Saturday, June 24, 2006

Geektalk: The Current State of Comics

The experience of reading Knightfall also reminded me how out-of-touch I am with comics these days. Would you believe it came out in 1993, almost thirteen years ago? And I was falling out of synch with comics even back then. As for everything else, I was lost. I walked into the comic shop and realized I had to buy graphic novels to catch up quickly, but I didn't even know where to begin. When did Iron Man become an alcoholic again? A year ago? When did Green Lantern turn evil? Four years ago? When did the Hulk end up on the run again? Eight years ago? How many graphic novels would I need to buy just to understand the issue on the shelf right now? When I looked at it that way, there was no point. I wanted to read the latest issue of Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Hulk, and the Flash - all my favorites - but I realized I wouldn't understand them. I would have to read ten years worth of comics before I could enjoy the latest issue.
Categories: entertainment

Related:
My Review of Knightfall
Batman Vs Osama: Holy Terror

2 comments:

Maurice Mitchell said...

yeah, I had the same experience. Spiderman has a new costume, and he was clone? Does Aunt May know his secret? Is Hawkeye a bad guy? Who knows. Still, sometimes they give enough exposition that you can fill in the blanks. I guess it all depends on the writer.

Nigel G Mitchell said...

I only read comics now where they have a little intro on the first page that explains the story so far. Otherwise, it's just too confusing.