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It has been mentioned in numerous threads that comics readers are too easily pleased. I completely disagree. In almost all mediums there is a mass appeal audience and a niche audience. Just because Danielle Steele sells in the millions does not mean that there are not people who have a critical eye for fiction. Likewise, listening in on a discussion about the relative merits of the Hulk is more like joining an Oprah book club. It's not representative of all readers, or even the full scope of interests for those readers who do indulge in the topic.
For example, in the Film Forum you'll find numerous references to "low brow" films. Just a gander at the Top 5 thread shows that not everyone's tastes are high brow. This shouldn't be construed as my being elitist. Just because I can appreciate the humour of Ski School doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the works of Orson Welles. Likewise, I can talk about Alpha Flight in one thread, and try to start something about Gasoline Alley in another.
Finding good critical writing on any artform takes some digging. I have a critical biography of Little Orphan Annie and her creator Harold Gray, as well as a magazine that has numerous essays on the political slant of the strip. And that's just one strip. The Comics Journal, despite it's faults, is crammed with critical and investigative reporting. Complaining about a lack of deep comic related thought is more likely due to the inability or unwillingness of the person to seek it out.
So far as the lack of meaningful talk in this forum, and the apparent dearth of discussion pertaining to non-superhero comics, I think that has more to do with the amount of comics we read which we have in common. Like Flux said in the Policy, I too have been tempted to include topics on comics not normally discussed here, yet whenever I've tried, they've gone largely ignored. The death of cartooning great Hank Ketcham goes without one response, but a thread consisting of three preview pages of New X-Men art often goes into two or three pages. This isn't necessarily a complaint. It's just an observation. On another site I visit, the same two topics had an inverse amount of posts. I'm sure Flux would love to talk about Drawn and Quarterly's output, but only the two of us, and maybe one or two more people, would even respond. I'm currently involved in four different comic message boards, each responsive to different topics according to my interest. Add to that the fact that some topics of conversation aren't actually readily available to all people, and that most everybody have to be choosy about how they spend their money on entertainment, and I can see why a limited release film like Ghost World didn't get the conversation that some people wanted.
Myself, I prefer to talk about general, theoretical topics in the comics forum, anyways. That way the indy kids and the mainstream kids (and the kids who liek both) can all play together. |
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