R.I.P. Stan Lee
Today we saw the day that we always knew would happen but never wanted to believe actually would.
Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95. He had lived a long, productive life for sure, and that's a great thing. But with his passing marks the end of an era.
When I was a kid, I couldn't get out much. Asthma kept me housebound a lot. When I could get out, it was usually only to school. I got bullied there so there wasn't any reason I wanted to go out. One day, I came across some old comics on a shelf in the basement of a department store. They came three to a bag and they were all old comics. I begged my mom to buy them and as soon as we got home I tore open the bag to read my new treasures. One of the books was an old issue of Amazing Spider-Man written by Stan Lee. I was already familiar with him and Spidey, as I was a regular reader of the Spider-Man newspaper strip written by Lee.
It seemed like this comic book was written for me! Here's this scrawny kid, bullied at school, feeling out of place in the world, then, through some freak science accident he can lift cars! He had normal problems and at the end of the day, still had to deal with these problems even after fighting some super-villain. I could relate to him (well, not the super-villain part) and his world seemed very realistic. I was hooked.
From there it was an obsession. When school had been hard and the bullies had been bullying, I could always count on comics to ease my mind, I have Stan, along with Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, to thank for that. They built the world that I was allowed to visit from time to time and even though they're all gone now, that world lives on and that legacy is incredible, fantastic, amazing.
Stan Lee, I learned a lot about life from your words and your characters and I'll be eternally grateful for what you've given the world, Thank you. Excelsior!
Monday, November 12, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2018
Marvel! Here's how to be cool again! really, really cool!
It's apparently been about four years since my last entry so since I have some free time, why not add another one. I'd like for this to be semi-regular, but who knows?
I started this blog to discuss comic book stuff. The comics themselves, the movies & shows, post reviews, etc. But I have to use this space for commentary on the semi-sad state of things comics-wise these days. HAVE to.
I came back to comics in 2008 after a few years away and noticed a few things. Chief among those things was the fact that comics aren't made for us "old timers" anymore. I get it. Times change and so does the potential audience. I can't really speak for DC because I've only recently started checking out that rack again, but I understand they pull some of the same shenanigans as Marvel, but I'm sticking to Marvel with this one. Here's some things wrong with the way Marvel does things and how they can fix them, from somebody who really cares.
First, stop adjusting the status quo of the 616 universe to synch up with the 199999 universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Remember when Avenger's (the movie) first came out? It was amazing and almost pitch-perfect. But then the steady lineup for the next few years was the same in the books: Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Widow & Hulk. Every single time. Plus, in the books it was never explained why Hulk was even back on the team! We had to assume that something happened off panel between World War Hulk and the Avengers relaunch in 2012/13 that allowed him to be welcomed back to the team with open arms.
Also, the costumes changed to match the movie counterparts. Some changed back like Cap, but Hawkeye hasn't worn the purple butterfly mask nor has Wanda worn the classic witch headband since their movie debuts. A minor thing, maybe, but unnecessary, and don't even get me started on the whole Whiplash mess.
Second, stop writing everything as if it's a trade or a novel. Single issue stories are cool as hell. Most of us grew up on them. The 4,5,6 issue plots should always be the exception, never the rule. This whole thing can basically be traced back to Brian Bendis's "decompressed" story telling style and Joe Quesada's eagerness to please Bendis so much that the "Marvel way" went out the door in place of "Bendis's way". Plus A,B,C plotting went the way of the dodo bird, which is a tragedy.
Not every story needs to be six issues and in fact, most don't NEED to. I can provide an example of how to do this properly: Amazing Spider-Man during the O'Neill/Stern years. Mostly single issue, or at most two issue stories, with plenty of characterization, almost always a super-villain(A different one each month!), and multiple plotlines. In the whole run from 201-251 there's only ONE storyline that goes beyond three issues! Why? because those guys wrote COMICS not trades or novels.
Another aspect to that is that people who read superhero comics like super-villains as well. with the way things are written these days, we're lucky if we see more than two a year. Spidey has almost literally a million bad guys to choose from but if it takes six issues to fight Whatever-color-i-am-this-month Goblin and another six months to fight Doc Ock, well what hope do we fans of Stegron, Looter, Delilah or Cardiac have?
The best way to get people who can write the books the way they should be? Re-open the submissions office. Instead of getting only New York Times best selling authors or only Manga-inspired artists you would be to going back to taking submissions from regular comic book fans. This falls directly on you, new Editor-In-Chief C.B. Cebulski. If I remember correctly, you used to run the submissions office and closed it in favor of internet talent. Stop looking just online and have people MAIL you stuff. People that know how to write and draw for the comics.
Finally, STOP WITH THE CONSTANT NUMBER ONES!!!!! You brought back the legacy numbering, rightfully so, only to take it away again. You claimed it was "confusing". I've yet to hear any comics fan complain about that. More likely it was either the sales department wanting new number ones to boost sales or the new writers on various books making demands like "I'll write it if I can start with number one". I've heard from a few creators that this happens and it needs to stop. It's simple: you want the book, you take over with #326. Done. Bigger numbers show a new audience that something is worth reading--it has staying power. It must be worth my time and money if it's popular enough to have reached triple digits. If I were a new comics fan now I'd be worried by all the new number ones every six months or so: "why does it keep starting over? Is it that hard to get right?" Hard Pass. Makes it even more confusing for us older readers too: " I need Punisher #1" " Sure which one?" "#1?" "Yeah which #1?" --see? confusing. # 598 looks cooler on a cover than #1 (vol.75) any day.
There you go, Marvel, some ways to help you guys put out better books. Oh, and maybe only put out 20 instead of 50 a month. Quality, not quantity. Although, if you follow my suggestions, you'll have both: a huge quantity of fans reading quality books. You can do it, Marvel. I believe in you.
I started this blog to discuss comic book stuff. The comics themselves, the movies & shows, post reviews, etc. But I have to use this space for commentary on the semi-sad state of things comics-wise these days. HAVE to.
I came back to comics in 2008 after a few years away and noticed a few things. Chief among those things was the fact that comics aren't made for us "old timers" anymore. I get it. Times change and so does the potential audience. I can't really speak for DC because I've only recently started checking out that rack again, but I understand they pull some of the same shenanigans as Marvel, but I'm sticking to Marvel with this one. Here's some things wrong with the way Marvel does things and how they can fix them, from somebody who really cares.
First, stop adjusting the status quo of the 616 universe to synch up with the 199999 universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Remember when Avenger's (the movie) first came out? It was amazing and almost pitch-perfect. But then the steady lineup for the next few years was the same in the books: Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Widow & Hulk. Every single time. Plus, in the books it was never explained why Hulk was even back on the team! We had to assume that something happened off panel between World War Hulk and the Avengers relaunch in 2012/13 that allowed him to be welcomed back to the team with open arms.
Also, the costumes changed to match the movie counterparts. Some changed back like Cap, but Hawkeye hasn't worn the purple butterfly mask nor has Wanda worn the classic witch headband since their movie debuts. A minor thing, maybe, but unnecessary, and don't even get me started on the whole Whiplash mess.
Second, stop writing everything as if it's a trade or a novel. Single issue stories are cool as hell. Most of us grew up on them. The 4,5,6 issue plots should always be the exception, never the rule. This whole thing can basically be traced back to Brian Bendis's "decompressed" story telling style and Joe Quesada's eagerness to please Bendis so much that the "Marvel way" went out the door in place of "Bendis's way". Plus A,B,C plotting went the way of the dodo bird, which is a tragedy.
Not every story needs to be six issues and in fact, most don't NEED to. I can provide an example of how to do this properly: Amazing Spider-Man during the O'Neill/Stern years. Mostly single issue, or at most two issue stories, with plenty of characterization, almost always a super-villain(A different one each month!), and multiple plotlines. In the whole run from 201-251 there's only ONE storyline that goes beyond three issues! Why? because those guys wrote COMICS not trades or novels.
Another aspect to that is that people who read superhero comics like super-villains as well. with the way things are written these days, we're lucky if we see more than two a year. Spidey has almost literally a million bad guys to choose from but if it takes six issues to fight Whatever-color-i-am-this-month Goblin and another six months to fight Doc Ock, well what hope do we fans of Stegron, Looter, Delilah or Cardiac have?
The best way to get people who can write the books the way they should be? Re-open the submissions office. Instead of getting only New York Times best selling authors or only Manga-inspired artists you would be to going back to taking submissions from regular comic book fans. This falls directly on you, new Editor-In-Chief C.B. Cebulski. If I remember correctly, you used to run the submissions office and closed it in favor of internet talent. Stop looking just online and have people MAIL you stuff. People that know how to write and draw for the comics.
Finally, STOP WITH THE CONSTANT NUMBER ONES!!!!! You brought back the legacy numbering, rightfully so, only to take it away again. You claimed it was "confusing". I've yet to hear any comics fan complain about that. More likely it was either the sales department wanting new number ones to boost sales or the new writers on various books making demands like "I'll write it if I can start with number one". I've heard from a few creators that this happens and it needs to stop. It's simple: you want the book, you take over with #326. Done. Bigger numbers show a new audience that something is worth reading--it has staying power. It must be worth my time and money if it's popular enough to have reached triple digits. If I were a new comics fan now I'd be worried by all the new number ones every six months or so: "why does it keep starting over? Is it that hard to get right?" Hard Pass. Makes it even more confusing for us older readers too: " I need Punisher #1" " Sure which one?" "#1?" "Yeah which #1?" --see? confusing. # 598 looks cooler on a cover than #1 (vol.75) any day.
There you go, Marvel, some ways to help you guys put out better books. Oh, and maybe only put out 20 instead of 50 a month. Quality, not quantity. Although, if you follow my suggestions, you'll have both: a huge quantity of fans reading quality books. You can do it, Marvel. I believe in you.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
This comic book stuff is pretty damn cool!
WELCOME TO A COMIC BLOG BY A COMICS FAN!
As a lifelong comics fan, I've been called a lot of things. Nerd. Dork. Loser. Fanboy. Okay, that last one only happened once and I realize it's not necessarily an insult. Point being, I spent a lot of my childhood and teen years secretly loving, while feeling openly embarrassed about, the world of comic books.Back when I was in school, it wasn't "cool" to like comics. It got you beat up a lot. It also didn't gain you too many friends. Even within my adult life, early on, it was tough. I once wore a Batman logo t-shirt to work (it was the overnight shift, no uniforms, who cares, right?) and took some lumps for that, too. Once in a while I even hid my face from view as I entered the comic shop, so nobody I knew would see me. It didn't feel right. But it felt like it was what I was supposed to do.
Back then there were movies about comic characters. Mostly terrible ones with zero plot and special effects made with about a 50 cent budget. Then Tim Burton made "Batman" and it was kind of good! Even critics loved it! "Joker" pants even became the thing to wear for a short time. Life was good for comics fans. Until "Batman Returns" came out, then it was a case of "Oh yeah! Now we remember why we made fun of that shit!" So...back to hiding my face I went.
Fast forward a decade. Riding on the success of the first "Blade" film, Marvel decided to put serious cash and a real director on an "X-Men" movie and it was huge! It was actually good! Semi-realistic (as much as these things can be) and people saw it and loved it! Not just "comic book geeks" either. People who just wanted to see a good action flick with a real storyline. People who were fans of director Bryan Singer. Hell they even manged to secure big-name actors like Patrick Stewart & Halle Berry for the movie! This was serious!!
Only this time, the hoopla didn't die down. Next came "Hulk", "Spider-Man" & a second "X-Men" movie that was even better than the first! Holy crap it was cool! Everyday people were finding out what we "geeks" had always known: that this comic book stuff is pretty damn cool!
Now, it just doesn't seem right if six months goes by without a superhero movie. But here's the really cool part...it's not all superheroes! It's gangsters, zombies, oddball kids befriending weird old guys. One of the biggest cable hits ever is based off comics. Expensive, legendary Hollywood people are taking roles in these movies! Honestly, if someone would've told me 25 years ago that someday Robert Redford, Anthony Hopkins, Sally Field, & Michael Caine would all be in comic book movies I'd think they were nuts, but now it's almost as if it's something every distinguished actor wants to do. Comic books are freakin' huge, serious-money business and whole families are even going to the comic shops together now, and I haven't even mentioned the girls!
Now, I don't hide my face anymore. I don't have to, I'm a grown-ass man. Plus, there's no need to anymore. I feel proud that I know all these characters' histories and connections. I'm the guy people go to when they want to know "Hey, what's the deal with that Tesseract thing?" or "What's the story with Hawkeye & Black Widow?" That's a good feeling. As long as I remember to keep it short and to-the-point.
One final note, recently, my 74-year-old mom (who once tore up one of my "damn" comics and acted like it was no big deal) saw Avengers on cable and enjoyed it. Since she had nothing but time on her hands then, I suggested that she might like to see the three that preceded it, to get the whole story. So in the course of a few days, she watched Marvel's big three in chronological order and enjoyed them (Although I believe she liked "Thor" best). Not too long after that, I asked her what she thought and she said they were good. Then, the clincher: she told me that by watching the movies, she finally sees what I got out of those "damn" comics. She saw there were stories to be told, worlds to visit, that each individual character had their own story and she FINALLY saw the value in that. Outwardly, I said something to the effect of "Oh yeah? Cool.", but on the inside, I was saying "Told ya so".
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