalty. But I dunno it just seems all a bit childish these days.

I can't really explain. I need something more challenging than comics. I need to read a good book.

Or maybe a good book in comic form.

As I say, I just feel comics dumb down to much. I'm not expecting something deep but I dunno...there just seems to be this tired formula to comics these days. It's all gone a bit stale.

What's the best comic (apart from 2k) you have read in recent years?

I wanna see if I'm wrong. If someone can suggest a great comic, I wanna read it and still believe in the medium. Cos right now I'm bored of it.

scojo




paulvonscott

I'll be honest, I think comics have woefully underachieved as a medium.  The promise of the late eighties turned out to be wishful thinking based on a handful of comics and a few fingers worth of writers.

I'm reading Moore again, just finished LOEG Volume One, I'm on From Hell and will then be bogging off to read Top Ten.  

It really does highlight what a piss-poor moribund field comics is.  I almost regret reading these comics, because I know that when I'm finished it's back to the crap.

Comics are all but extinct in this country and fading in the west.  I can't help feeling that certain comments about the AD slushpile could equally be applied to comics.  99% are shit and there is 1% with some promise, but quite frankly, who can by fucked with it.

I came back to comics in the new century the same way I got into it, through 2000AD.  I'm still not convinced it's worth it.

JimBob

Scojo,
       as a medium comics are no better or worse than books or film, I can give yuo a list of things to read that may help you see the best of the medium:

1. Maus

2. Barry ween: Boy Genius

3. Warren Ellis'Planetary and Ministry of Space

4. Frank Hampson's Dan Dare

5. Alan Moores Top Ten and Swamp Thing

 All different genres all as good as anything in another medium. Tooth is in a narrow genre and very good at what it does, but it is not the whole medium and should not be treated as such.


Ol^ Marbles

Have to agree with the general feeling here - sometimes I feel trying to find a decent comic is like panning for gold...
Anyway best things I've read in the last couple of years are 'LOXG' & 'Top Ten' by a good distance.
The only other thing worth a shout is 'The Marquis : Danse Macabre' by Guy Davis, which is a good intelligent read and a really nice Graphic Novel.
There are some other bits and pieces that are quite interesting - 'Red Star', 'Classwar' and I'm willing to give 'The Filth' a go.
Its just a shame that the top creators of a few years ago have turned into egotitical tossers producing self-indulgent crud (yes I do mean you Garth Ennis and Frank Miller). 'Preacher' and 'Sin City' at there prime really were stand-out examples of how great comics could be.

JimBob

 I think comics are trapped in genre. There should be comics in every field. When you look at the failiure rate in the British and US markets how many of these comics actually deserved to survive. Take Battle it's easy to get misty eyes but during the time i read it it changed to Battle Action Force, then Battle sodding Mack, then Battle Storm Force, all the while diluting the good stuff. Even 2000 Ad had a Tornado period. Commando survives because it is cheap and it is in it's own way pure. It is a war comic nice and simple. The Beano and the Dandy are equally of their own genre. The Pannini Marvel reprints are solid and good value, but lets face it the Brits don't want super heroes, never really have. There needs to be a bridge between the Beano and 2000 ad. Withpout a young readership gradually moving up through titles the industry is doomed.  

plastikman

Must confess I've stopped reading 2000 weekly - didn't pick it up a couple of weeks back and haven't missed it -  i'm still reading the meg though.

Since starting to read 2000 last year i've got into graphic novels (tried a few years ago with Watchmen and that put me off). This time round I've been lucky cos i've read: 3 volumes of 100 bullets, Top Ten book 1, Jimmy Corrigan - smartest kid on earth, V for Vendetta, 2 planetary books, Arkam Asylum and a hellboy book.

Only Planetary and Hellboy disappointed.

Anyway after that indulgent rant - i'd recommend 100 bullets (that's if you like hard boiled crime) - something completely different to 2000.

I agree that any medium has quality and dross - but I think (and this may sound a little odd) the more effort you have to put in the greater the rewards. Maybe Graphic Novels / Comics are the halfway house between films and books - some pictures, some writing :) And when has anyone ever said "that film was much better than the book".

plastikrant.

wrighty47

Well personally I pretty much disagree with most of what has been said here. Comics are great because there is so much variety. The potential of the medium is overpowering. You can't compare it to books. You can't compare it to movies. It is it's own living, breathing entity. If you just stick to 2000AD (which I personally think is very strong at the moment) or the big 3 US publishers, you are in for disapointment on the whole. What I do agree with tho are the people who are pushing the trades/Gn's. The likes of The Maquis, The Coffin, Obergeist are superb examples of what the medium can offer, and are so rewarding in this format. Other stuff I recommend are the likes of 100 bullets, Lucifer, Lone Wolf & Cub, Blade of the Immortal, The Metabarons (and just about anything else from Humanoids). most Oni Press stuff, AIT Planetlar are putting out great stuff, Kabuki, Sanctuary, Uzumaki, Akira, Transmetropolin, Planetary (if you want Super-Heroes). Christ the list is endless if only you are prepared to look. Sure there's dross. Just like there's crap TV, just like there's crap movies. Just like there's crap music. If you can't find something to suit, then I suggest that the problem lies with you, not with the medium.


Alan!

James

Transmetropolitan has always impressed me.

satchmo

Without getting all Comics Journal on yo ass,try Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco.I thought comics were crap once too,I just realised I was reading the wrong comics.

Matt

...only the ones you'd write Scojo!!!!!!!