Post by G on Dec 13, 2011 20:53:31 GMT -5
Playing the devil's advocate again.
Shooter also helped to create a lot of crap that we have to put up with now of days. the crossover events (Contest of Champions, The Secret Wars, The Secret Wars II, and Unity). Hell Shooter paved the the way for mini-series, limited series, maxi-series, one-shots, and digital coloring. He allowed Miller to kill Electra off (even though according to Miller Electra was more popular than Daredevil was at the time).
He also started the trend of stupid PR stunts like Spider-Man's black costume, the deaths of Phoenix, Captain Marvel, and the New Universe.
How can you guys support the man who basically helped about everything in comics that you claim to hate?
End of being the Devil's advocate. For now at least, unless anyone else want to take over the role of Devil's advocate?
Lots of things are great the 1st few times around. Anything can be overused and abused. Even great sex can get old if you keep doing it the same way every time.
It's one thing to be the innovator. The guy who tries it 1st. Its great when someone breaks new ground. It's when it's played out over and over that it becomes nauseating.
Because I was around at the time to live it...
Marvel Superheroes Contest of Champions was exciting because up until then a mini-series had NEVER been done. And what made it exciting was never before had every superhero Marvel had created (and a few they had not yet created) all came together for one 3 issue series. Yes, looking back, it wasn't all that great of a story but it was a first and you know what made it great? They went right back to concentrating on all their regular series after that.
Same thing with Secret Wars I and II. You see back then, Mini and Maxi Series were events. It wasn't like we had 15 mini and maxi series going on all at the same time. No, we only had this ONE at that one time. It was an event and it played out and when it was over, the concentration went back to the regular long playing series. It wasn't overplayed. It was spaced out. And the emphasis wasn't on making your mainstream books into Maxi-series and TPB's.
Even though the Mini and Maxi Series seen birth, it was used for special occasions. The event would happen and then things would go back to normal. There were actually semi-long periods of time before the next mini or maxi came out. And when it did come out, you actually wanted it. It was an event! But what made it even greater, it wasn't the only vehicle in town. It came, it went and life as we knew it continued on. It didn't replace the way we knew things like it does today. Now its the main way things happen. (Mini or Maxi series INSTEAD of ongoing series).
Unity, took a Universe of titles and joined all the story arcs together into one (hence Unity). It showed just how complex and well thought out the Valiant Universe was. And yet it was done so well (At the time) that all their worlds collided seamlessly into one arc. At that time, it was an event. Up until then, Valiant hadn't tried it before. Shooter was pretty much gone once it was over. And even if you didn't do Unity, each individual title lived on its own merits.
The concepts of mini and maxi series arent bad. It's the implementation and overkill of the format that destroys what those vehicles are capable of.
Costume changes have been around forever. Ive never been opposed to costume changes. Unless the change was just flat out bad. But typically its been a way to date the character. Think of all the looks Iron Man has had since his original appearance. Did we want him to look like a Soda Can even now? I don't think we do, but it is damn cool to work your way back to when he did look like that. So primitive. So unlike how we know him now. I think going back on characters and how they looked back in the day has always been appealing for me. To be honest, I think a lot of characters looked better 25 years ago than they may look now. But even still, its not always the look of the character that makes it bad, its more likely the style of the artist that makes a look look like shit.
Death's suck and have always been a sucky way to do things but at least back then when it happened, you could count on characters being dead at least awhile. Captain Marvel was dead nearly 2 decades. Phoenix made it a good 6 years or so before she came back to life. And guess what else.....it didn't happen all the time and namely it didn't happen to it's biggest stars. Back then it would have been unheard of to kill off say Captain America or Superman and some of the other bigger characters of the day. Nowadays we kill them off just long enough for sales to be hurting because of the missed sales and bring them right back as soon as that starts to happen. And we just spread death around like it's a roulette wheel of who is going to die this year (or month). How long will it be before your favorite character dies? No at least back in my day, even though death sucked. It was rare when it happened. And at least when it did happen, it wasn't like they was back within a year. No, they were on a long hiatus. For a time, they at least seemed dead. We actually would miss the character. Again, the practice wasn't so bad as much as the overuse and overkill of the practice like it is today. Back then, it was a lot more original. Today, its more or less you couldn't figure what else to do with the character to drive up sales than to kill them off. Today its a lot more of a sign of a lack of talent.
I don't hate the concepts of the past that are used today. I hate the implementation. There was innovation back in the day, not copy cats. Not things we've rehashed over and over again and again. We didn't put out more comics that were to become mini, maxi or TPB's than we did ongoing monthly serials like we do today. Back then ongoing series were the force in comics. Look at a copy of Previews today and when you see the solicitations for new comics, notice how many advertisements say "Issue blank of blank" and how many don't. Back in the day, they thought a lot more about the future or a title or a character than 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12 months and then calling it quits. Comics were more than 1 story back then. Comics had far more plot scenarios going on at the same time in unending, overlapping sequences. Comics has a main story going on and often scenes of previewing something that was going to happen 6 months from now, while at the same time updating a scene that had been taking place for 12 months straight and all at the same time as it ended yet another side story. Comics lived in layers back then. Not one and dones.
It was just a tighter better run ship back then. More thought out, involved, tighter and professional. I lived through both then and now (not just now or recently like the last 20 years) and it was just run better back then.
I'm convinced....because I lived through all of it and experienced all of it.