Our Changing Times (It's not just tobacco)
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I understand what you are saying and agree. Thing is if I comment more I will go postal on society in general.
Comics are a business. They depend on new readers to survive so need new story lines to get peoples attention. If people were buying the traditional titles writers wouldn't be exploring alternate heroes.
I'm with OP and saintpeter. Though some of these titles have sold well, I believe many are going down in sales again. A new gimmick or five cover designs have all the collectors thinking millions of dollars only cost them 3.99.
It's just a sign that fantasy and dreams are a thing of the past to placate the PC croud. When was the last time anyone went to a Long John Silver's where the store was made to look like a pirate ship, or when was the last time Ronald McDonald was seen? Anyone remember when Wonder Woman was powerless, or what pink Kryptonite does?
$3.99? You gotta be #@@%** kidding me. I was bent out of shape when they went from ten cents to twelve. Of course now they aren't comics they are graphic novels.
Nah, unless they are around 200 pages, they are still comics to me. Where are they $3.99? Around here they are $5.00.
I always miss "the originals," whether it's James Bond or Star Wars. However, it bears noting that this is how mythology has always worked. The characters over time, told by different story tellers, shape shift and transmogrify (sorry, I had to use that word, that just means transform). There was a huge shift between Greek and Roman gods, but many of the characters were essentially the same, though their names changed. I'm sure the Greeks disdained the Roman sequels, and the Romans saw the Greek versions as sadly antiquated. Then Christian society came along and borrowed some and replaced a lot.
How about this: like all art, comic books are simply reflecting the times we live in - which includes massive amounts of racial, social, and economic injustice and a government actively working to make these things worse. The 40s reflected anti-German/Japanese WWII themes, the 50s were full of commie-paranoia, the 60s and 70s were full of civil rights, anti-Vietnam war and other anti-establishment themes, the 80s were nuclear war doom and gloom....
The fact that comics are full of these issues tells us an important thing about American society: there is still a huge amount of racism and other forms of injustice which cannot be dismissed as just "PC". If you don't like 'em, don't read 'em.
As for teenage angst, that's been a theme of comics since the beginning.
The fact that comics are full of these issues tells us an important thing about American society: there is still a huge amount of racism and other forms of injustice which cannot be dismissed as just "PC". If you don't like 'em, don't read 'em.
As for teenage angst, that's been a theme of comics since the beginning.
It is indeed the economics which drive comic books. They either get new readers who are being raised differently than earlier generations, a normal progression, or they go broke without customers. They are simply responding to a changing society. Comics aren't leading the charge, they are simply following along, finding where the money is.
They are "graphic novels" to the older readers who wouldn't be caught dead reading a "comic" while reading their comics. Today's comics are a lot different than my generation's though. Usually darker and science fiction was relegated to "Classics Illustrated" dumbed down Jules Verne and the like.
They are "graphic novels" to the older readers who wouldn't be caught dead reading a "comic" while reading their comics. Today's comics are a lot different than my generation's though. Usually darker and science fiction was relegated to "Classics Illustrated" dumbed down Jules Verne and the like.
This is an interesting point. Imagination is dead.
There is a political agenda behind everything, with different groups warring it out. Some ideas are realistic, and others are not. If you tolerate unrealistic ones, you get more of them, and they take over. Then your civilization dies.
There used to be a thing called "entertainment". Personally, I've found it very difficult these days to find a movie, comic book or even an opera that hasn't been twisted into a serious social commentary piece and emptied of any entertainment value.
@deathmetal - absolutely, the absence of Ronald McDonald and of pirate-themed Long John Silvers is totally a sign of the death of imagination - and of the evils of political correctness. I'm sick and tired of all these pirates and clowns droning on about cultural appropriation and fighting their rights to dress up in their stupid costumes. As you said, "Some ideas are realistic, and others are not." :rofl:
@brian64 - It's also "possible that the extent and severity of those issues/problems are a greatly" under-reported by the MSM (which includes Fox News, by the way). True, our instant-news, fb, youtube culture means we see a lot more that we otherwise would, but all that does is highlight that these problems still exist - and with the current administration have gone mainstream.
@brian64 - It's also "possible that the extent and severity of those issues/problems are a greatly" under-reported by the MSM (which includes Fox News, by the way). True, our instant-news, fb, youtube culture means we see a lot more that we otherwise would, but all that does is highlight that these problems still exist - and with the current administration have gone mainstream.
Their fortunes seem to be falling the more they do this. People want escapism or at least a good yarn, and instead we're getting political and commercial propaganda.
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