The actual comics books are just reflecting the society 1 1

[BA773]

Our world in recent years is image driven, people don't want to BE, they want to SEEM.

 

I'm just shocked at how the publishers create amazing covers...and when you open the book it's just a crazy fall! It's exactly like the movie trailers, 120 seconds to amaze you to finally go see it and lose 120 minutes...

 

I know you would tell me it's always like that, it's just marketing... but in my opinion it's more real than ever!

 

(just my personal opinion)

Look this beautiful cover!

And now open it...

Edited August 28, 2023 by BA773

[Cat]

Malheureusement, notre français est assez mauvais, donc ce message ne fonctionnera pas très bien, et Mike n'aime probablement pas les messages qui ne sont pas en anglais à des fins de modération. Avez-vous oublié de traduire pour nous, les ordures occidentales qui ne parlent qu'une seule langue, et mal, en plus ?

[wardevil0]

To an extent this has always happened, but it has definitely increased in the last 10-5-3 years.  The market has shifted from "readers" to "collectors."  Comics companies recognize that far more people look at the front cover than actually read it, so it's natural to appeal to that audience.  They started with variant covers, but now it's almost like each comic has a variant cover just to showcase some art style or concept.

[BA773]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:32 PM, Cat said:

Malheureusement, notre français est assez mauvais, donc ce message ne fonctionnera pas très bien, et Mike n'aime probablement pas les messages qui ne sont pas en anglais à des fins de modération. Avez-vous oublié de traduire pour nous, les ordures occidentales qui ne parlent qu'une seule langue, et mal, en plus ?

Sorry. When I open a page it is automatically traduce and when I edited my post I didn't see that my post have been changed to French... I corrected now! 

Edited August 28, 2023 by BA773

[Cat]

On 8/29/2023 at 12:11 AM, BA773 said:

Sorry. When I open a page it is automatically traduce and when I edited my post I didn't see that my post have been changed to French... I corrected now! 

No need to apologise to me, mate!

[Ken Aldred]

On 8/28/2023 at 1:42 PM, BA773 said:

Our world in recent years is image driven, people don't want to BE, they want to SEEM.

 

I'm just shocked at how the publishers create amazing covers...and when you open the book it's just a crazy fall! It's exactly like the movie trailers, 120 seconds to amaze you to finally go see it and lose 120 minutes...

 

I know you would tell me it's always like that, it's just marketing... but in my opinion it's more real than ever!

 

(just my personal opinion)

Look this beautiful cover!

And now open it...

I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as the 90s. A lot of Image-influenced interior art from that period was worse than this. Also, the ‘stories’ were generally vacuous drivel as well, and conversely Tom Taylor, Nightwing’s writer, is really quite talented.

Rose-tinted nostalgia. There have always been comics with great covers that are utter, unreadable garbage inside. Some Pre-code horror, Famous Funnies, for example.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[Robot Man]

Is there a writer’s strike going on for comic book writers? 

[BA773]

On 8/28/2023 at 4:52 PM, Robot Man said:

Is there a writer’s strike going on for comic book writers? 

I'm not really following this subject, but I heard two or three things about that yes. There is already a strike actually on Hollywood Studios if I understood.

[MattTheDuck]

One of the great things Marvel brought to comics in the 60s was a lot more "realism" with regard to the subjects they addressed.  The "take" on those subjects was not necessarily in line with what society thought about them broadly because the writers/artists were of an older generation than most of the folks, for example, who were taking to the streets.  There's a wonderful example of this in ASM #17 or #18 where some students are getting ready for a protest and it's asked what they're protesting against this evening.  The answer is "this afternoon's protest."  By the time things got really hard core, Marvel had swung around to taking the societal concerns more seriously.

 

[wardevil0]

On 8/28/2023 at 11:44 AM, MattTheDuck said:

One of the great things Marvel brought to comics in the 60s was a lot more "realism" with regard to the subjects they addressed.  The "take" on those subjects was not necessarily in line with what society thought about them broadly because the writers/artists were of an older generation than most of the folks, for example, who were taking to the streets.  There's a wonderful example of this in ASM #17 or #18 where some students are getting ready for a protest and it's asked what they're protesting against this evening.  The answer is "this afternoon's protest."  By the time things got really hard core, Marvel had swung around to taking the societal concerns more seriously.

 

If nothing else, Marvel's integration of social issues prompted DC to do the same, with generally ludicrous results...

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by wardevil0

[BA773]

On 8/28/2023 at 5:44 PM, MattTheDuck said:

One of the great things Marvel brought to comics in the 60s was a lot more "realism" with regard to the subjects they addressed.  The "take" on those subjects was not necessarily in line with what society thought about them broadly because the writers/artists were of an older generation than most of the folks, for example, who were taking to the streets.  There's a wonderful example of this in ASM #17 or #18 where some students are getting ready for a protest and it's asked what they're protesting against this evening.  The answer is "this afternoon's protest."  By the time things got really hard core, Marvel had swung around to taking the societal concerns more seriously.

 

You probably only readed the title of my topic and not the content... but however your post is about a  really interesting subject too! Thanks for it

[wardevil0]

On 8/28/2023 at 12:32 PM, BA773 said:

You probably only readed the title of my topic and not the content... but however your post is about a  really interesting subject too! Thanks for it

I thought the same thing, but that was interesting too so I went along with it!  I suppose it is related, as both are about trying to make the cover art more appealing to buyers at the the time, without consideration to the actual quality of the story or art inside.

[jcjames]

On 8/28/2023 at 5:42 AM, BA773 said:

Look this beautiful cover!

 

And now open it...

 

Yeah but dontcha gotta crack the slab to open it!? 

Then it won't be 9.8 anymore!  

What's the point!? 

 

 

[bc]

On 8/28/2023 at 10:46 AM, Ken Aldred said:

I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as the 90s. A lot of Image-influenced interior art from that period was worse than this. Also, the ‘stories’ were generally vacuous drivel as well, and conversely Tom Taylor, Nightwing’s writer, is really quite talented.

Rose-tinted nostalgia. There have always been comics with great covers that are utter, unreadable garbage inside. Some Pre-code horror, Famous Funnies, for example.

The '90's were very bad.

Since the "newest" comic in my collection is from 1975, I can agree that there was some real stinkers every now and then in the GA & SA that had awesome covers.

I went to the LCS a few weeks ago, I grabbed a random new book off the rack and probably read the whole thing in under 3 minutes because there was almost no dialogue. Cover was quite cool tho, but how can you justify spending $5.99 on less than 5 minutes of actual entertainment value? It seemed more like a "flip book" than a comic book. The interior art looked like it was generated by a drunken ChatGPT.

As a comparison, been re-reading some classic FF issues in Marvel Greatest Comics '70's reprints and they are good for around 15 minutes of entertainment value each. Been picking them up at cons for a $1 or so each.

-bc