Someone dies, we shrug it off.
They’re brought back, we think little of it.
They do it again, again and again and we saw ‘it comes with the territory, that’s just how comics are’.
But we don’t really like it. I mean, if it’s our favourite character, sure, we typically want to see them back, but we still gripe when it’s another character. And it’s not just death: they lose their powers, they get them back, they lose the use of their legs, forever … until they can walk again just fine a year later … until the lose the use of their legs again. It’s forever this time … for a year or two. Magneto’s her father. And then he’s not. And then he is, and then he’s not – there’s proof this time. And then he is, the ‘proof’ was wrong. And then he’s not!
She has the Phoenix power, she is the Phoenix, she was never the Phoenix – she was in a cocoon. She is the Phoenix, she is dead, she’s alive, she was dead along, no, that was her clone …
We know how silly it is, so why do we put up with this? Why do we – myself included – gripe and then shrug it off? Why do we still ‘buy in’ to storylines? Have we let our cherished comics become meaningless?
i dunno if meaningless is the right word but how the writers and editors treat their characters makes the reading experience less and less enjoyable…they take a truly exceptional story — like the phoenix saga, say oops we shouldn’t let this character let’s bring her back — only to kill them again…
i don’t think editors and writers realize how this business of dying and coming back or a 360 on a character affects the long time reader…i still love comics — especially the x-men, but i’ve gotten tired of the retcons (god i hate that word) the canon (hate that word too) which suddenly isn’t canon and the comic company saying ‘oh lets do this to bring in new readers ‘ and to hell with the old…
i love my comics, but those who bring me said entertainment have jaded me somewhat…
I think that this is one of the main problems that one can see in superhero comics with a large unified universe and years of years of continuity. The way the medium is built inevitably means that there will be too many chefs, so to speak.
There are too many writers that have their idea of how a character should be and what would be interesting to with that character and they all clash. So if one writer leaves a certain character in an interesting situation the next writer to pick the character might not follow up on that situation but will instead bring the character back to their standard status quo so that they could bring about their own interesting scenario.
It’s basically the same with death in comics. Some writers kill off a character all dramatically and shit but there’s another writer that wants to use said character and now they have to think up an entire story of how to bring the character back. And then there’re the writers who have no real consideration for characters and just kill them off willy nilly for one reason or another, I’m looking at you Bendis.
In short, change means so little in superhero comics nowadays because happens all the time. We have knee-jerk reactions to said changes and they are understandably annoyed and frustrated because they just won’t take a moment to relax and stand still anymore.
Well put Magnus – the idea that death sells comics means pretty much every major storyline now contains at least one ‘death’.
There’s too little respect for the work that was published before writers came on board. That work is the reason subsequent writers have their current jobs and it should be respected – not to the exclusion of change, of course, but it feels like history means nothing to writers nowadays and that they, hand-in-hand with editors, have carte blanche to change anything – and they do.
Exactly. A good example of what we’re talking about is Silver Surfer. In Annihilation he was once again turned into Galactus’ herald and it was based on his history and character development over the years. I found that an interesting opportunity to tell a new kind story about the character and his morality.
Only a few people even scraped the surface of that potential. Then somebody made Galactus addicted to the old power or something and had Surfer abandon him, thank god that was rather swiftly ignored. But then Fraction comes along and replaces Surfer with some balding old priest to make a lame point that made no sense. It felt forced and even if Silver Surfer was Galactus’ herald for 4-5 years in real time nothing was ever done with it because other writers wanted to tell some other story about him instead of trying to do something interesting with the situation.
The whole rotating writer thing has so many flaws in the longer run. It’s one of the reasons I really like Invincible. There’s one writer and he tells the large sweeping story he’s planned out and gets to decide most everything that happens in it. It gives it a sense of consistency and feels more natural.
For the same reason I really enjoy manga.
I don’t know of any other medium in which the audience would accept such a cavalier approach to both the character and the audience.
Like Invincible, the most successful comic of the past few years (The Walking Dead) has succeeded in part because it has the same writer. It’s no co-incidence that it’s the same writer as Invincible – Robert Kirkman.
I note that Invincible has always had the same art team and TWD has only had two artists, to date. That makes a difference too.
Actually, while Invincible has a steady and regular artist in Ryan Ottely the original artist, Corey Walker, jumps from time to time.
Nevertheless, you have a point. I’m often very annoyed that most comics can’t keep their artists for very long anymore.
Not just the artists, Magnus – short-term writers are part of the problem. If you know you’re likely only going to be on a book for six issues, don’t make significant changes. Editors, don’t let writers get away with this unless the subsequent writer is committed to following through with the change.
Short-term runs definitely have a place – look at Warren Ellis’ smashing work on Secret Avengers – but not if the goal is to shake things up and run.
I should have clarified that I was specifically targeting Marvel & DC’s super-hero books – there are plenty of comics that don’t have these problems but they typically haven’t been going for 45years and are more likely to be outside of the sci-fi genre. Comics as periodicals are inevitably a form of soap opera and in many cases they’ve become the cheapest worst kind. Solicitation texts remind me of the magazines you see by the check-out stand at the grocery store that are dedicated to TV soap operas: “In this issue – someone dies!”. Publishers & writers apparently believe that it takes death and resurrection and crazy plot twists to sell comics and in the short term, they’re right. But it’s killing super-hero comics for the long-term. What’s the point of owning a long run if half of it ‘didn’t happen’ due to yet another ret-con?
I still love comics and you’re spot on to call me on the hyperbole of ‘meaningless’. But our choice of entertainment has been repeatedly devalued and the market for Marvel & DC super-hero comics has steadily dwindled. I think there’s a connection.
It’s for a lot of these reasons that I’ve found myself turning to Indie titles these days. Creator-owned titles tend to keep the same creative teams, and don’t overstay their welcome as much for me. I love any title that has a deliberate arc in mind, that the writer freely explores to conclusion.
There’s an old writers’ adage of “Show, don’t Tell”, and I think that these whimsical death and ret-con moments feel forced upon us, because of how explanation-intensive they are. Anytime I read a comic in which the author is correcting another author’s work by explaining “what really happened”, it reminds me of being 12 years-old again and listening to a friend who was caught in a lie. The explanation never feels genuine, because it’s a complete deviation from the intent of a former guardian of the character.
The books I’m recently faithful to are The Walking Dead, Locke & Key, Tellos, and Irredeemable.
You raise a great point about series being explored to their natural conclusion, Adam. The serialised aspect is part of the problem – perhaps it would be better, creatively, for long-running books to conclude and stay off the racks until a creative idea had a superb idea for the characters that begged to be published, even if it meant characters such as Superman or the Fantastic Four didn’t have new issues on sales for years at a time. The gaps between ‘seasons’ could really excite interest when the books return and it would help prevent lacklustre runs that tarnish the characters and brand. It would also make it easier to put new characters/books centre-stage, as they’d have less competition.
I know neither Marvel nor DC would go for this publishing model because it would mean passing up some serious short-term profits but I think it would be a much more healthier model for the industry.
Agreed. Because of that, I love Runaways (although trying to figure out the order of those in the TP format is annoying…) and Rising Stars. I have not yet read Locke and Key, (I really hate waiting for the next installments of things), or Walking Dead (I’ll be honest, I’m a little scared of the content, but I’ll probably get to it eventually.) One author and one idea makes for great writing.
Ian, I love that idea, because it would make a new Superman story very exciting if we hadn’t see one for a few years. However, you are also correct that they’d never go for it.
As you say, we “shrug it off”, because we have no real choice. All you can do to let the writers know that you didn’t want them to do that is not but it, but half the time you don’t know they’ve done something stupid till you’ve read the whole thing. Also, I don’t know about anyone else, but there are many books I’ve read, even if I wasn’t liking the writing style, etc. just because I need the closure, and need to know what happened (Leven Thumps series and Charlie Bone series come to mind. Not comics, and borrowed from the library, but still true.) It just bugs my brain otherwise. But what a waste of time, you know?
Heather, don’t be scared of the content of TWD … it’s R-rated at times but well worth it. It’s gripping.
I share your penchant for feeling a need to finish a story out, too – I wonder if that’s part of the reason why it’s so hard to drop titles long after we’ve stopped loving them? Because we don’t have a sense of closure?