Well maybe people still like comics. But hey it seems they dont sometimes. Look around and it's mostly complaints about one thing or another. How every writer sucks, how every character is ruined, how every storyline is terrible, how this respective company is ruining their own titles. So lemme ask
>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
>>81272800
Oh and forgot to add one more question.
>If you still do love comics. What are some things you like about them now that might be even better than before when you first got into them?
>>81272800
I'm 19 now, started reading when I was 7. My first comics were Donald Duck books and some kids Spider-Man comic. It was awesome. I outgrew that though.
When I was about 13 I started reading stuff online because you couldn't buy anything good in my country. I think my first serious books were Preacher and Sandman. Those two probably messed me up in few places. I also read a shit ton of Star Wars comics.
The first comic book I bought was Hellboy and I'm still hooked, then came Prince Valiant and Planetary.
I'm still enjoying comics. I just think that industry is in a bad spot right now. It's all about the movies, few people want to actually read comics. And it's still seen as weird, nerdy hobby, at least where I live. I believe that eventually we'll get a new generation of publishers, writers and artists that'll bring new vision and change stuff for the battle, new golden age maybe.
>>81272800
>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
Four or five. An issue of X-Men.
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
Hard to say.
I think in general the 90's when I was very young had the best overall quality, but today certain individual comics are much, MUCH better then all then most 90's comics could ever aspire to be.
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
The market is dying and the creators and most of the readers who are intelligent know it. Everything is a desperate attempt to increase sales in an industry which barely breaks even and only exists so that the Big Two's parent companies can farm IP rights. Comics done to be experimental or different don't make a profit and get canceled almost right away.
>If you still do love comics. What are some things you like about them now that might be even better than before when you first got into them?
The humor.
When comics are funny now (which isn't often enough) they are really, REALLY funny. Superior Foes of Spider-Man had me laughing over and over every single issue.
>>81272800
>>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
1980-ish
>>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
1990
>>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
well...
>>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
what?
>>>If you still do love comics. What are some things you like about them now that might be even better than before when you first got into them?
that's not why I'm here, hang on...
I assume you've had this dialogue before here, that these characters are from another time. The lightening strike of who we are to become is yet to happen.
>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
I can't remember not reading comics, so at least 6 or so.
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
Probably from my late teens to my early 20s. I went on a long long spree of reading pretty much every quality stuff I could get my hands on.
>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
I have not stopped enjoying comics, but I gave up on the big two around 2013.
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
Reading mainstream cape comics is suffering. Yes, every once in a while a decent writer puts out a run that is great or even amazing but you just have to put up with so many terrible stories, editorial meddling, reboots and renumberings and MEGA-EVENTS every fucking month. It's just so bad and time consuming and getting away from it all is just so much better.
We are critical of the things we love, because we know how great they can be
>>81273601
Oh, I just realize I answered in terms of age and not years. I started around 1997. Quality wise from about 2008 to 2012 but most of that time was spent reading older things.
If the question is 'what years were the best quality wise for the big two', then:
>from New Avengers #1 (2005) to The Thanos Imperative #6 (2010) for Marvel
>from Green Lantern Rebirth to Batman Inc. for DC
>>81273155
It's generally like that in America too. When I was a kid and Spider-Man had just been the biggest movie ever I got picked on for reading comics by kids in Spidey shirts who told me it's okay to like the movies but reading comics is for fags. Fast forward to even now people love the movies but the second I start talking about the comics they give me these weird looks and skirt away.
I don't mind being an outcast but it upsets me that a medium can be loves and reviled at once.
>>81274102
I don't even know how someone can rationalize that train of thought
>>81274102
>It's generally like that in America too
I do not get that. I mean people don't find me reading comics super cool. Its just a thing i'm into. Alot of people i know also read a few. And generally it mostly comes up in the form of questions because of all the comic movies. Ive gone from guy who reads comics to guru i come to for wisdom on comics because i dont know what the fuck that thing i just saw was.
My answer is 'astro the psychic russian cosmonaut dog who sometimes works with the guardians of the galaxy'
>>81274102
>I don't mind being an outcast but it upsets me that a medium can be loves and reviled at once.
well it makes sense as a lot of authors hate the multi-plex prison that they get dumped inside. (the waves of this enmity emanate outwards)
The argument.
The comic is an original small vision and the penned comic should have the power, of the few that created it. Would we then have a more cohesive world? The film is a huge electro-ray that is keeping some sort of continuity but is a sad patty.
I want to argue for what I suspect is a process happening anyway. The old entities (superhero and sci-fi saga) are down-graded. I'd like to check the consensus that Star Wars and JLA and the collected other tight wearing mysterosos are exhausted and it'd be braver to shut 'em down at the comic end.
Is there something wrong in keeping them going? It's a past language, it should be allowed to wither. Anything else seems for the benefit of a select and not the people.
>I started reading comics in 1990 at the age of 8
>Late 90s into the early 2000s
It had Joe kelly deadpool the marvel knights line and the authority. As a lifelong marvel fan it was a great time to be just that.
>I stopped enjoying comics during the civil war. I stopped reading for like 3 years or so cos i hated it so much. but honestly i started back up and love them still. I only hated that particular moment in comic history.
>I think its a combination of things. Talent not quite being what it once was. The focus on the movies. People just being kinda jaded and not having the same passion they once did as kids.
>One of the things I love now more than back then....diversity. Not to seem like some obnoxious person from tumblr or some shit I actually like that there is a marked effort to introduce different kinds of characters. I hate lady thor with a passion but I think Kamala Khan is awesome and I would love to see lots more characters from all walks of life and i think well get more of that. Various races, lifestyles, religions, mindsets. I think its all cool and hopefully will make for interesting points of view on stories to come.
>>81274874
>astro
I still like comics
I don't imagine anything can make me stop liking comics...
As long as indie comics and the manga industry exist, anyway. My affection for the corporate stuff comes and goes like the tide.
>>81275299
The problem with diversity has always been using it to make some hamfisted message rather then to make interesting characters. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people don't understand the complexities of social issues when they write about them. Why is it so hard for writers to properly gasp? Do they just don't care and it ties into the "controversy=sales" model Marvel has going right now?
>>81272800
I got into comics around the Phalanx Saga. I liked the idea of an adaptive threat that didn't give a fuck ala The Borg.
I kept reading X-Men both backissues and new issues for a long time.
I accepted that certain social issues were being hammered into it by writers desperate to express their views.
I stopped reading comics when it became social issues with editors desperately trying to hammer in characters.
When I realized that I had more fun reading "Crossed" then I did X-Men, because at least they were open and honest about their dislike of the audience.
Sad.
>>81272800
>When did you start reading comics and at what age were you when you did?
I started reading comics in the early 1980s, although "reading" might have be stretching it a bit. I was maybe five or six years old and was initially drawn by the art. The first comics I ever read were a bunch of Peanuts reprints in paperback, a couple of old issues of Incredible Hulk and Marvel Premiere, and the Alex Niño-drawn adaptation of Moby Dick published by Pendulum Press. Been reading them ever since.
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
Honestly? I think comics are as good now as they ever were. Sure, Sturgeon's Law still applies, but speaking as someone who has been reading comics for a long time (and is a fairly serious student of comics history), the best comics today compare quite favorably with the best comics of the past 70 years. It's just a matter of looking in the right places (i.e., don't fall into the trap of thinking that "comics" just means "superhero comics").
>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
While I never completely fell out of love with comics, the mid/late-1990s represents a low point in terms of my interest.
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
It's human nature. People like to complain about everything. It's the same thing with movies or sports (ever watch an NBA game with an older fan?). Sometimes there's merit to the complaining, but a lot of the time it's just complaining for its own sake.
>If you still do love comics what are some things you like about them now that might be even better than before when you first got into them?
I like that we're seeing a return to genre diversity, and it's not just all superheroes. I like that Image has become a legit third player in the industry & that it's easier than ever to find European, Asian, and so-called "literary" comics.
>>81275656
>people don't understand the complexities of social issues when they write about them.
thats an issue with comics in general since time began. I still remember all those anti drug comics from back in the day.
I'll never stop liking comics. However I basically dropped out of most Marvel comics with the most recent Secret Wars and DC with the New 52.
>>81276438
I personally loved secret wars.
I hate whats happened to the x-men since then. I really wish theyd stop shitting on mutants for the sake of inhumans. But the event itself i thought was rad. The tie ins too for the most part.
>>81272800
Dropped DC in 2011 which helped open me up to a lot of other comics outside of the Big Two
>>81276386
Yup, and I'm not going to be surprised if the next problem we cling to is misunderstood in a stupid manner ether. I hope we're in the final batch of years for the current cycle.
>>81272800
>>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
Late 80s, like, 4 or 5.
>>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
Varies depending on title. Good stuff spread pretty evenly throughout the crap.
>>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
Around the time of Blackest Knight and Siege, I think. Everything in the big two was just getting too integrally knit together and too much editorial fucking over of characters I liked, and I don't live near a comic book store anymore so indies are kind of cut off from impulse reads.
>>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
The Big Two just keep crapping out event after event after event, with no breathing room between them to do anything interesting with the status quo changes. The whole expansive continuity thing that makes them so unique is held in contempt by their editorial boards/corporate masters, so it ends up a hindrance more than the boon it should be.
Indie books suffer from being written as Hollywood pitches, or are just plain derivative.
>>81274963
Stop doing acid, Grant.
I think it really is a case of the whole "good music only existed in the past" syndrome.
Other than a few very specific years where amazing comics were released back-to-back, comics have always been kind of just mediocre quality. Like I currently really like Vision but I wouldn't call this time a particular high mark for comic quality. Similarly I read all of Ultimate Spider-Man and Remender's Uncanny X-Force but I wouldn't say that those years were filled with good comics either.
Almost every year was filled with a bunch of crap.
>giving up an entire medium when it's really only Marvel and DC who are causing all the trouble
Lol?
>>81280766
>reading "indie" comicsJust kidding, but in all seriousness this is /co/ you are talking about. 90% of the catalog is Big 2 stuff
>>81272800
>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
2007, I would have been 15 or 16. A guy I worked with was a big comic nerd and gave me like the first 10 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man as well as some older trades like Onslaught and whatever.
The first comics I actually bought were the World War Hulk mini-series. The first entire volume of a comic I read was The Flash vol. 2 which I probably got from /co/, honestly.
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
Around the time that Dark Reign was going on. BuckyCap, Mighty Avengers, Hercules, Anti-Venom, etc. All the cosmic stuff with Nova and the GotG. And shortly after, Avengers Academy. Plus Invincible and Walking dead and Incorruptible from Mark Waid.
>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
Pfff. I think it was pretty gradual. Honestly I'd say Fear Itself was the point when everything started going downhill. Original Sin and Hickman's Entire Avengers run were awful so I'd say whatever year it was all that started. And I know the New 52 was well before that, but that killed DC for me, though I wasn't really into DC before that ever since Johns brought Barry Allen back.
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
Because they've very clearly gotten worse. Marvel is caught between pandering to movie audiences and trying to be the most socially progressive medium on Earth with all the race, gender and sexuality bending they're doing. It allows the writers to basically make straw man comics that are completely lacking in substance.
DC on the otherhand has just been throwing shit at the wall hoping something will stick since the reboot.
Superhero comics really are just kind of shit right now.
>>81272800
>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
I read manga when I was 11-14 and it was my gateway drug. Started getting into American comics around age 14, but didn't start reading capeshit until I was 15, so depending on how you wanna put it, anywhere from 2007-2010.
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
I'm not a good person to ask. Most of the comics I read aren't current to begin with -- the overwhelming majority of it is back issues and I only follow like five ongoings at a time. Most of the stuff I really like from the Big Two is from the Bronze Age with some Dark Age and Silver Age stuff here and there and most of the indies are from the Dark Age, though I think that might just be because of the benefit of hindsight rather than a decrease in quality.
>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
I didn't, though I'll admit I stopped buying Marvel ongoings in late 2013 and haven't bought anything but trades from them since.
>>81281381
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
There's no one cause, but I think a lot of the bitching is directed at Marvel because of their desire to add in movie content and bait readers with things that make them mad. If they're negative about DC, it's probably because of not wanting something different done with the property or ignoring the "legacy" or continuity aspect. When it comes to indies, it probably has something to do with the "progressiveness" of a lot of titles. That last complaint gets levied at Marvel a lot, but I don't think people mind as much if it's not clearly meant to cause a media frenzy or be controversial, and it might be part of why there's so little grumbling about the state of indie comics.
>If you still do love comics. What are some things you like about them now that might be even better than before when you first got into them?
The simple fact that stuff I never thought would get collected in trade form is actually getting those collections. There are a bunch of '70s and '90s cosmic Marvel series especially I have in single issue form (Nova, Warlock, and Silver Surfer among them) that I've never been able to recommend to friends because of the price and/or difficulty of tracking down single issues, though I regret the money I spent on those in hindsight. I also like that a few Eurocomics are finally getting proper releases, like Corto Maltese.
>>81272800
One More Day.
I always knew editorial fucked with shit and Civil War already felt stupid, but it was OMD that really hit me. I wasn't reading the Peter Parker that I had grown up with, I'm reading about a guy in a Spider-Man costume doing what the higher ups want him to do.
After that, I just can't bring myself to care about anything comics. I can't read 60+ year old characters trying to be relevant as written by editors and marketing.
>>81272800
>>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
I was under ten, in the 90's.
>>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
Right now. There's plenty of great stuff. Getting to read "big" comics like Watchmen, Kingdom Come, etc as a teenager was nice though. The highlight reel was more obvious. I've had to dig deeper for gems these days, though I would argue they're more precious to me when I find them now.
>>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
I remember the exact moment I had my greatest epiphany regarding comics. I was reading an Avengers Academy issue of the Secret Invasion tie-in and a character called 3D-man showed up. I thought "I don't know who he is, I'll pop on over to wikipedia" I typed his name in, and the moment the page loaded, I was struck by thought like a lightning bolt: Knowing who 3D Man was didn't improve my life in any way. Nothing about his secret identity or past publication history actually meant anything or would ever be relevant. All that mattered was how he was presented to me in the comic at that very moment. Only any story before me matters on its own terms.
>>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
The prominence of the films invites scorn and resentment.
I have never found the western take on super hero comics appealing with their black/white morale, shitty costumes to hide secret identities and soap-opera drama.
Luckily there is plenty of better stuff out there.
>>81272849
>>If you still do love comics. What are some things you like about them now that might be even better than before when you first got into them?
Honestly? The really good shit is really smart about the medium of its storytelling.
Like, you can find a about a half dozen superhero books between DC and Marvel that play around with the format, use the panels inventively, play around with time, crack actually funny jokes, do while stuff.
Remember when /co/ when buttfuck happy over Multiversity: Pax Americana? There were three days of straight discussion, multiple storytimes, even a chronological telling of the story and analysis of its content. People dissected things i never would have otherwise observed. Just pure beautiful appreciation of the format.
I just read a random issue of secret six that arranged the border of six panels to form the reflection of a television screen the character was watching. Just clever stuff.
I also want to say, there's a lot of selective amnesia when folks talk about how so much better comics back in the day used to be.
I was there, and the good comics to bad comics ratio is largely the same back then as it is today. You've got a handful of all time great reads, a smattering of flawed classics, a whole mess of decent but forgettable comics, and a sweeping majority of stuff that probably isn't worth flipping through.
If anything, today is better because there's so much more information available about a comic before you drop your money on an issue, and there are multiple ways to get it (yeah, it sucks that you can't get comics for the most part on newsstands and grocery stores anymore, but I think being able to get them digitally, especially when there's a DRM-free option, makes up for that lack).
I stopped reading comics cause I don't like store is in constant status quo and more importantly. I like endings
>>81286050
You could always just read comics that aren't from the Big Two. Or heck, even some Elseworlds and the like have what you're looking for.
I started reading reading DC comics when I was 11 when my uncle brought me some Green Lantern: Mosaic comics. I've been reading DC comics till about a year ago with the Convergence/DCYou shit (I might start reading again after rebirth if they get their shit together). I think the negativity around recent comics is that the writers and artist are more focused on what they can shit our in a couple of weeks rather than the quality of the comic
>start
I started reading comics as a real hobby last year. Late May 2015. I had read some comics (specifically, OGNs) for a class like 5-6 years before.
>best years
Uh....none, really. I was/am a DC fan, but DCYou was crap, IMO. And as far as I can tell, it was "made for me". Yet I fucking hated it.
>stop enjoying
I'm still 50/50. I'm still finding some awesome stuff that I can't hate.
>why is there so much negativity
I think Daniel Clowes' recent quotes about superhero comics are pretty apt. "I love character X", no you don't, you idiot.
People refuse to admit that being a characterfag makes them no better than being a Felicityfag (if you're aware of the current hatred for Felicity). Liking a specific character is ridiculous, yet it seems that so much about the Big 2 is built on preserving people's favorites (both A-listers and D-listers and everything in-between). It's just silliness: good writing and good stories are all that really matter, but people want to see their favorites regardless, even at the expense of awful editorial practices.
There's negativity around comics because the things that 90% of comic book fans desperately ask for are exactly the things ruining their own enjoyment. All they can really do is find a new thing to be mad about, not realizing that their attachment to so-and-so character is having bad consequences (either causing a lack of room for new stories/characters, or making creators/publishers do dumb things to appease characterfags). The other 10% of readers stick with comics because the medium has some potential, and a good story can always appear...somewhere.
I never stopped loving comics. However I am eternally put off of DC because of the reboot and I dropped marvel because of Arena
I still however read a lot of non cape shit and non marvel/dc books because Im not gonna hate a whole fucking medium because the biggest companies went to shit.
>>81272800
I still like comics, capes do get an asterisk though, since I'm a Euro and they're really just a subset of what I read.
>When did you start reading comics (year wise) and at what age were you when you did?
Probably 1990 or around that, I was 5. Capes probably not before I was 7 or 8.
>What years do you think were the best quality wise of your years reading comics?
When I was 7-13, but that's sort of independant of the output at the time, since I read a bunch of older stuff.
>What year did you stop enjoying comics? (assuming you did of course. and if not see next question)
Never really. I did stop reading capes regularly around 2000.
>Why do you think there seems to be so much negativity around comics as a whole these days?
I wouldn't say there is. This is just 4chan, anon. And non-capes have rarely been viewed as positively as they currently are imo.
But for the negativity about capes well it's a mixed bag of various things. For me it's really that the writers and editorial are pretty shit nowadays, especially on Marvel's side, and they don't get the benefit of me being an all-accepting child. There's still some very good stuff, but you wont get me to sift through all the garbage (and pay for it) to find them out, let alone have me buy every damn issue of a book.
So I just check out storytimes of new stuff once in a while and generally end up feeling "well there's no chance I'm bothering reading another issue of that". My favorite post-2000 Marvel cape comics have been Exiles v.1 (especially the earlier parts, before the Excalibur crossover), Superior Foes of Spider-Man and Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe, so really nothing that important to main conntinuity that would get me to follow again.
I don't care about not muh.
>>81273707
Underrated post
Also if something is good you say "that was good" and thats about it
When its bad its more engaging to deconstruct why something is bad
Add in shitposters for good measure and you see why its a lot of negative talk (or at least appears to be)
>>81286114
The only comic I've actually enjoyed us resident alien and am still reading that and else world's tend to just be either uninteresting or poorly written.
>>81272800
Almost as soon as I started, they're way too short for the price point.
I love comics. And cartoons! Live action "adaptions" of comics is where I draw the line.
