I don't like superheroes anymore. Do you like superheroes?

[Professor Bear]

I recall there were stretches where it felt like it would never end.

[ZenArcade]

There are some good posts here. Perdonnally I've no time whatsoever for super heroes, I'm not evangelical about this....live and let live. They fly in the face of why I read comics. I adore 2000ad as it has the concept of enthropy at its heart. The charachters I most identify with are mortal, subject to error of judgement and are victims of the consequences of this.
I am disconcerted when charachters such as Johnny Alpha are resseructed (I might agree he should never have been killed in the first place): but when you're dead; you're dead. Plus I've kind of a soft spot for the Final Solution irrespective of it's flaws. The part with Wulf on Smileys World brought a sadness to my heart, but it is a credit to the writer in that this false, perverted anti-resseruction showed the futility of wish fulfillment, what has gone cannot be regained. Z

[Steve Green]

Superhero comics just seemed to pass me by for the most part.

Pre-2000AD it was IPC's Monster Fun and Action, Tintin, Asterix.

I think I had one issue of Spiderman but was more aware of superheroes from tv shows than the comics themselves.

I've dipped into Marvel and DC occasionally, but it tends to be the self-contained stories, like The Dark Knight Returns, Red Son, or Old Man Logan.

[Link Prime]

Seems to be a touchy subject here my geek brothers & sisters- lest we forget, it's us vs THEM!

Seriously though, I have no problem with superhero comics.
I've read a lot of them over the past 32 years, ranging in quality from sublime to abysmal.

My point is thus; I like good comics by talented creators.
If they happen to be of the superhero variety, then so what?

My current pull list is quite eclectic- apart from our one shared love, I'm into sci-fi, horror, fantasy and yeah- superheroes.
A case in point; 'Superior Spider-Man'. I hadn't read Spidey regularly since my early / mid teens, but this take on the character (Dr. Octopus inside Peter's body) was fun, novel and very well executed.
It was an enjoyable 1+ year of superheroic fun, due to end when the status quo is re-established (just in time for the new movie of course), and at which point I'll jump off again.

I'd never limit myself with preconceptions regarding any comic genre; the right formula of writer / artist / concept will always attract my readership.

[Frank]

I've kind of a soft spot for the Final Solution irrespective of it's flaws. The part with Wulf on Smileys World brought a sadness to my heart, but it is a credit to the writer in that this false, perverted anti-resseruction showed the futility of wish fulfillment, what has gone cannot be regained.

Great observation, and ditto with the love for The Final Solution. I'm perfectly delighted for Wagner to keep providing Ezquerra with Strontium Dog stories to illustrate, but the moment where Alpha met his maker has the same power and finality for me as the end of Supersurf 11. Everything else which has happened since reads like inconsequential footling in the margins. Good luck to all who've written, drawn and enjoyed what's followed, but Death doesn't grant mulligans.

The Dead Man is as close to a Dredd Dead/Dredd resurrected! storyline as I ever want to read.

[Mardroid]

While I've always liked superheroes I wasn't really into the comics as a kid. I do remember swapping my Beano comics for my mates Spider-man stuff, and not really taking to it much. Mind you they tended to all be parts, rather than full stories.

(I'm not sure he ever bought a full story, or if he did maybe he gave them to me all jumbled up and I was too lazy to rearrange them all.)

I do remember reading a couple of Superman annuals and largely enjoying them though.

Then as a kid it was mainly Asterix (borrowed from the school library).

I've actually got more into comics as an adult. Mainly 2000 AD and the eg but I've caught up on some superhero collection stuff at the library. I also jumped on some titles when the new 52 started. It might say something that the three I continue with to this day aren't strictly superhero comics. Animal Man and Swamp thing (largely horror) and All Star Western... well what it says on the tin really with a bit of superhero stuff and lately horror too.

I also started collecting the Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novels collection.. and largely enjoyed it, although whether I continue to get them, I'm not sure. Including Spider-man. (As a kid I found him a bit annoying but I find him quirky and amusing now, although I'm not fussed to collect lots of the stuff.)

So yeah. Like Super-hero comics. Like non super-hero comics. The important thing is story. Is it any good? And there are examples of both in all genres, as others have said.

[sheldipez]

Yup, still a big fan of them. Some of the best talent on the books as that's where they still get the biggest, easiest bucks (whilst they all try to dip their toe in the creator owned market). Marvel really put out some cracking stuff, DC less so but there's some gems in the generic tat (Tom Taylor's Injustice,  Synder's Batman, Palmiotti & Conner's funny Harley book to name a few).

For those that say they're too aimed at children I don't think you've read much from the big two in the last couple of years; that's one of my major problem with them is that there's nearly zero of these books that I can hand over to my son once I'm done with them. I think both companies are aware that very few kids can bang down $4 an issue week after week so the books are mostly aimed way over their heads with content to match. It comes to something when their flagship Spider-Man book is too violent for kids IMO.

[The Adventurer]

No. It's because the manga I mention isn't held in thrall by the laws of the superhero comic. Batman can never end. The Joker can never repent. Alfred can never die. Bruce Wayne can never retire. It will all keep going on, and on in the same inconsequential manner, the characters learning nothing, never changing, never growing, never offering the reader anything but the most shallow and superficial illusion of story progression.

No, but they are held in the thrall of the laws of the Shonen comic. Popular shonen manga have their own rules and tropes that have been passed down since the days of Astro Boy. Its my experience that characters in Shonen manga almost never die or stay dead either! And if you want to see a serialized series that never ever ends, look no further then Shonen manga. With their 500/600/700+ episodes. About the only thing they manage to do better then Super-Hero comics is keep their creative teams intact and not reboot as often. But don't kid yourself popular shonen manga isn't above unnecessarily sequels, retellings, or media tie-in spin-offs.

Believe me, I understand. Manga is some what of a novelty to us outside of Japan, only a very select number of series actually get put in front of our eyeballs. And its new and different and exciting to read something that breaks our own molds. But your kidding yourself if you think Shonen manga like One-Piece, or Dragon Ball, or Naruto is guilty of all the same sins as North American Super-Hero comics. They're a commercial institution that rely on familiarity, not originality to sell units.

That doesn't make a series BAD however. It just means you shouldn't call one genre out for certain perceived flaws, and praise another for doing the same things.

[sheldipez]

No. It's because the manga I mention isn't held in thrall by the laws of the superhero comic. Batman can never end. The Joker can never repent. Alfred can never die. Bruce Wayne can never retire. It will all keep going on, and on in the same inconsequential manner, the characters learning nothing, never changing, never growing, never offering the reader anything but the most shallow and superficial illusion of story progression.

No, but they are held in the thrall of the laws of the Shonen comic. Popular shonen manga have their own rules and tropes that have been passed down since the days of Astro Boy. Its my experience that characters in Shonen manga almost never die or stay dead either! And if you want to see a serialized series that never ever ends, look no further then Shonen manga. With their 500/600/700+ episodes. About the only thing they manage to do better then Super-Hero comics is keep their creative teams intact and not reboot as often. But don't kid yourself popular shonen manga isn't above unnecessarily sequels, retellings, or media tie-in spin-offs.

Believe me, I understand. Manga is some what of a novelty to us outside of Japan, only a very select number of series actually get put in front of our eyeballs. And its new and different and exciting to read something that breaks our own molds. But your kidding yourself if you think Shonen manga like One-Piece, or Dragon Ball, or Naruto is guilty of all the same sins as North American Super-Hero comics. They're a commercial institution that rely on familiarity, not originality to sell units.

That doesn't make a series BAD however. It just means you shouldn't call one genre out for certain perceived flaws, and praise another for doing the same things.

I personally dont get the meh Batman is never gonna end, never gonna die thing either. I don't know if you've been reading Dredd lately but we have an OAP flying through space with a bunch of people half his age, it's getting more absurd that Dredd aparently ages but refuses to show it, feel free to use to the get old "sci fi rejuvenation treatment" crutch but I don't find Peter Park never ageing past 30's any more off putting than an OAP shrugging off being knifed in the neck or dodging missles like he's just out of the academy. Dredd's never gonna end, what happens when he's into his 100's and still dodging bullets. Actually seeing as how some of the reviewers complain about the blink and miss it detail on ECBT2000AD I already know the answer

[Colin YNWA]

With all due respect to you Colin, you haven't particularly answered any of my criticisms, you've just said "Well I like them so NER!" which, I suppose, is fair enough.

To be honest I felt that there was little point getting into a ding dong with someone who by his own admission doesn't read many superhero comics and so whose assessment of them can't really go much further than 'Nah not to fussed about them.' Which would be, as I point out a very valid point if left there.

Hence I took up Dark Jimbo's point about commonly (well hopefully not so common anymore) held preconceptions about what comics involve stopping him reading in public. Again that is entirely his prerogative but I think its a shame. I did that in the style (well attempted) of an Internet forum rant to try to reflect the kinda silly comment you made about using that as a source of info about what superhero comics are like. Internet discussions are often not a reliable source, as I'm no doubt demonstrating! Hence at the end referring to 'Clark, Lois and Lex' to emphasize the silliness of making any of this seem personal and real.

Anyway I did take the opportunity try to refute a couple of the more simplistic and stereotypical statements you made, in your admitted ignorance. For example that superhero comics don't have beginning, middles and ends. That is clearly nonsense and lets hope we don't need to list examples as they are many and easy to find. Some superhero stories are open ended (mind read (or don't come to think of it) Grant Morrison's wonderful run on Batman which plays with this very idea), very few of them involve patrolling roof tops looking for crime anymore, though again I'll not shy away from admitting I enjoy some that do, daft though it is (as an adult I'm entirely capable of distilling this element into the fantasy you so readily accept elsewhere). I therefore also pointed out, using the different example of Mills and Boon, that people satisfy different needs from reading and you're 'superior' view of what should be read is from a very narrow perspective that shows no awareness of these different needs held by other people. I could go on more about this but I'd only serve to drag my meandering waffle out, suffice to say that type of elitist view of what qualifies as good reading is not only subjective and narrow minded but can also led to dangerous decisions being made about what should be made available to people to read and how people should be educated in what they read.

ANNNNYYYYWWWWWAAAYYYYYY

Sorry if you didn't feel I didn't pay you enough attention and I genuinely couldn't give two hoots if you don't like superhero comics. That's entirely fine and completely rational, most people who share this view have expressed that idea very nicely here. I don't like the little jazz I've made myself aware of. What I objected to is the condescending way that you talk about people that do, even from your admitted position of ignorance.

When I'm 'sneering' you'll know about it.

Oh cool is there an emoticon type thing you are going to use to tell us?

[Spaceghost]

I'm nit speaking from a position of ignorance. I've read hundreds of superhero comics and I dare say I was doing so before you were born. That's why I feel like this about them.

I don't think I was being condescending, I certainly didn't intend to be. I was replying on a thread called 'I dont like superheroes anymore. Do you like superheroes?' so I don't think I was out of order. I wasn't specifically targeting you. I've already said that I should have shut up and not said whatever it was I said in my original comment.

Sorry to all the superhero fans I've upset. You keep buying this stupid shit and they'll keep churning it out!

Now I'm off to read my clever comics wot clever people like.

[Mabs]

I haven't seen Colin so angry before! 

[Theblazeuk]

< Ah given the below forget this section >.

Superhero comics are long, magnificent stories in a shared universe. I treasure the enjoyable stuff and I edit out the things I didn't enjoy or that were (as can often happen) excreable in their most basic concept. Even at the current time of scarce eatings I would heartily recommend Animal Man's Rotworld arc and every last issue of Dial H for Hero.

[Spaceghost]

It says very clearly under my avatar that I'm 'a bastard with no manners', it's not as if I've made a secret of it.

I'll admit that, as usual, I've 'gone off on one' and pissed someone off quite needlessly. It's nowt new. I'm famous for it at work. At least this wasn't a discussion about religion. I've had a few fucking scrapes from being unable to bite my tongue on THAT subject.

Sorry Colin. I'm sure there ARE decent superhero comics out there and I'll endeavour not to judge people based on their reading habits in future. (unless it IS Heat magazine, in which case they're an empty-headed fuckwit)

[Link Prime]

And they all agreed that 2000AD was the bestest comic there ever was, and lived happily ever after.