eric@aplvax.UUCP (08/14/83)
I just picked up my weeks worth of comics at the shop today, and was talking to the clerk. He said that he now judges a comic by how many times he has to read it to understand it. Looking back, he may have a point. Some of the new titles: Ronin, Thriller, American Flagg, etc. are not easy reads. In Ronin, the artwork overwhelms the text on the first time through the book. Thriller (which I just picked up) seems to spend a whole lot of time going no where. And American Flagg packs so much on each page that it takes forever to piece it together. Yet I am coming to enjoy each of these titles, the more I re-read them. Anyone else noticing this trend? eric ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric P.S. I was also talking to the clerk about the lateness of several of DCs Baxter publications, i.e. Camelot 3000, Ronin, Omega Men, etc. Does anyone know if this is due to the Baxter process, or just people missing deadlines?
egy@sdchema.UUCP (Eugene G. Youngerman) (08/16/83)
I heartily agree with your observation. I myself judge
whether or not to purchase a comic, as whether or not I will
read it twice. The three titles in particular you mention
are all of particular interest. (by the way, did you see the
new American Flagg? It just arrived this week, and I am finally
starting to see where Chaykin is going.)
I also find that while a poorly written but well drawn
story is no prize, a well-written, poorly drawn story is
nigh upon useless. I refer in particular to Defenders, wherein
I can not stomach Don Perlin's pathetic chickenscratch
which somebody at Marvel has the audacity to call art.
By the same token, unless a story progresses, and by this I
don't mean individual stories, but overall change in the
environment of the series, it becomes boring. My examples here
are Superman, by Bates and Swan, and Conan, drawn by Buscema and
Chan. While I won't argue that Swan and Buscema/Chan are
masters of their craft, I know for a fact, that I will see nothing
new in these series.
In response to the question about Baxter books, I don't know,
but I will make an attempt to find out. If you people are
in a position where your stores get anything from
Pacific Comics, the distributors, and not the publishers, although
they are but two arms of the same Schanes enterprise, they have been
getting shorted badly out of Sparta of late, and some titles
are not showing up at some stores until a week or two late.
I am
GINO!