Comics Don’t Suck. We Suck.
I saw a post the other day in a group and wanted to comment on it.
(I’m entitled! I’m entitled! Teehee.)
Someone lamented that we should keep comics out of manga and manga out of comics. Other than “manga” meaning “comics” in Japan, even if you divide them into two separate things, I still have to disagree.
It’s just the old fanboy sense of entitlement that “nothing should ever change” repackaged in an anti-east sentiment.
It’s the sense of entitlement that comics were made for me and me only and if other new readers want to enjoy them, they can enjoy my favorite style of art or my favorite versions of the characters.
It’s the sense of entitlement that all comics should still look as if they were drawn by Ditko and Kirby, or at least by those who draw just like them
It’s that sense of entitlement that modern comics suck and old (defined by whether you are a Silver Ager” or a “Bronze Ager” typically) comics are masterpieces. It’s gotten to the point that far too many blogs and articles online use headlines like “Ten Comics that Don’t Suck” or “Looking for Comic Books that Don’t Suck?” simply because of the old-timer zeitgeist around this sentiment.
I ran into this mindset all the time when I worked at the comic book store. Older, long-term fans very vocally resented the changes made to their favorite book’s character or art style, no matter how many new readers it may be pulling in to keep said character or title selling and alive in the market. Almost as if we’d rather see a book fail than change (as long as it stayed the way we liked it).
And let’s be honest, the fail-scale for comics is a different world now than in the “good ol’ days” because there’s so much more immediate competition for the newer generation’s time. But that’s an argument for another time.
The trouble with our cast in iron disapproval of the new is that it doesn’t take into account the constantly changing nature of art. Art, by its very nature, is re-interpreted by each successive generation, and it’s our job as old-timers to adjust, not to make sure new readers succumb to our interpretations.
By art, I mean both visual and the story itself. Things change.
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