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Monday, January 17, 2005
I Belong to the Blank Generation
Before we get to the essay I would like to point you in the direction of Comic Book Galaxy's Street Angel contest. I think it's great idea because it doesn't just give the comics away to a contestant, it also gives the comic to that contestant's comic shop. I think that's a great way to spread the word about the book. Now, on to the complaining!
Every adult who reads superhero comics at one point must think to themselves why they read superhero comics in the first place, considering that others their age have moved on to other forms of entertainment. There are many conclusions one can come to. Mine are that I like art and imagination. I enjoy the legacy of comic strip and book art that started with Roy Crane, Milt Caniff, Hal Foster and others. The torch was carried on into comic books by greats like Jack Kirby, Wallace Wood and Gil Kane. I feel there are some great artists making books right now like Pascal Ferry and Carlos Pacheco. I enjoy the imagination that an artist can communicate to readers or if a smart writer like Grant Morrison and Alan Moore works well with an artist like Frank Quietly or J.H. Willaims III to realize an imaginative story.
It is for those reasons that I just cannot write-off superheroes books entirely. Unfortunately I feel that Marvel and DC have written-off me.
Those two companies have centered a good portion of their superhero books around nostalgia for an era of comics I was not around for. For people in their later-twenties and thirties DC and Marvel have got your number. Chris Claremont has what now seems like a permanent chair on Marvel’s mutant books. The world he created for those characters may seem tired and weary but it is the the only game in town. DC is enjoying looking back with their books as well. Green Lantern: Rebirth, Identity Crisis and no doubt this upcoming 20th Anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths event reward readers who have read and memorized all of the stories of these characters but they mean nothing to anybody else, certainly not for those who were born to early to read the original books when they came out. There’s nothing wrong with being someone who is so knowledgeable about these situations and find a thrill in seeing them revisited. It is just that anyone who is not as invested in the history of a classic JLA line-up or a long forgotten X-Man is left wondering “did I get here late?”
These books are serious about their subject matters. They act like the stakes are high, that they have something important to say. Why else are they “long-awaited” and “earth-shattering?” In the end, though, these stories have no meaning outside of taking a darker or complex look at a character that was originally created to entertain children. Some may see childrens entertainment as degrading for these superheroes. I would put forth that it is a much more agreeable way to tell stories than to pile on the impenetrable references and situations that only create drama if you can remember the whole history of Green Arrow or Kitty Pryde off the top of your head. It is as if these books have no problem that they are running in circles. Certainly the long-time fans do not care, even if it means that anyone younger (or just anyone unfamiliar with continuity) that shows a little interest in a book feels like they need a guidebook.
Creators themselves have spoken on such matters. At “The Panel” on silverbulletcomicbooks.com Devin Grayson (whose comics aren’t good but statements sometimes are) shares this information about working at DC:
Over the past few years there has been a dramatic and noticeable shift in the majority of monthly books towards broadly reaching continuity inclusion... this is great for the fan boy, and completely alienating for the neophyte. The last editorial memo I got from DC included references to events from both Zero Hour and Crisis - *I* can barely get my brain around *that*, forget about the novice reader!
Warren Ellis certainly knows what it is like in the trenches at both companies has this observation:
In the commercial Marvel/DC axis, triggering conversation is often just a matter of cleverly manipulating the characters that that longtime hardcore audience grew up with.
It is harder to get those of us who did not grow up with those characters to react so it seems like Marvel and DC have given up trying at all. No doubt there are great things that can be done with pre-established continuities. Tom Stoppard proved that with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Frank Miller condensed half a century of Batman mythos into the landmark Drank Knights Return. It is when creators take the easy way out and create stories that depend on an audience’s knowledge of trivia while crafting a story that most people will find impossible to relate to is where the problem is.
DC and Marvel offer a few alternatives but their flagship books are now being tailored to an audience that is small but loyal. Can you imagine a more likely decision made by companies that are renowned for a lack of long-term vision? People around my age (I am 21) have absolutely no reason to go for the books that make DC and Marvel’s name. The problem is not that they are decades old characters. The problem is that they are written like decades old characters.
It is most distressing when a book I like ends up in “fanboy territory.” I enjoyed the first issue of Adam Strange by Andy Diggle and the aforementioned Ferry. I couldn’t afford to pick up the series month after month but chose to wait for the trade. Now I find out that is setting up for some DC crossover that will lead into this Crisis Anniversary (second item down). All I wanted was some fun adventures of a guy in a jetpack. Pacheco is doing art for the current arc of Superman/Batman, which Mike Sterling has alerted us is unfriendly to those not well versed on the DCU, only to follow it up with the new Green Lantern book, written by Geoff Johns who is writing Green Lantern: Rebirth. I am willing to pay for their books but DC and Marvel repel me. I am not the demographic they are going for so why create superhero books I would be interested in? DC at least does have alternatives in their Vertigo and Wildstorm lines (and I have my own quarrels about their alternatives) but with Marvel it is all about turning around old properties. When I want books that are not of the superhero genre, which is more often than not these days, I have better places to go than The Big Two. For superhero books that are far scarcer choices.
When I want my superhero fix I find myself reading the original stories of these characters, stories older than myself and those Marvel and DC are trying to seduce, more than I read the current ones. The Broome/Kane Green Lantern and Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four had no real continuities then, almost everything was brand new. Creators had to be a lot more creative and in these cases they were. The stories are not meant to be taken seriously but instead provide fun combined with excellent craftsmanship. “Superheroes are fine as long as they know their place” according to Alan Moore. At Marvel and DC, who have such a corner on the market they have copyrighted the name superhero, they feel that place is to give a rush to select few while everyone else is left out. How about instead of that, why not come up with stories that can entertain anyone no matter what their knowledge of the characters are?
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