Crazy comic-book rant.

[mina.magpie]

WARNING: Obscurely geeky comic references ahead.

The 90's were a bad time for me, and I escaped them largely by reading comics, specifically, the various Batman titles, and Giffen and DeMatteis' Justice League. Batman facing a broken back, Ebola, a Mega-earthquake and a post-apocalyptic Gotham gave me hope that, no matter the odds, things can always BE changed for the better, and JL just gave me something to giggle insanely at.

I stop buying comics for a few years, and suddenly they turn Maxwell Lord into a criminal mastermind, who shoots Blue Beetle, one of my favourite characters, in the head, they turn Cassie Cain, the most awesome Batgirl ever into a murderous assassin and they make Batman use a gun. Just before they kill him. DC comics, how you wound me! The only greater tragedy that ever befell the DC universe was when Joel Schumacher made Batman and Robin. The man should've gotten a firing squad for that one. 

I don't know about anybody else, but at this point I'm only reading Marvel.

Okay, I'm done now. Please forgive.

Mina.

[RebeccaFog]

I stopped reading them in the 80's because the art changed and the stories changed and the price shot up.

It's in cycles.  The problem is that DC thinks they have to dirty up their heroes to make them more 'realistic' and fallible.

Jerks.

[SarahFaceDoom]

Batman isn't dead!!!!!  Grrrr.  Did you not finish Final Crisis?
Barbara Gordon was the most awesome batgirl by the by.

And Batman used his gun to take down the god of all evil!!!  It was awesome and terrific.

Batman has not been better in quite some time.  Morrison's run has been a high water mark for the character, and Neil Gaiman just wrote one of the better batman stories anyone has ever done.

Batwoman on Detective by Rucka and JH Williams III.  Barry Allen being back.  Blackest Night at the end of the year.  Morrison coming back to Batman in the summer.  DC is where it's happening!

[mina.magpie]

Batman isn't dead!!!!!  Grrrr.  Did you not finish Final Crisis?

LOL. I actually stopped reading crossover stuff early in the 2000's because they just got too much to handle. I had heard that Bats had been banished to an alternate dimension by Darkseid's Omega Ray, which just sounded like another cheap comic-book death cop-out.

Barbara Gordon was the most awesome batgirl by the by.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Barbara is way cooler as Oracle IMHO. Cassie was a uniquely interesting, complex character with amazing abilities and weaknesses and a ... difficult background. I wanted to know her story more than I've been interested in another character in a long time. The Deathstroke brainwash thing also sucked since I really liked him as a semi goodguy when he had his own series.

quote]Batman has not been better in quite some time.  Morrison's run has been a high water mark for the character, and Neil Gaiman just wrote one of the better batman stories anyone has ever done.[/quote]

In all honesty I've not read any of the individual bat-titles in a few years. I love both writers, but yeah, I'll have to check things out for myself. Unfortunately hormones trump back-issues.

Batwoman on Detective by Rucka and JH Williams III.  Barry Allen being back.  Blackest Night at the end of the year.  Morrison coming back to Batman in the summer.  DC is where it's happening!

LOL. If not for the huge mega-events that conspire to make you buy moreMoreMORE! I would be more likely to agree.

Mina.

[SarahFaceDoom]

Well it wasn't a cheap cop out, because Bruce takes over the role of humanities keeper of the flame from anthro, and he has all of the stories at the end, so narratively, it's a pretty incredible moment.  He writes his sigil on the cave wall that is found in issue one.  It was pretty cool.

I download a lot of my comics for free, because I am poor.  The only comics I buy are by artists I really believe in or am friends with.

[mina.magpie]

I download a lot of my comics for free, because I am poor.  The only comics I buy are by artists I really believe in or am friends with.

Likewise. Unfortunately bandwidth here is expensive, so I generally stick to Vertigo stuff. One day ... sigh.

IDK, it sounds like I'll have to look at the Bat titles again. Thanks for the heads-up Sarah. Still don't like mega-crossovers though.

Mina.

[Hazumu]

I gravitated to Cerebus, and stayed there until Dave Sim got too oppressive in Guys (still loved Gerhard's backgrounds/sets, though.)

I was turned on to Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, and fell in love with Japanese (the language) and manga.

=K

[rhondabythebay]

Right now I'm reading a manga series named "Parasyte".

I love comics and graphic stories.

Rhonda

[Kirin]

The original Blue Beetle was one of my favorite characters. I named my 9th-grade hot air balloon for science class after him. Heh.

I prefer old comics anyways, back when the storylines were more camp than complicated, and every other page didn't have to be about angst or things blowing up. That and all the new business they're doing, expanding comic heroes into newer media...I'm loving the stuff Marvel has going on movie-wise right now, the Iron Man movie was the best movie I've seen in a few years! But the actual modern comics are deteriorating as the genre expands into other media IMO. A lot of people seem to have forgotten that comics can be a serious art form, but they don't have to be all the time...honest!

[SarahFaceDoom]

Comics are better than ever.  I stand fully by that.