I can remember when both a #1 and a mini series were special events. I can remember when #1's used to have star exploding caption areas that said "Collectors Item First Issue". Yeah, there was a good amount of first issues back in the day, but nothing like the overabundance of first issues we deal with today. I understand why they exist. They represent a spike in sales. I get that comics are a business and anything that spikes sales will be exploited to the highest degree. But I also remember rock solid storylines with tremendous art catching the wave of consciousness and seeing sales numbers spike simply because a book was great. I also remember when #1's used to represent the beginning of being the main way to follow a character. You may have not had a lot of avenues back then. I remember when I was young, Spider-Man had about 5-7 titles and people were complaining it was too much. Well, I think in just the past year alone, I've been suckered into buying about 10 #1's of Batman titles. Does that make any of these special? Should I look for the "Collector's Item First Issue" on these? I think not.
I also remember when mini-series were a new concept. I remember getting "The Marvel Superheroes Contest of Champions #1". It had never been done before. All the super heroes of the company plus a few new ones in a 3 issue series. Looking back, it wasn't that great. But the concept of mini series held a lot more promise back then. Along came other mini or maxi series that were more "events" and had impact on the entire realm of a comic universe. Wolverine, The Watchmen, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, The Infinity Gauntlet. I used to be a bit excited to buy these. They were indeed events. Not anymore. Now if a Superhero farts, we can make a mini-series about it.
Try looking at an issue of Previews these days. Notice something that is a constant. You notice that the majority of the books are either an issue of part of a mini or maxi series such as (#4 of 12). Or sadly a #1 of a character that hardly anyone cared about in the first place. However, it's got a #1 on it and dang it, there is a lot of suckers out there that will buy anything with a #1 on it. So even if it is a mediocre or no chance title or character, lets give it a first issue. Or launch another new title, but most likely a title of a character that we've seen launched 10 times over. Anybody else ready for another 1st issue of Wolverine?
This points at a bad problem with comics. Comics are diluting themselves. They are taking moments that used to be special and diluting it to a realm of being nothing more than a yawn. I used to get excited over first issues and mini series. I remember hearing news of a launch of a comic and not wanting to wait until it came out. I can wait now. I can wait almost for 95% of these to end up in dumpsters 6 months after release and buying them at 25% of the cover price. If all these first issues and mini series are winding up there, it must be obvious that it isn't special to comic fans either. Comics need to stop diluting themselves. Comic fans should stop playing sucker.
Remember ongoing series? They almost seem like forgotten, abused step-children these days. Only the most iconic of icons now keep a long run of comics going anymore. And lets pray to heaven above that you aren't repaid for showing your loyalty by letting your comic company kill the character off, give it a replacement character, change it's costume and reset the number count. You're really lucky if you've followed a character for ages and they haven't slapped you around with EASY gimmicks that didn't provoke much thought from the creators. Perhaps you remember a simpler time when your favorite character looked exactly how you remembered, hadn't died, had the costume you loved, kept it's numbering the same and delivered solid stories month after month with art from your favorite artists. Do you remember can't waiting for the next issue? Of do you just want them to rip your heart out and change everything you know and love about your favorite character because the shock will make you buy that relaunch of your favorite character. I think if your devotion gets slapped around enough, you're more likely to walk away. Remember devoted followers of your titles comic companies? Is this how you repay them???
Let me ask a question. How often do we expect to see a brand new launch of a character in it's debut #1 issue of an ONGOING comic. And having this be it's true first 1st issue of a comic with it's name plastered on the cover. How many more times are we expecting to see brand new characters start with it's initial first #1 and reach what used to be a rather achievable number for a comic that had built itself around a good reputation and following, how many more times are we going to see a launch now eventually reach issue #200? I think the Spawns and the Savage Dragons of the comics world are running out. I feel more likely I will see a comic character launch and see it appear in 10 more #1's before I see even one of it's titles reach 200. To put it mildly, there won't be anything special about all those #1s. There won't be anything special about the all the mini-series that character will be involved in. To put it mildly, the system has diluted the character even before it launched. The comic companies don't have any high hopes for it. The bar is low. The benchmarks and goals are too easy to achieve. Somehow I don't think Stan, Jack and Steve and the other forefathers of comics only wanted to see their characters reach 12 issues. But it certainly seems like all the top staff at top comic companies and creators want it now. If you can be sold 1 story that can be repackaged later and resold again as a Trade Paper Back then they've done their job. That was the goal.You're no longer meant to care for years. We only need your attention for a few months. Don't ask too much of us. Somehow, as usual. I think we, the buying public of comics, have made it way too easy for them. I really think we should demand more. In this day of dying print media, we should be able to sort out what sucks and stop playing sucker. Reward comics that respect it's loyal followers and reward creators for solid work of both story-telling, art and forward thinking without all the usual gimmicks that we've all experienced before. If we don't demand more and stop letting the games work in their favor, we can't expect them to stop doing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment