boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (11/01/84)
> From: The Gray Mouser > I've been following the net for awhile and finally decided to > toss in a monkey wrench, in hopes of locating like-minded > iconoclasts out there somewhere. <deep breath> Here goes: > > 1: Does everyone else *worship* the Big Two or something? Well, Quite frankly, I don't understand how you could *possibly* say that you've been "following the net for awhile" and miss all of the various pans that I (as well as others such as Jeff Meyer, Mike Ciaraldi, Oz, and Laurie Sefton) have given to books published by the Big Two. Not to mention the favorable reviews that some of us have given to not only the major independents like First or Pacific, but some of the more obscure "semi-pro" comics, such as (to name but a few) BIOTECH COMICS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, SOUTHERN KNIGHTS, POWER PLAYS, and REID FLEMING-- WORLD'S TOUGHEST MILKMAN. > take *this*: I don't buy ANY DC except the NEW GODS reprints and > CAMELOT 3000 (both soon-to-be-defunct), and I don't buy ANY > Marvels except the Ditko reprints in MARVEL TALES. That sounds like a personal problem. I dare say that you're missing out on some good stuff. This sounds like a classic case of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. > I was buying X-MEN and NM but have finally had enough --- I > won't let Claremont do that to me anymore. Doesn't anyone else > have the guts to abandon this trash were being buried with? If you're speaking specificly of THE X-MEN and THE NEW MUTANTS, then I can't say that I agree with your assessment of them as "trash". If you're talking about Marvel (and DC) comics in general, then the answer is yes. There are *many* DC/ Marvel titles that I don't buy because I consider them to be trash, or at least not of sufficient interest to buy them. > I buy hole-in-the-wall stuff, THAT'S what's happening! LOVE > AND ROCKETS (absolute best stuff on the market), MR X (aren't > there any other Jaime Hernandez fans in netland?), the A-V > stuff, THE ROCKETEER, some of First (yay NEXUS!!!), MAGE, > there are so many SUPERIOR alternatives.... I buy hole-in-the-wall stuff, too, as is evident from my various reviews. I've mentioned before, and I'll mention again, that in my Top 20 comics (actually, it used to be Top 10, then Top 15, but now the dividing line between Excellent and Good seems to be around 20), only *3* are Marvels (THOR, DR. STRANGE, and POWER PACK) and only *3* are DC's (SWAMP THING, and both TEEN TITANS books). *All* of the other 14 are Independents: 4 from First (AMERICAN FLAGG!, JOURNEY, GRIMJACK, and NEXUS), 3 from A-V (CEREBUS, JOURNEY, and MS. TREE), 2 from Kitchen Sink (THE SPIRIT and STEVE CANYON), 2 from Eclipse (ZOT and the new MASKED MAN), and the other 3 assorted (LOVE & ROCKETS, WARRIOR, and the temp- orarily in limbo SOMERSET HOLMES). > 2: I picked up SWAMP THING ANNUAL #2 on the net's say-so. > Alan Moore is competent and interesting, but not God. His type > of writing becomes its own triteness after a while, certain > tricks used to elicit a knee-jerk sense of "good writing". > ... > STA #2 was not particularly moving or dazzling. I prefer > the Hernandez brothers, or Mike Baron, or Scott McCloud (ZOT!). To each his own. In my opinion, Alan Moore (whose "V for Vendetta" and "Marvel- man" in WARRIOR I've been following since *before* he started on SWAMP THING) *is* the closest thing to God amongst comic writers (if you want to talk about all-around comics creators, than Will Eisner *is* God!). I greatly admire Mike Baron, Los Hermanos Hernandez, and Scott McCloud, as well as Howie Chaykin, Bill Messner-Loebs, and others, but I don't think they can hold a candle to Alan Moore. > 3: I HATE MARVEL for its obvious plot to monopolize the comics > industry! By flooding the market and undercutting prices they > can bury DC and then have the power to destroy First, Eclipse, > etc. like gnats! What a GODDAMN MEAN, PETTY, ROTTEN thing to do!! Yes, but Remember that all's fair in love, war, and business. Comics publishing is first and foremost a business, and Marvel happens to be the most successful at it. Furthermore, while the independents may possibly get squeezed out of the marketplace, there is no way that Marvel will ever "bury" DC. DC may be a distant second place, but they are still too big for Marvel to bury. And I have to confess that I'm boggled that anyone would think that Marvel trying to hold down comic prices is a bad thing! > Doesn't anyone else *mind*?! Do you all WANT to see > nothing but SECRET WARS and Claremontian strong-but-oh-so- > sensitive women threatening to turn into a Phoenix every > other month? Miniseries about every new movie or Japanese toy, > regardless of quality or aptness? U.S. 1, DAZZLER, STARRIORS, > ROM... if Marvel wins, that's all you'll get, and you'll pay > through the nose for it. Look at it this way: I buy what I want to read and that's that. If all of the independents (and DC) went down the drain, and all that was left was Marvel, I would not buy a single Marvel comic that I don't already buy (wellll... maybe I'd start picking up SPIDER-MAN again, but that's it). Buying the Marvel's that I do does not take away financial resources from the independents. If I don't buy an independent, it's because I'm not interested in it, not because I bought two lousy Marvel comics in its place. And while some things seem ill con- ceived, I will stand behind a paraphrase of Neal Adams': "There is no such thing as a bad comic book --- only a comic book handled badly". I only begrudgingly admit that Gerry Conway's writing on ATARI FORCE isn't too bad, but now Mike Baron (yes, Mike Baron, hotshot!!) is writing it, and it'll probably improve dramatically. ********** The biggest problem I find with your article is its reverse chauvanism. As I have little regard for people who blindly follow only one company, such as Marvel, I hold in as much contempt those who insist that the Big Two are only garbage. THERE'S GOOD AND BAD IN EVERY PUBLISHER, and it infuriates me when someone insists that if it's a Marvel comic, it is de facto bad, and if it is an independent, it is de facto good. It's easy to knock Marvel for SECRET WARS and praise First for AMERICAN FLAGG!, but can you honestly say that WARP is better than THOR? I've bought *every* comic that's been published by Eclipse, Pacific, First, Aardvark-Vanaheim, and WaRP Graphics, partly in an effort to support these publishers. In doing so, I've bought a lot of dreck (especially from Pacific). Is this really any more ethical than buying every Marvel just because it's Marvel? No, I don't think so. I just pretend that I didn't buy MARS, and that I'm spending $2.50 per issue of AMERICAN FLAGG! (Still seems like a bar- gain!). Makes it easier to swallow. Why can't people stop being prejudiced for or against any particular company or companies? Why can't people just buy what they want regardless of who publishes it? --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA