The direction of comics

[snacks]

Long time comic reader here,

What are your feelings about the direction of the major companies in comics nowadays? It feels like one crises after another arises. I think my final straw was Avengers Vs X-Men personally, not only because:

1) In typical fashion it retcon'd about what 5+ years of comics in about 11 issues
2) It seemed a little to rushed
3) It played heavily on tropes, (Phoenix) and it would have been really nice just to see them get down and dirty without some cosmic force swinging by to devour earth
4) This which basically if you haven't been paying attention to Marvel in a while pretty much reversed the effects of a pretty decent story about Wanda (Scarlett Witch) wiping out the powers of 99% of mutants in the universe

And it's not much better with the new DC 52 either, Superman and Wonder Woman are apparently a thing? The Green Lantern is Sinestro? What's going on here? I feel like they are dumbing down comics for people who are just now getting into them, which I don't have a problem with people getting into them cause that's awesome but.

Jesus.
No.

Anyways Earth 2 (DC) is kind of cool, in a world where Batman, Supes, and WW die and it kind of hands the mantle over to a second generation of Superheros, kind of like when the mantle was handed over to Supes, Batman, etc in our real continuity.

But other then that, comics I do not read anymore. (Other than the Goon but that's for other reasons)

What are your thoughts about comics nowadays? I personally like I said can't get into them, because without fully knowing what's going on it's like diving head first into ancient text that you can't decipher.

Also:

[krissy]

the new marvel now! hawkeye
saga
ultimate comics spider man
all worth reading
yeah i dont have the energy to follow all that other stuff though

[CimminyCricket]

I was really happy with the way that Geoff Jones ended his GL and pretty much sealed the stories. I would have been satisfied if there was never another GL comic book ever. Too bad it's all going to get retconned in a few years. :\ I stopped reading most comics from major publishers because I can't keep up with all the stuff that happened and then didn't happen, but is going to happen if it doesn't unhappen.

[snacks]

I hate retcons. No more mutants was really awesome, really smurfing awesome and gave a dynamic that was amazing to Marvel but got dangit they had to go and poop it up.

House of M is a quality read btw if you haven't picked it up.

Also GL.

[CimminyCricket]

I read some of House of M and I was really impressed with it. I use to DC > Marvel, but Marvel has been putting out some quality material lately. I'm a huge fan of the new Ultimate Spiderman. I'm really digging the direction they're taking it ( Ultimate > Superior). Avenging Spiderman was a really good read before I lost track of everything.

Another thing I hate about comics now is that (well this has been happening forever) is that there's multiple issues for a single character. I don't want to have to buy 9 issues just to read about my favorite comic book character (DC is especially guilty of this). If it's a tie in event, OK I can dig it. I just don't like it when it is an every day normal story, but if I want to finish it I need to buy BATMAN, BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE DARK KNIGHT, DETECTIVE COMICS.

That brings me to my next gripe: DC's name. DC stands for Detective Comics, but they're billed as DC Comics. What is this trout?

[snacks]

Yeah, House of M was really an impressive story as of late for Marvel. Well by late I mean years ago. They really flubbed a lot of the aftermath, like the Hope storyline, and then there after. I haven't had a chance to pick up Superior or Avenging but I hear it's good from my comic nerdy friends.

Yeah, if I want to read a comic, I want a singular storyline. I want one comic to read, I don't want to read 3 different tie in's or another comic to just to understand why The Flash or Iron Man said that "one thing" or whatever. I don't understand it but it seems to be happening a lot more lately. Especially with the new DCU and the Earth 2 thing. And yeah, Batman and CO have been splintered off into so many different comics now it's really almost impossible to keep up with them all. I think this all started when Batman came back from the dead, but maybe it's been going on for a while.

[Bolivar]

Haven't kept up too much with comics but the dumbing down started when those spider man and x men movies got really popular, maybe even before that. There's still great stuff that's not too hard to find.

Like the Batman New 52. Getting Greg Capullo to do the artwork was utterly genius. I forget who wrote it but that dude did an awesome job bringing some fresh ideas to such a prolific IP. There was also some legitimately innovative stuff for the medium as well, like the maze part where you have to keep turning the book... just check it out.

I also like a lot of the things Grant Morrison has done for the medium.

[snacks]

Grant Morrison!

Yeah the movies and what not, aside from First Class have been pretty lousy, I haven't watched any of the regular X-Men ones, and I think I saw the first Spiderman but that was it.

[Del Murder]

I've stopped caring about ongoing comic series ages ago because there is too much retconning. The only current superhero comic I like is Ultimate Spider-Man. It's usually fresh and stays true to the general themes of Spider-Man while putting a modern spin on it and not getting too convoluted. I also think Bendis is one of the better comic writers out there these days (I'll probably check out New Avengers soon). I also really like The Walking Dead, though that's really a complete 180 from Spidey.

[CimminyCricket]

I just hope that instead of bringing Parker back, they always keep Miles as the Ultimate Spiderman.

[Madame Adequate]

Don't give a trout about superhero comics because they're pretty much all terrible now. (Except Empire which was badass.) I mostly just learn what was well received after the fact or I see some interesting premise and I go root it out to read it. We're far from the days of Watchmen, Transmetropolitan, and The Sandman though (holy hell those were some good comics).

[Pike]

I prefer reading the old classic stuff over the newer stuff.

Silver Age/Bronze Age Marvel is where it's at, yo.

Marvel.com has specials sometimes where you can download a boatload of Spidey or Iron Man for free and it's gr8

[snacks]

I prefer reading the old classic stuff over the newer stuff.

Silver Age/Bronze Age Marvel is where it's at, yo.

Marvel.com has specials sometimes where you can download a boatload of Spidey or Iron Man for free and it's gr8

relevant to my interests imho

bendis is a great writer I agree, avengers disassembled was a great comic(s) and he has a way I wish I could do myself