Marvel Continues On its Dark and Gritty Path

Although I am now more or less (actually more) of a DC type of fan, it wasn't always that way, with my first comic book love being Thor, followed by the X-Men.  I loved things like Damage Control, Nextwave, The Incredible Hercules, the Thor, The Mighty Avenger by Landridge and Samnee, and I'm continuing to simply adore what they've done with Thor and Loki lately/

But if you are paying attention, I think you would notice that most of these books, at least the later ones, are the ones that are more lighthearted.  Ones that are written with a wink and a nod, with wit and cleverness and a sense of humor.  Have great plots and writing and art certainly didn't hurt either. 

With that said, some of my favorite DC books are also the ones with a lighter and gentler point of view.  I adore Silver Age silliness with a deep passion.  I loved Giffen and DeMatteis's JLI, Roger's Blue Beetle, anything wtih Green Lanterns and Robinson's Starman, just to mention a few.    I'm one of those apparently odd people who likes a bit of funny in my funny books.

So I had to sigh when I read that once again Marvel is going to be going Dark and Apocalyptic for its new Avengers book, which is going to be by Hickman, starring what appears to be the Illuminati again.  Although for obvious reasons, Xavier won't be in it.  For less obvious reasons, Namor will.  This...confuses me. 

Civil War was the final nail in my Marvel coffin, and all of the VERY numerous cross-overs since then, have only added to my distaste.  Remember Villains?  I guess that Marvel doesn't because I can't remember the last time, with the exception of what is going on in Thor and Journey Into Mystery, that a Marvel Hero actually fought someone other than another Hero.  It's getting tiresome. 

I realize that back in the Good Old Days, that was one of the things that made Marvel different and exciting from stodgy old DC.  In the DC universe (the REAL DC universe) all the heroes were bestest friends, and everyone loved them and they had their own goddamned museums for God's sake, whereas Marvel Heroes, always had to beat each other up for a few pages before they would team up.  And Marvel Heroes had so much more angst and stuff.  Fighting for a world that hated and feared them, fighting for a world that even gave NON-Mutant Heroes a funny look, it was a tough job.  Not to mention that New York was so full of Heroes that you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting one.  At least DC had other places for their Heroes to hang out in. 

But with the current state of affairs...with the whole Avengers VS X-Men debacle, where they killed Professor Xavier (again) and have turned Cyclops into a Villain, and where some of the X-Men are on the run again, and blah blah blah...do we really need to make it even darker and grittier?  Where is it ever going to end? 

Namor tried to wipe out Wakanda, and is on the run, along with Emma Frost and the Rasputins, while Scott is imprisoned, and being taunted by Captain America of all people.  How in the world can Namor be an Illuminati...working side by side with the Black Panther?  Who dumped his wife in a snit. 

I feel no compulsion whatsoever to read any of this.  When they start to write books where the Heroes actually go out and fight the Villains again...then maybe I'll give Marvel a try again.  And it might be nice to actually write some books that have things going on in their OWN plots as opposed to one more horrific, drawn-out Cross-Over.  I am So Sick Of Cross-overs!

I'm not saying that I am that happy with DC either, I really do miss my REAL continuity, and am counting the months until it eventually returns.  But in the meantime, there are some books that aren't bad at all, and I can enjoy the stories if I keep telling myself that it is all an Elseworlds...and that maybe someday all of my favorite dead characters will come back. 

And so endeth, the Rant of the Day.