Event Comics and the Death Tolls That Love Them
DC has Infinite Crisis. Marvel has Horse (House) of M.
Both are designed to shake everything up. Both are also promicing big things to create a new status quo. Usually, part of this is done by use of heroic sacrifices. Usually doesn't exist anymore.
DC has gone to a state of having all their writers get together to decide to write a story, then take 2 years to get to the point where they can tell that story. While things are really shitty for the DC heroes, readers are seeing the heroes struggle and fight, proving their worth.
Marvel... that company is being run by a bunch of people who aren't very aware of the concept of audience. They think that if they kill a shitload of people, then the readers will think it's good storytelling. Two guys who are artistic, rather than audience-aware, are running Marvel, and everybody just has to deal.
OK, I'm pissed because in the most recent Horse of M issue, the last three words uttered are "No More Mutants." Then all the mutants are presumably eliminated. The final count of mutants, once this storyline is done will be in the hundreds.
I understand that there are a lot of bad series out there featuring mutants. I know that a lot of those characters are poorly developed. I know that it's a cheap excuse to give someone powers because they were born that way.
I also understand that the X-Men franchise is practically a money printing press. All you have to do is publish the shitty X-Men story and it'll be a top ten book. When you publish good X-Men stories, you get the number 1 book.
I also understand that poorly developed characters aren't bad characters, they just need someone to come up with an idea that allows those characters to become worthwhile.
Finally, I understand that getting powers from birth is an easy way to explain powers, but that isn't the extent of their origin if you do it right. My favorite comic book character, as well as my favorite mutant, is Cable, son of Cyclops. He's got an origin aside from his powers. He's a born and bred warrior on a mission to eliminate an immortal, tyrannical being who wants to rule the world and kill a lot of people in the process.
The editor in chief of Marvel, Joe Quesada, has permitted this because he feels there are too many mutants and mutant books, and that the X-Men books aren't doing as well as they should be. Also, he is forbidding the creation of new mutant characters as long as he has his job. I have a few rsponses to all that.
1. There may be a lot of mutants, but there only seem to be a lot because there isn't much emphasis on the non-mutant characters. Also, two generations of people have felt an instinctive connection with the X-Men, since their background is based in puberty, something all of us go through sooner or later; also, it's based in alienation, which we all go through as well.
2. Mutant books don't do as well as they should. BAD WRITING! Get some new writers. Embrace the real reason why people like the X-Men, the epic stories. About 95% of readers don't care about the damn school--it's just a setting. Tell good stories and get the main characters on comic shelves on a monthly basis.
3. Forbidding new mutant characters. One of the earliest metaphors associated with X-Men is persecution of minorities. I think elimination of mutant characters because you think there are too many is a perfect example of the concept of persecution of minorities.
In the coming days, Marvel can expect a nasty letter from me.
Both are designed to shake everything up. Both are also promicing big things to create a new status quo. Usually, part of this is done by use of heroic sacrifices. Usually doesn't exist anymore.
DC has gone to a state of having all their writers get together to decide to write a story, then take 2 years to get to the point where they can tell that story. While things are really shitty for the DC heroes, readers are seeing the heroes struggle and fight, proving their worth.
Marvel... that company is being run by a bunch of people who aren't very aware of the concept of audience. They think that if they kill a shitload of people, then the readers will think it's good storytelling. Two guys who are artistic, rather than audience-aware, are running Marvel, and everybody just has to deal.
OK, I'm pissed because in the most recent Horse of M issue, the last three words uttered are "No More Mutants." Then all the mutants are presumably eliminated. The final count of mutants, once this storyline is done will be in the hundreds.
I understand that there are a lot of bad series out there featuring mutants. I know that a lot of those characters are poorly developed. I know that it's a cheap excuse to give someone powers because they were born that way.
I also understand that the X-Men franchise is practically a money printing press. All you have to do is publish the shitty X-Men story and it'll be a top ten book. When you publish good X-Men stories, you get the number 1 book.
I also understand that poorly developed characters aren't bad characters, they just need someone to come up with an idea that allows those characters to become worthwhile.
Finally, I understand that getting powers from birth is an easy way to explain powers, but that isn't the extent of their origin if you do it right. My favorite comic book character, as well as my favorite mutant, is Cable, son of Cyclops. He's got an origin aside from his powers. He's a born and bred warrior on a mission to eliminate an immortal, tyrannical being who wants to rule the world and kill a lot of people in the process.
The editor in chief of Marvel, Joe Quesada, has permitted this because he feels there are too many mutants and mutant books, and that the X-Men books aren't doing as well as they should be. Also, he is forbidding the creation of new mutant characters as long as he has his job. I have a few rsponses to all that.
1. There may be a lot of mutants, but there only seem to be a lot because there isn't much emphasis on the non-mutant characters. Also, two generations of people have felt an instinctive connection with the X-Men, since their background is based in puberty, something all of us go through sooner or later; also, it's based in alienation, which we all go through as well.
2. Mutant books don't do as well as they should. BAD WRITING! Get some new writers. Embrace the real reason why people like the X-Men, the epic stories. About 95% of readers don't care about the damn school--it's just a setting. Tell good stories and get the main characters on comic shelves on a monthly basis.
3. Forbidding new mutant characters. One of the earliest metaphors associated with X-Men is persecution of minorities. I think elimination of mutant characters because you think there are too many is a perfect example of the concept of persecution of minorities.
In the coming days, Marvel can expect a nasty letter from me.
posted by LEN! at 3:44 AM
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