A New Era?
I may be jumping the gun here, and Lord knows there are still plenty of depressing comics out there... but I am feeling just a wee bit optimistic, that things may be changing for the better. In tiny drps and drabs of course, but every movement begins slowly.
Marvel seems to be taking the lead in this, DC seems to be still stuck in the "grim and gritty" stage, but that doesn't really surprise me. With all the innumerable reboots, it is hard to really change things when the exact same people are still in charge.
At Marvel however, there seems to be some genuine energy. There are still a whole lot of the same old stuff, such as the totally unnecessary Civil War story which is dragging on FAR too long. Fortunately for my sanity, I haven't been reading it except tangentially. Heck, it was the first Civil War that drove me almost completely to the DC side of the aisle.
But oh... there are some really fun, quirky books out there now. Independents have always been good, and I do adore Saga and Atomic Robot, but gosh, Squirrel Girl, and Hellcat and Howard the Duck, although the latter has sadly ended, are some of my favorite books being published. I think I can add the new Champions book to that list as well. I am suddenly a fan of Doctor Strange, because it is just bizarre, and weird, and hat's not a bad thing in a comic book.
I was desperately hoping that the new Blue Beetle book was going to be just as much fun, but so far have been disappointed, although I have heard good things about the new Superman/Batman and sons book by Tomas and Gleason. If there is one thing that I have learned, it's that those two always produce good work.
I still miss the Hawkeye book, Young Avengers, and Loki; Agent of Asgard, which were phenomenal. The common thread in all of these books, is good art, which goes without saying, and good writing... humor combined with story and a certain fearlessness, to try something a little different.
I can tell you this... I will always be looking at Kraven the Hunter with a fresh perspective from now on.
posted by SallyP @ 8:21 AM
3 Comments:
Yeah, Marvel seems to be able to maintain about a half-dozen books I'm into at any given time. DC's not doing as well for me at the moment, but I'm hoping to see an uptick there. I do think DC's easing off the editorial control and letting the creative teams express themselves a little more, which might be helping.
I don't read Marvel superhero comics but I just can't find myself caring much beyond a few characters I love that aren't fairing so well. Grim Hunt which brought back Kraven certainly lived up to its name.
I'm not following too many DC books but I don't recall anything overly grim and gritty besides maybe Tim Drake 's fake death which feels pointless. Blue Beetle is sadly bah at the moment and I already dropped it. There doesn't seem to be a focus. I don't like how Tomasi handles the Waynes most of the time but I have been looking forward to Super Sons. I should be getting the issue with Jon meeting Damian soon so I'm excited.
RHATO is pretty emotional and sweet, which is one of the reasons I love the Red Hood books. Artemis has been ruthless with her words so that can be funny and Bizarro is surprisingly lovable. I loved the WW origin. I dunno, I might branch out more next year.
Letting the creative teams do their own thing instead of being slaves to the never ending crossovers, is only a good thing.
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