harvey@decvax.UUCP (Miriam Harvey) (09/30/83)
Just some background info: As a kid I read only DC comics, but I tried of them and stopped collecting comics. Four years ago I started collecting comics again, but only Marvel and Elfquest. Marvel because it had some women superheroes (granted they are handled poorly but still a far cry from what was available when I was young) and Elquest needs no justification. Two years ago I started adding some DC titles. Rambles and such: It would appear that over the last few years Marvel has become lazy. It has become "fannish" and relays on its established audience. There are titles I collect now in hopes that it will some how improve. Until three issues ago Thor was in this category. Some of the older titles have become stale and creativity is becoming scarce. It still comes out with some outstanding material as shown in the Cloak and Dagger Mini-Series and the most recent changes in Thor, but on the whole the quality appears to be slipping. Half of the new titles are spawn outside of Marvel, eg. Indiana Jones. Marvel Fanfare which had an excellent start has gotten mediocre - right not its not worth the paper its printed on. DC however, has taken striving steps forward in the quality of material published. It seems to be willing to gamble as shown by the use of high quality paper (yes Marvel does this too, but not for as many titles) and adult material, eg. Camelot 3000, and Ronin. DC seems interested in competing, something Marvel appears to have forgotten how to do. Even with these changes at DC and Marvel, I still collect more Marvel titles than DC. I just group DC with the alternative comics, ie. very special. If I collect a comic that is not Marvel it is because I feel it is very good - the writing is of good quality and the art is at least that if not better. The Teen Titans, Camelot 3000, and Ronin meet my definition. Questions: How do people feel about stories started in one title and finished in another? I find this most annoying. I don't collect all titles and don't have easy access to a comic outlet. I currently have a subscription at a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts while living in Nashua, New Hampshire. This is the closest store I have found. I pick up my sub every couple of weeks, so if the "cross-finish" is done I may not find this out until I'm back up in New Hampshire some 50 miles away. When you buy a comic are you more interested in the art or the story? Why? How do you feel about the increasing price of comics? Is the attention given to popular writers and/or artist by fans dangerous to their creativity? Ie. do you think it goes to their head and restrict their future productivity? I'm new to Usenet so if some of this is redundant, sorry, but I'd like to see some active in net.comics. Miriam Amos Harvey
eric@aplvax.UUCP (10/03/83)
Fond as I am of rambling, I just had to answer a couple of the points here. First, you ask about cross title tales. In some cases, I really like it. As I have mentioned before, I collect primarily DC and alternates, no Marvel. Further, I get almost all DC titles. Therefore, cross title tales do not normally cause me any problems. In general, however, I do not like them, because of the number of writers and artists involved (to many contrasting styles). In the case of Detective/Batman, though, I do like it, because it allows much more rapid sub-plot development, and the cross-over is continuous. As for the rising price of comics, I have found that in the last three weeks, my average outlay for comics had doubled. This is due primarily to the increasing number of (expensive) alternates that I am getting, and the more expensive DC titles. These are generally worth it, but I think I will have to start pruning back down again soon - hard to explain the constant outlay to the wife and the increase is significant. Well, that's it for now. This news group has been dead for the last couple weeks - what's a matter, everyone spending their time on net.tv? -- eric ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric
brad@umcp-cs.UUCP (10/04/83)
I collect about 2/3 of the DC titles and 1/3 of the marvel titles, so
I also don't mind the cross-overs. I particularly was impressed with the
one in TT # 37 and BATO # 5. (So impressed that I bought the poster which
is the two covers next to each other and is printed on very high quality
paper. If you can't find it, try putting the cover of TT on the left and
the cover of BATO on the right. It's a *great* cover.)
I find that DC is going nowhere but up. Now, I bought DC titles when all
that was popular was Marvel, but I think that TT, BATO, LSH, Camelot 3000,
Batman and D'tec, the Omega Men, and Vigilante are some of the best material
DC's ever produced. In general, I feel that Marvel is floundering and DC
has a direction in mind and is going for it. I also think that Marvel's
greed is showing. They are publishing more $2 reprints now than ever, and
sometimes they are worth it and sometimes not. For example, I will gladly
pay $2 for Neal Adams/Roy Thomas X-men (even though I paid $4.95 for 1/3 of
the story 2 years ago in the "hardcover graphic album" format! But I
digress) and will even grudgingly pay $2 for the Moon Night reprints, but $2
for reprints of the recent Daredevil/Elektra ... well...
Hopefully I will soon post mini-reviews of some of the comics of the last
few weeks that I particularly enjoyed. (Once my workload lightens up)
I'm enjoying the new traffic in the group, keep it up.
b**2
(Brad Balfour)
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