What's Wrong With Comics - An Opinion

I just read a post by Steve over at KFR concerning the cancellation of Blue Beetle at the same time that the character is being heavily used over at Cartoon Network to promote the new Batman animated series, The Brave & the Bold. His post brought back some of the bile that I've been holding on to for about a year or so. Below is my way to detox my system of this mess:

DC (and Marvel, to a lesser extent) has lost its way as far as delivering compelling, character-driven books that are independent of the latest crossover du jour. It appears that both companies have been seduced by the retail successes of Identity Crisis and Civil War, respectively and are now basing their entire business model on this mode of creating these all-inclusive and ever-encompassing mega series that intertwines the majority of their individual titles under its publishing umbrella. Poor selling books (such as Blue Beetle and Manhunter) who are not vital cogs in this machine are left to fend for themselves and sit back to wait for their appointment on the chopping block. If things stay the same, the comic book industry will be back to the early 90s when multiple variant gimmick covers, millions of #1 issues (with zero possibility of a continuing series in their futures) and readership leaving in droves were the norm.

It's truly sad when you read stuff like Steve's or DJ Coffman stating that people who love comic books need to take back the industry due to the dumbing down of comics based on what creators think that they can sell to Hollywood. Personally, I can see why they're throwing their figurative hands in the air. I know that I have ceased buying new comics as I've become disenfranchised with how the business side of comics is driving what content is being created and how it is delivered to the readers. I definitely won't return unless it's for the purposes of buying collected editions of older comic books. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I am not the only one.

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Aisle Seat's Mason Channels His Inner Howard Beale

Comicswaitingroom.com Edior-In-Chief Marc Mason posted a very raw and somewhat confusing essay for his Aisle Seat column titled "Comics Are For Kids?" Without reposting the entire thing, here's an excerpt from the last half which I think properly summarize the entire idea behind the column:

Then 2000 rolled around and it all went to shit. A stolen election. The next year, the worst terrorist act in history perpetrated against us. A phony war followed, thousands of my fellow citizens dead, hundreds of thousands of civilians in graves next to them. More election fraud loomed with Diebold. Our culture has devolved to the point of making stars out of the mediocre and talentless, while greatness flounders on the fringes, unable to find a toehold in the collective consciousness. A hurricane destroyed one of our greatest cities. A tsunami damned near wiped out an entire country. The global environment continues to rebel against our human presence as even more hurricanes have taken paths of super-destruction this very year. And now we have another election, featuring the senator from my state, who has already been relegated to second-class citizen on his own ticket because of the VP choice forced on him, and the first black man to have a chance to win the highest
office in the land.

And while I have no problem telling you that I am obviously a Democrat, I will also tell you this: I no longer contain the slightest bit of certainty that anything will ever be okay again. No matter who wins this election. I think human society, and the planet we live on, have become so fragile and broken, that we are past the point of no return on putting things back on the right path. Not without a MEGA reboot. Is that cynical? You bet your sweet ass.

So are comics for kids? No. They present such a warped picture of the world that they may just be as destructive as Wertham tried to tell the world, but for an entirely different reason. Why should we offer our children false hopes?

Now, I have worked alongside Mr. Mason back in the Movie Poop Shoot days but I do not know the man directly. After reading this missive, I discussed it with a few of the guys from KFR and here's what I wrote:

I understand things are getting rough for millions of people - especially lately. But if he took the tact that there are few quality All-ages superhero comics to allow guilt-free escapism like there were during the other rough patches in American history, I could totally get behind his cause. But to say that comics are bad for kids because they perpetuate the myth that good wins over evil (by whoever's definition) sounds not only obtuse but uninformed as well.

As you may or may not know, I am a parent of two grade-school kids and I feed them superheroic adventures in various forms by the bucketful. Right now, DVDs of Superfriends and Justice League Unlimited, TiVo'd airings of Spectacular Spider-Man and TMNT as well as action figures of JLU and animated Spidey rule their world.

Although, finding such material in print to supplement the cartoons is not the easiest. Marvel, for some strange and maddening reason, does not have a companion piece for its TV show. DC does have a good line of comics but as their TV shows die off, their print versions will do the same. But it doesn't stop there. Hobby stores (at least in my area) have little to none All-Ages capes-and-tights stuff. The only place that I can find a monthly mag is at a book superstore.

To me, all of these signs exhibit a complete deviation from what a business should do - expand and grow their customerbase. If tobacco companies had the same business sense as the Big Two that run the comic book industry, they would've been out of business years ago.

As humans find more and more ways to cover the world in a millions shades of gray, I've decided that grounding my kids in a Black and White world where superheroes do exist is the first building block in nurturing their ability to further their imagination while helping them make sound rational decisions. I know it sounds like I'm selling my kids a false bill of goods but when the alternative is to give them the world as it is now, I'll take my chances with the likes of Spidey versus Green Goblin every time.

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Life in a Smaller Town...

I have spent the previous 20 years in the bosom of the Nation's Capital, also known as Fairfax County, Virginia. It has all of the amenities that a great suburbia needed - local malls, great restaurants and a ton of actives to fill your weekends; whether if you had kids or not. Except for the higher price of real estate and the fact that I was beginning to hate the hour long commute to go anywhere, it was a great place to live.

But as all of these wistful tales usually reveal, I moved away from the relative comfort of the former Murder Capital of the World and into the direct path of Hurricane Alley - the Florida Panhandle. And while the price of housing is more affordable and the commute was reduced by more than a half, it's the little things that I'm beginning to miss.

That's what these posts will consist of - me nitpicking about the stuff that little towns lack. most of the time, the post will be short and to the point but there are sometime when I need to get things off of my chest. Case in point, please read below.

Tuesday is usually new DVD/CD release day and I have only has one Yellow Tag store, one Red City store and three Bullseye stores in my general vicinity. I know. I live it every day. Please don't cry for me, really. But as you might suspect, I can get geeked if something is coming out on Release Day.

Yesterday, a new metal CD with a Yellow Tag exclusive DVD came out at $7.99 (highlighted in the Weekly Ad) so I decided to stop by said store to pick it up. I got there and found that both racks for the CD was empty. I was beside myself. I was thinking, "It friggin just came out today - I know that not everyone in this city came here before 4 PM and sold it out. It's just not possible."

I checked the band's white placeholder in the music section and saw nothing as well. I almost walked out the door but knowing how this business is run, I decided to ask a Store Representative if he could locate the missing CD.

After pointing out the empty racks to him, he went to the other place that I looked and, shocker, it wasn't there either. He then went into the back. After a few minutes, he came out with their entire order in his arms and gave the first one.

As I went to check out, I thought that only in this store in this small town would the highlighted exclusive release for this week wouldn't be stocked until 4PM. Now, this incident could be chalked up to more of a "Clerks"-bred apathy but I doubt that it would've happened in Northern VA. At least it would've been before 4 since there were three Yellow Tag stores within 5 miles of my work. Damn, I miss that.

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