079 - Comic Book Troubles
Jun. 15th, 2016 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkyI'm in HUGE trouble regarding comic books. I want back in.
For some EIGHT YEARS now, I have kicked the Monthly Comics habit, saving myself somewhere between $40 and $100 per month by only buying cheap back issues at conventions and garage sales. If it cost more than a dollar and was published before 1990, I didn't need it in my life any more. The direction of the comics publishing industry at the time was the exact opposite of why I liked comic books, and so i gave them up.
And now DC Comics has gone and made a bunch of comics i actually want/need to read, dammit!
It all started with their crazy ideas regarding some classic Hannah Barbara titles - not just the ideas, but also the way the executed it. They took four classic cartoon ideas - Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, Johnny Quest and The Wacky Races - and they Julie Schwartzed them.
(Julie Schwartz was the guy who arguably created the entire "Silver Age" of comics by telling a bunch of artists and writers to basically "go nuts" with the Super Hero comics of the day, taking the basic character names and concepts and then remaking them with only the slightest connection to their original Golden Age counterparts. Batman became more of a James Bond type, The Flash became a police scientist, Green Lantern was part of an Intergalactic Police Force, etc).
So we have these weird, wonderful ideas. Scooby-Doo is a weird apocalyptic tale. Johnny Quest is a strange inter-dimensional thing. Flintstones is a satirical take on society and religion. Wacky Races is a Mad Max crazy world. It's INSANE and FRESH and I LOVE IT!
But best of all? They didn't cancel any of the "classic" versions of these characters to do this. They didn't say "Okay, kids, from now on THIS is the only Scooby you get". I really admire that... it's just an alternate take on the characters, not and end of the originals :)
So because I was in the shop, I also ended up buying "Rebirth" #1 and fell in love. It's a full, self-aware reversal of the "Realistic" and "Gritty" direction comics had taken over the past ten years or so. The entire storyline in that first issue is about how we seem to have lost something... a sense of camaraderie and friendship and joy. Everything had become paranoid and confrontational and hopeless.
I had to have more of this, to see if they actually followed through. And BOY OH BOY DID THEY EVER! I bought the first Rebirth issues of Superman, Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man and Green Lanterns. This is important so I feel I need to type it in all caps -
I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED EVERY PAGE OF EVERY COMIC I READ, AND FELT HAPPIER ABOUT COMIC BOOKS THAN I CAN EVER REMEMBER. I came away feeling enthusiastic, inspired, and... and just plain old HAPPY :)
So now the big problem. They'll be releasing some 20 to 30 comics PER MONTH that i want to buy now. Even with their pricing policy of "We Draw The Line At $2.99", we're talking about a comics budget of at least sixty bucks a month :(
For some EIGHT YEARS now, I have kicked the Monthly Comics habit, saving myself somewhere between $40 and $100 per month by only buying cheap back issues at conventions and garage sales. If it cost more than a dollar and was published before 1990, I didn't need it in my life any more. The direction of the comics publishing industry at the time was the exact opposite of why I liked comic books, and so i gave them up.
And now DC Comics has gone and made a bunch of comics i actually want/need to read, dammit!
It all started with their crazy ideas regarding some classic Hannah Barbara titles - not just the ideas, but also the way the executed it. They took four classic cartoon ideas - Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, Johnny Quest and The Wacky Races - and they Julie Schwartzed them.
(Julie Schwartz was the guy who arguably created the entire "Silver Age" of comics by telling a bunch of artists and writers to basically "go nuts" with the Super Hero comics of the day, taking the basic character names and concepts and then remaking them with only the slightest connection to their original Golden Age counterparts. Batman became more of a James Bond type, The Flash became a police scientist, Green Lantern was part of an Intergalactic Police Force, etc).
So we have these weird, wonderful ideas. Scooby-Doo is a weird apocalyptic tale. Johnny Quest is a strange inter-dimensional thing. Flintstones is a satirical take on society and religion. Wacky Races is a Mad Max crazy world. It's INSANE and FRESH and I LOVE IT!
But best of all? They didn't cancel any of the "classic" versions of these characters to do this. They didn't say "Okay, kids, from now on THIS is the only Scooby you get". I really admire that... it's just an alternate take on the characters, not and end of the originals :)
So because I was in the shop, I also ended up buying "Rebirth" #1 and fell in love. It's a full, self-aware reversal of the "Realistic" and "Gritty" direction comics had taken over the past ten years or so. The entire storyline in that first issue is about how we seem to have lost something... a sense of camaraderie and friendship and joy. Everything had become paranoid and confrontational and hopeless.
I had to have more of this, to see if they actually followed through. And BOY OH BOY DID THEY EVER! I bought the first Rebirth issues of Superman, Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man and Green Lanterns. This is important so I feel I need to type it in all caps -
I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED EVERY PAGE OF EVERY COMIC I READ, AND FELT HAPPIER ABOUT COMIC BOOKS THAN I CAN EVER REMEMBER. I came away feeling enthusiastic, inspired, and... and just plain old HAPPY :)
So now the big problem. They'll be releasing some 20 to 30 comics PER MONTH that i want to buy now. Even with their pricing policy of "We Draw The Line At $2.99", we're talking about a comics budget of at least sixty bucks a month :(
no subject
Date: 2016-06-16 07:19 pm (UTC)So, unfortunately, what works for me won't work for you. Maybe talk to your friends about each subscribing to different lines of comics and lending them among each other?
I'm not big on gritty, so I wasn't really interested in some of the major DC comics. I am hearing such good things about DC's latest stuff that I might have to start looking into it. It's hard to find time for more than one shared universe, though! Hell, it can be hard to find time for the one! XD
no subject
Date: 2016-06-16 11:56 pm (UTC)I literally have no friends that buy new comics any more. They all grew up :(
I'm only two issues in to the whole Rebirth thing, but yet another thing I'm really enjoying about the new DC is that it's only barely a Shared Universe. They've gone back to the days of self-contained stories that are in their own settings - even the multi-title shenanigans of The Big Characters are more singular. "Superman" deals with Superman, but "Action Comics" deals with his supporting cast. "Batman" is Bruce Wayne, "Detective" is his supporting cast. So on and so forth. They're back to the idea that everyone *knows* everyone and they've teamed up a bit, but for the most part they are individual characters. I've missed that :)
no subject
Date: 2016-06-17 01:15 am (UTC)Bah, your friends didn't "grow up". They just grew less interesting. XD
Sounds like you've got some tough choices to make regarding which issues to subscribe to.