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>>>Okay. So, the feeling is that there shouldn't be a division as far as super-hero comics go. They should be written in such a manner that anyone, from 7 - 67, should be able to pick them up and enjoy them.<<<
I think the primary audience for superhero comics should be younger kids, and the best ones will appeal to a secondary adult audience. Good story, well told, as Randy pointed out somewhere.
>>>And that the idea of "mature readers" super-hero stuff, such as MAX, Marvel Knights or Vertigo, is a bad thing.<<<
Yes. Note that Vertigo smartened up and moved away entirely from superhero ravamps.
Garth Ennis' Fury really annoyed me because I thought it was a crass and pointless perversion of a great character. I think Ennis is a very good (occasionally very great) writer but Fury is, in my mind, very misguided, and it irks me that he can take a solid character that has been built up over years and years of hard work and casually tear it down like a bully knocking over a sandcastle, just to appeal to "adult sensibilities." He should make up his own goddamned characters if he wants to do that. What would he say if thirty years from now someone dredged up Jesse Custer and revamped him in a way that completely contradicted the point of the original character?
(No "well, Preacher is creator-owned, so that'll never happen" type arguments, please, it's just an example)
It's far harder to create a compelling, emotionally-affecting story that DOESN'T rely on violence, sex, and shock tactics, and should be the true test of a creator's ability.
Subversion is not creation.
>>>And that, since super-heroes and Transformers were origninally intended for kids, they should always be for kids, albeit written in such a way that adults will enjoy them too.
Doesn't that really limit the writers and artists?<<<
Of course not, at least not the good ones. Talented creators will still be able to tell good stories - as has been proven by Marvel's entire output in the 60s and early 70s. If they feel the children's superhero genre is too limiting for the type of stories they want to tell, then for fuck's sake they should TRY ANOTHER GENRE, one that isn't for kids and can better accomdate the mature content.
I'm not saying ALL comics are for children. I am saying superhero comics should be.
>>>Comics aren't nearly interactive enough for kids today. If you can't do something with it, apart from read it, then it's no fun.<<<
I really don't believe this. I'm sure your individual experience as a retailer may indicate it, but I don't think it's because comics as a medium are boring - it's the content that's boring. A Hulk comic without the Hulk in it is boring.
(See Atlantis example elsewhere)
>>>What are the solutions then? It's an age old question. How do you get more kids to read comics? How do you introduce them to comics? How do you keep them interested?<<<
Maybe J.K. Rowling is someone to look to for example - she writes BOOKS, not even with pictures, and kids the world over seem utterly fascinated with them. Where's your video game argument now?
>>>Do we return to the Comics Code, so that everything is suitable for consumption by the most people?<<<
I don't think enforced censorship is the answer, but I think a degree of responsibility on the part of creators is in order - if you're going to decide to tell superhero stories, that's fine, but keep in mind that its a children's genre and tell the stories accordingly.
>>>What do I say to a 7-year old who's got Captain America Underoos, but can't buy the comic 'cause it's moved to Marvel Knights?<<<
This is the most affecting sentence in your post, and the one that I think sums up my frustration and anger perfectly. What DO you say?
(In my case, I'd say, "have a look at these Captain America comics - they were done by a guy named Jack Kirby..." And don't try to tell me that kids won't like it - I've tried it and it works)
>>>I think that the comic industry (that big ugly ogre that runs everything) knows that the vast majority of it's sales will be to late-teens, early-twenties guys, and caters to that. That's why we see so many "mature readers" versions of old heroes. Pure and simple money.<<<
But it's a dwindling market. Catering to them completely ignores the vastly larger potential audience.
I've seen editors at DC flat-out reject great stories because they violate some teeny little bit of "continuity" that's of interest only to the balding juvenile fatbeard audience. Shelving a great comic that could be enjoyed by MILLIONS because a few HUNDRED will be outraged that ten years ago in issue number x it was established that character y did this or that.
This is Not Right, and the sooner the comics companies stop bending over backwards to satisfy creepy middle-aged men who still live with their parents, and instead try to appeal to kids (future life-customers) and normal, socially-adjusted people, I thik the industry and medium will improve.
>>>And until the demographic changes, I can't see the medium changing.<<<
Chicken or the egg, really, innit? Until the medium changes, I can't see the demographic changing.
But I think it's very possible to change the medium.
[ 29-12-2001: Message edited by: CameronStewart ] |
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, though they're more willing to shell out $50 for a game than $3 for a comic.
