There has been no natural progression or actual improvement in the actual structure , art , quality, style etc. since marxists have taken over. It has been stagnant for a long time similar to western art and music in general. What do you think the american comic book industry could improve(outside of the obvious getting rid of woke stuff)?
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (36)
sorted by:
Get rid of capeshit and open comics up to multiple genres, like back before the CCA. The quality of storytelling and art will improve when creators who don't want to soil their reputation with capeshit see that they can make good work that will be taken seriously as literature.
Try to get comics back into grocery stores, convenience stores, local places. Comics have become so niche that the only way to really get them is by going direct market. You're never going to get anyone aside from the enthusiast audience that way, and you want more than emotionally stunted, middle-aged men to read your work. Or at least I do.
Social Media Influencers. You may hate the idea, but as a marketing tool, they work.
It would take a lot of work and probably decades of good stories and sound business management to resurrect not only the medium of comic books, but its reputation and cultural cache as well. While I think Hashbrown Comics Gate is kinda silly, I will say that I'm far more interested in what that crowd is putting out than anything Marvel, DC, or Image have put out in at least a decade. At this point, I'm wondering when the indies will figure out that they can make their own labels and get the cultural ball rolling on the resurrection of comics.
What's the CCA? The Comics Code? Hell, even when it was a thing, there were horror and war comics, sci-fi/UFO stuff, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, Scamp; westerns, and even the occasional Weird West tales (not to mention Weird War Tales itself ... speaking of which, I find it kind of gross that they mashed Sgt Rock in with the Monstrous Regiment; those were two VERY different comics, with Rock always leaning heavily towards, you know, historical realism and weight.) Dark Shadows, Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery, Cain and Abel's comics, etc. Basically, "Gold Key" was my childhood.
I read all kinds of comics as a kid, and the superhero ones were my least favourite.
Kind of a shame to hear that the superhero shit is all that's left.
The Comic Code Authority and Hays Code weren't the inherent evil that people make it to be. Movies and comics were almost entirely dedicated to porn at the time they were created.
Not true and also CCA stifled artistic freedom and creativity and banned literally everything adult. That's why everything turned in to "just for kids" (including decimating the horror genre and making one dimensional heroes and villains)
I'm not saying they were inherently good, but there is a tendency to downplay the very real concerns people had. Cuties is a return to form for the film industry.
BUT the point stands, that there were still multiple genres available under the Code. The horror ones often doubled as crime comics, where a ne'er-do-well would get some horrible supernatural come-uppance.
And you are forgetting one major thing - up until my generation, comics WERE considered "for kids". Exclusively. But my generation never fucking grew the fuck up, because we're a bunch of fucking slackers. :P
Also, the Hayes and Comics Codes weren't meant to make everything "for kids" (in the sense of, say, Sesame Street or Saturday Morning Cartoons, it was meant to make everything "one size fits all", that is, appealing to adults as well as safe for kids. Which actually forced writers to be clever and use their brains a bit, rather than just spewing out blatant sex, gore, and fart jokes, because it's easy.
Hell, one of the funniest moments in FAMILY television is one of the dirtiest jokes ever - the "Finger Prints" joke in original Animaniacs ... TOTALLY flew over the heads of my own children as I sat there laughing my butt off ... after a beat or two while I processed what they had just said.