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thehefnerAnd now, I have my sole regret for missing Baltimore Comic Con this year:
Bendis vs. Kirkman
That's twice now* that Robert Kirkman has seemingly broken through the pablum of these Con panels and their self-congratulatory smugness. I can't stand panels, since they're usually about as genuine as a White House press conference, but now I'm gonna make it a point to see every one of Kirkman's where I can. Not only does he write two of the very best monthly comics out there today--INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD--he has the both the insight and the vision to back up those huge balls of his.
I don't now how right he is, but he's bringing up the topics that Marvel and DC don't want people discussing since they're far more content to rest on their laurels and keep the ship going. But we in the comics industry, fans and professionals alike, need to be addressing all this. For all that I bitch about the current states of DC and Marvel, I still love those companies and their characters (and still happily follow enough books that I think prevents me from being a Comic Book Guy), but they're all too content to be big fish in a small pond, one that gets smaller as comic fans get older.
In the eight years I worked at Big Planet (with breaks for college), the vast majority of regular comic buyers were between twenty-five and fifty. Shit, when I first became a regular comic reader at age thirteen, I knew of maybe two other kids in my entire middle school who read comics. As I went to high school and then college, it stayed the same. Trust me, if anyone else read comics, we would have found each other. Geek radar is amazing.
DC and Marvel don't want to discuss how the industry is starting to resemble CHILDREN OF MEN here, but that was my experience over the past eight years, and Kirkman's findings only back that up. Hopefully people will listen, or at least the discussion will continue, now that Kirkman drank Bendis' milkshake.
*From San Diego 2006, when he drank Todd McFarlane's milkshake.
Bendis vs. Kirkman
That's twice now* that Robert Kirkman has seemingly broken through the pablum of these Con panels and their self-congratulatory smugness. I can't stand panels, since they're usually about as genuine as a White House press conference, but now I'm gonna make it a point to see every one of Kirkman's where I can. Not only does he write two of the very best monthly comics out there today--INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD--he has the both the insight and the vision to back up those huge balls of his.
I don't now how right he is, but he's bringing up the topics that Marvel and DC don't want people discussing since they're far more content to rest on their laurels and keep the ship going. But we in the comics industry, fans and professionals alike, need to be addressing all this. For all that I bitch about the current states of DC and Marvel, I still love those companies and their characters (and still happily follow enough books that I think prevents me from being a Comic Book Guy), but they're all too content to be big fish in a small pond, one that gets smaller as comic fans get older.
In the eight years I worked at Big Planet (with breaks for college), the vast majority of regular comic buyers were between twenty-five and fifty. Shit, when I first became a regular comic reader at age thirteen, I knew of maybe two other kids in my entire middle school who read comics. As I went to high school and then college, it stayed the same. Trust me, if anyone else read comics, we would have found each other. Geek radar is amazing.
DC and Marvel don't want to discuss how the industry is starting to resemble CHILDREN OF MEN here, but that was my experience over the past eight years, and Kirkman's findings only back that up. Hopefully people will listen, or at least the discussion will continue, now that Kirkman drank Bendis' milkshake.
*From San Diego 2006, when he drank Todd McFarlane's milkshake.
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Date: 2008-09-28 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 10:01 pm (UTC)Did you listen to Kirkman's manifesto that started the whole article I linked to? The audio is linked inside the article, and it's well worth hearing. I dare say his experiences on UXM and other Marvel books solidified his current stance. He may have done it to pay the bills, but now I think he's realized that he doesn't have to anymore, or perhaps never did. (That said, his short-lived MARVEL TEAM-UP series was great)
Be warned about INVINCIBLE, though: you need to read the first two or even three books first before you can get any real sense of what the series is about. It's a slow burn book, but when it kicks off... ohhhhh man. I even got Kevin and Ridgaway hooked.
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Date: 2008-09-29 04:35 am (UTC)BTW, are you free Tuesday? I need to talk to you. Beers?
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Date: 2008-09-29 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 04:59 am (UTC)Let me check the schedule.
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Date: 2008-09-29 05:06 am (UTC)Also, my ladyfriend is coming on Friday, so sometime after that, double-date!