hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (01/18/84)
Gad. I can't help it anymore, I have to throw in my two bits worth. Regards Secret Bores: According to my pusher (oops, I meant comics dealer) the whole thing behind Secret Wars is that Cadence, who own Marvel, are pushing on Marvel to regain the "kiddie/supermarket" sales which they believe to be the majority of their market potential. The method which they are using is to come out with a line of downscale comics, written at what they fondly imagine is the intellectual level of the audience. There is no evidence yet that they plan to create a less expensive product but everything leads to the conclusion that they plan on a CHEAPER one. Simultaneously they are going after the Collectors market by publishing the Baxter-format, direct-sales, and the limited series stuff. They even announce these strategies to the dealers in order to minimize hassles. They FORGOT to announce that Secret Wars, which is required reading for anyone who wants to keep track of the consistency of the Marvel Sloppiverse, is IN THE KIDDIE SALES BRACKET. This is shown by the simplified characterisations, where all the players have to act within the minimal set of character traits described in the on-file profiles. Therefore, Dr. Octopus is seen to pick a fight with Creel, who responds with the classic line, "Shuddup, or I, Crusher Creel, the Absorbin' Man, will ..." This is partly because Shooter still writes the same way he did when he was a 14 year old boy writing for the Legion of Super Heroes, and partly because his own editorial policy demands that all the Kiddie Line have enough expository stuff in them that the Kiddies aren't left confused. Shooter could have used an editor. But who could edit the work of the Editor-in-Chief? Regarding John Byrne: My opinion of the hack has been published before, but it changes every time I see his work. First, I enjoy his style, WHEN HE TAKES TIME TO DO GOOD WORK. Otherwise he sucks worse than bad Kirby or Ditko, and when he is being sloppy, Herb Trimpe or Don Heck could outshine him. His writing can be nice, and often has incredibly complex or subtle things to say. This is because he is a shameless plagiarist with a convenient memory. When he is cadging from another writer, or doing a remake of another storyline, his work is somewhat better than when he does his "original" work, where he is forced to rely on the Claremont style of overemoting to support his lackluster ideas. Another gripe I have is with his treatment of the Fantastic Four. Not bad enough that he reverted the Thing, and was rewarded by sales drops so severe that he had to fix it, but he has reverted Johnny Storm from an athletic, trained, and well-built 24 year old to a skinny, gawky 16 year old who looks terminally underfed. Feh! Alpha Blight -er, Flight, has proven itself a nonentity. The ideas are at least unfamiliar, except that he makes it clear that the Monsters of the North are all ripoffs from another company; some of the characterisation is nice, and he deserves some kudoes for Puck, but the RESEARCH for the important characters is real shoddy. The Jean-Marie/Aurora personality split doesn't begin to follow the actual case pathologies of known multiple personality cases. Further, his paranoid fears of organized Christianity have rendered otherwise interesting situations totally unbelievable. The "last-of-its-kind" Catholic school, where the Nuns are sadists from the Dark ages, is straight out of a Stephen King novella, and have about that much basis in reality. All this aside, the thing is just NOT INTERESTING. This has already gone on too long, folks. Rather than starting to sound like the Comics Journal, a rag if ever I saw one, I will conclude this article and go put on my asbestos poncho. Hutch