I realized last week that I am not enjoying comics as much as I once did, as I have for most of my life. I'm not sure it's comics' fault. Twenty-twenty has been a rough year for everyone, and it's still far from over. Maybe I'm just having a mid-year crisis.
The last time I felt this way about comics was in 2011 when the New 52 initiative steamrolled over the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe. I got over that (forgiven, not forgotten). Maybe I'll get over this. But there is another, bigger problem that's cropped up since 2011: I don't enjoy going to the comic shop anymore.
A couple of years ago, ownership of my Local Comic Shop changed hands, and the people I used to know who worked and shopped there are long gone. You really don't know what a difference it makes to have a great relationship with your Local Comic Shop until it's gone. Even before the pandemic started, the new management with its new business philosophy began cutting orders to reduce stock beyond pull requests, and I'm starting to discover that they often don't have books I want after final order cutoff. (Not that I want a ton these days. I could complain about so many things, but let's say no monthly ongoing featuring Booster Gold is the tip of that iceberg.)
Comics have gotten expensive enough that I was already watching the proverbial purse strings. Now, in addition to exorbitant cover prices, will I have to add the time cost traveling an hour or more to find the few books I want? Or worse, will I need to add the price of shipping to any future acquisitions? If I didn't already have a basement full of long boxes holding decades of stories, I might consider going digital, but the publishers charge the same price for paper as they do for DRM rentals. After decades of being told that by publishers we have to pay more for the good paper, there's no way I'm paying the same price for a comic "printed" on virtual pixels. (I assume the publishers do that to appease the direct marketeers. I, however, am not one of those, and I feel very unappeased.)
That's all to say that it's starting to become a hassle for me to get my hands on the comics that I'm not even sure I want to read anymore, and I'm frustrated that I don't have any good solutions for those problems right now. Maybe I will later.
Can 2020 please end soon?
| | Tags: 2020 nothing to see here rant
Erin posted on Sep. 7, 2020 at 5:11 PM
I've seen a number of people feeling this way about current comics lately and talked about it some. I do think a big part of it is lack luster writing in general, I'm reading old back issues and noticed a big change. Relationships between characters aren't nearly as close, take the bat family for example. Ever since the New 52 I've never got the impression their a group of people that actually like each other during events. Most of the time (with the exception of a few solo issues that actually have on panel bonding) I get the impression they barely function as a unit. I'd love to see them just hanging out, watching a movie or even eating dinner together. To have them work on their problems together instead of ignoring them.
More storylines get affected by editorial mandates to the point many plots under one title are dropped even though it makes no sense in the story. Beloved characters are tarnished with little reason besides apparent bias (Wally West comes to mind.) Fan favorites (like Harley Quinn) are given a big push even if the new direct doesn't make sense because there's not nearly enough build up.
I've heard that DC will invest more in digital comics and reduce prices. Which would be awesome if it's true. I don't get as many comics and I'm considering dropping altogether after next month. At least until I hear something that might interest me with the rumored big change happens next year. If it involves writers who's style I don't care for I'm not picking anything up but if not I might give it a change if it sounds interesting enough. I was disappointed by Marvel to the point I became apathetic to it and dropped everything. I'm getting close to that with DC.
Bea posted on Sep. 8, 2020 at 2:23 PM
Your comments definitely match how I've felt recently. I don't feel like I've given up on comics though so much as they've given up on me.
Admittedly, its been a while since comics were probably aimed at my demographic as I got into comics in my early teens around the end of the original Crisis (my first DC Comic was actually Booster Gold #6 - it had an origin story and Superman in it so seemed like a good starting place) but I'm not sure who they are aimed at now for the most part. It doesn't often feel like kids given some of the stuff going on in them. DC in particular seems to be going through a prolonged phase of everything must change/break down/be bleak with no status quo or direction. The stories I had hoped for with Rebirth DC's aim of making things more hopeful and fun again were only with us for a short time. We had an excellent Superman by Tomasi and Jurgens that was fun again with some nice Booster guest appearances where Booster acted like Booster. We had the return of friendship in the Titans with Wally West back. That's all gone now it seems and its back to no one trusting each other and a dash of 90s darkness from what I can see from the few I've purchased. I really struggle to justify the expense of buying new comics these days given most times it just set me up for disappointment and with no local comic shop where I am anymore it makes it harder to flick through one on the rack and find something that appeals. I have to take a risk from a write up as to whether to order it online. As for digital, they are definitely overpriced and maybe I'm a luddite but I do miss that feel of a new comic book in hand. The alternative of buying collected editions from the Bronze Age and post-Crisis age do at least offer satisfying stories though I do worry about the pricing structure for some of the collections. At least we had a great Booster collection out recently and at the start of the year we did get the Conglomerate in a nice collection.
I do really enjoy your blogs and this website. Hope the mid-year crisis blues pass for you and all of us soon. It's been an odd 2020.
Jordan N. posted on Sep. 8, 2020 at 6:17 PM
You are definitely not alone. I resonated with what Bea and Erin shared as well. I haven't bought a brand new comic in years it feels like (maybe not since Booster's appearance in Action). That will change though with his upcoming appearance in Batman Beyond. I spend most of my time buying collected editions being put out reprinting older material or digging through back issues to fill in gaps in my collection (been grabbing a lot of JLI & JLE issues that I was missing). I especially like finding DC Comics from the 70's and 80's. This not especially easy to do here in the Philippines where I currently live. I sure miss walking into my LCS back in the US!
I think may Bea makes a good point that so much of comics today don't seem to be aimed at children, but they also aren't aimed at the older fans who grew up with comics. The decision-making is perplexing, and their continual chase after the elusive "new fan", although necessary for future survival, often seems poorly thought out, ironically short-sighted, and editorially strangled to death. And it feels like most of the pros who've worked in comics for the past couple of decades have been slowly weeded out, often in favor of celebrity hires from other mediums, rather than slowly raising up and honing new writers from within the comics community. I tend to keep my nose in the back issues because when I look at the current rack, it is abysmally depressing. Heroes don't act like heroes, characters don't act consistently with their historic portrayal, and continuity has largely been jettisoned.
But through it all, we will always have Booster to look back to and enjoy. He really should be a model for comics today of how to introduce a new character who stands on his own, how to grow that character over time, and how to even shift his status quo without losing what makes the character special or ignoring his history. Truly Booster Gold is the best character find from the past 35 years.
