Smells Like 1984: Is Another Dark Age of Comics Upon Us?

For the first time in my life I'm seriously thinking about letting this comics habit go because of what I see happening. And it's not just that the super arrogant creators are finally getting to me, but someone does need to point out to them that they are working IN FREAKING COMIC BOOKS! This is not exactly something your family boasts about at parties alongside their son the lawyer or their daughter who writes novels. No, it's the return of a dark, negative vibe in comics, that I last ruled in the 80's. Recently I've seen the following and it makes me not want to read anything any longer:

Captain America is the result of master race experiments begun decades before the war (and after his creation new versions of the formula were tested on Black subjects, leading to instant death for most of them) and eventually he refused to follow orders and was then frozen by the US Government.

The Flash had his two unborn children murdered in the womb by a new version of The Reverse Flash.

Wonder Girl and Lilith both met pointless, ugly deaths at the hands, of all things, a Superman Robot and now the new Titans exists completely under the pall of their deaths.

Superman will soon deal with the temptations of a divorced Lana Lang and frustration at work and also become less of a 'boy scout' under the much hated Chuck Austen when he begins writing the book. Currently, Alan Moore's one-shot idea of an evil Mxyzptlk has been reborn into continuity as the Myxy Twins who pledge never to be cute again.

This makes me think of the 80's when every company desperate for a little Batman-like success made all their heroes a bit grittier and even characters like The Riddler and The Penguin suddenly became hardcore killers and Superman lined up three of his enemies and killed them point blank. I'm terrified that soon someone is going to walk into a meeting and suggest that Wonder Woman get raped to see 'how a superhero deals with it' and no one will stop them. Or maybe they'll try and double their 'edginess' and make it Batman.

Maybe it's 9/11 fallout, but just when I need comics to be a bit lighter, they seem to be getting darker. And while I know a lot of people like it, a lot of us do not. I don't read books like The Authority and have walked away from Daredevil for just that reason. I read books like Superman and Captain America because they don't dwell in this negativity, but triumph over it. But apparently the editors don't care are me or anyone like me in order get the sales of books like The Authority or Daredevil. This strikes me as a mistake, because it's not like the comics industry is growing. It depends more and more on old geeks like me who are willing to be $7 for a book like Trinity or blow $50 on a painted hardback. Your average kid would sooner buy a video game and soon I just might join him. At least they understand that simply because Grand Theft Auto sells well, it's no reason to have Super Mario picking up whores and murdering people.

I've seen Chuck Austen referred to like this before and, at the risk of opening a pandora's box, I was just wondering why he's 'the much hated'?

I don't either. That's why I'm enjoying some of the Image superhero books and Tsunami books like Runaways, and outside superheroes, a lot of funny, light adventure titles. The books are out there, although they may not involve all of one's well-loved decades-old characters.

His work is not very good, and he puts out a lot of it.

He a very prolific writer these days. Most of his work ranges from mediocre to appallingly bad. He's one of those writers whose many people claim to despise, yet they can't bring themselves to stop discussing him.

OK, but is that a reason to hate _him_? While I don't care for his work, I don't know enough about the man to develop any personal feelings one way or the other.

I think you are coming to the same conclusion I'm starting to think about. I see comics getting rougher, and more 'real' which apprently is the same as being just dark. I don't mind some books to be dark. Daredevil, and Batman, can be dark, but they use that for good.

Shock value is the only marketing tool that comic book companies have right now. (besides changing/rotating creative teams). Princess Di is not a good story..is a gimmick. Making Superman 'dark' is just wrong. At least Loeb got Batman, and Superman right in Superman/Batman. The bitter, distrustful Cap with the new back ground is not right.

I'm down to about 7 comics on a monthly basis. And I could drop those really easy. I do have other things to do with my time and money.

And when old timers like us go...who will replace us? The kids playing video games? Nope, I see a dieing industry, desperate to try anything. Sadly, Shocking and dark is a headline grabber.

Well, since no one has read actually read it yet, its a bit early to declare that its not a good story. A gimmick it may be, but that doesn't necessarily have to carry negative connotations. X-Statix is a pretty smart book and I think Milligan might have something interesting to say with this arc.

Fair point.

It actually WOULD force a cat to tell the truth, just as Cheetah! :-P

As for rocks, well I think Blok would be vulnerable!

Which makes him a 'lunatic' how? Classically educated, sure, but not a

It started in the late 80's though. I refer to the New Mutants of that time, which saw a fatal shooting in #60 (Around 1987/88?) and the intro of Cable not THAT long thereafter...

After what Byrne did to her, I'd say she'd be PLEADING to remain dead this time, despite Jimenez's best efforts....

Last I heard, Princess Di and all references to the Royal Family were removed from that arc anyway. Is she now back in?

I'm not up as much on what's happening in superhero comics currently, but they've been around for more than 70 years now and it's not surprising that the story ideas are running thin. I dropped away from collecting comics in the 80's because of the cross-over madness that hit Marvel and DC. How many super-galactic, end of the universe storylines are really plausible anyway? (Did I really just use the word plausible to refer to superhero comics?)

I thought that was the end of the industry then, but in fact a lot of great titles did emerge after that (Sandman and Astro City come to mind off hand). So maybe it's best to think of these things as cyclic affairs. The industry needs a little space to get stupid every now and then.

Incidentally, while superhero comics may be getting a little stale, there are a number of critically acclaimed graphic novels that have come out in the last few years: Persepolis, American Born Chinese, works by Joann Sfar, etc. There are a lot of artists and writers using the form very well but just not with the superhero genre.

I've been reading Tintin recently. Would he count as a superhero?

I've posted several times on the comics crisis but there are still few good things out there and sure enough graphic novels as you mentioned.
TinTin not really a superhero but it's a classic

a year ago i emerged from years in exile from superhero books. (nervously clutching a worn copy of lutes' "berlin"...)

i found myself surrounded by infinite crisis, 52, civil war, etc.

it wasn't the darkness of the current superhero books that put me off at all, it was the crossover-mania.

"i'm back after eight years and you expect me to buy 50 books just to read all of a choppy, mediocre story?? really? damn..."

(i had begun to drift from superhero books until marvel/miracleman, TDKR, and watchmen pulled me back in. so dark / realistic (as realistic as books about men and women flying around in tights can be...?) doesn't turn me off, comics-wise.)

i think concreteborzoi hit closest to my feelings in his post. the industry seems to have gone on another of it's huge clean-the-continuity phases, where retcons abound and everything must span 30 titles for 3 issues to get rack space.

i think in these huge, ridiculously sized stories, the writers get jammed up by the hugeness and speed of the plot and end up forcing a "human element" into the characterizations where they can, grabbing at the "dark / brooding / traumatic" tropes first, as they fit easiest (and quickest) into the overall tone of upheaval and epic cataclysm.

in my perfect world dc and marvel would put a moratorium on crossovers and trust the writers of each title to actually work on their own lines for awhile.

I was enjoying Runaways until
the last issue.

Here's my take on what happened:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38171#2

re: runaways.

i would have backed away from that book as soon as i saw molly wearing crocs on the cover.

braver man than i, optimous.