I’m going to have to beg an indulgence from you, Dear Reader, as I’m going to have to relate some personal tales before we get into this week’s meat and potatoes, a (hopefully) spine-tingling revelation about your favorite publisher and mine, Marvel Comics. Okay, maybe my favorite publisher. And hey, maybe more about comics in general than expected after all.
You see, I know no one really comes here for the exciting tales of Yours Truly, so I do feel a pang of guilt about even starting out with an anecdote, but it just so happens to be the very heart of the matter at hand.
Interested, sir (or madam, whatever the case maybe)? Read on!
When I was but a lass starting out into the wide world of superhero comics, I dipped my pinky toe into the waters with the X-Men, a fan favorite among disenfranchised youth if ever there was one. But I had a problem: my first books came as a gift from my older brother and therefore were of the high ages of Claremont and Byrne, but on the new newsstands were books ages ahead of what had come before (’Adjectiveless’ X-Men #24, to be exact). As someone who wasn’t exactly rolling in the dough enough to go back issue diving, but still wanted new issues to read, I had quite a few questions. What happened to Psylocke? Where was Kitty Pryde? And, what do you mean Jean Grey had come back? How could anyone come back from the dead!? I was very fortunate at the time to have a close cadre of friends who were not only fans, but really good ones, willing to help out a damsel in distress. Any question I had was fielded fast and soon, the X-Men’s history became a lunch time story hour. I had the Phoenix Saga related to me on a school trip up Half Dome at Yosemite, I had the Siege Perilous explained before play practice, and all were told with the enthusiasm of people who not only loved the stories (or hated them in some cases), but who wanted to bring people into the fold. If the storyline was good, it was related with relish; if it was bad, we gave it a quick couple lines and moved on.
Reading old school Stan and Jack stories, we are really reading “Stan and Jack Stories”. It’s a little like being told those tales at lunch time as Stan “The Man” would take a moment out of his narrative to relate to the reader through narrative text, an editor’s note or even a sound effect or two. “Hey Kids!” didn’t feel like a marketing gimmick, it felt like the writer was calling to the reader passing by, trying to get your attention. I think that’s why we remember those stories the best, why Marvel has such a touchstone to the youth of that era, now older and wiser but still connected to “Stan and Jack Stories”. Or “Stan and Steve Stories” or whatever writer and artist jumped out of the pages of your favorite book to tell you what just happened.
It might be something well known or hidden among the fandom, but there’s an element of, well for lack of a better term, oral storytelling to our favorite funnybooks. Can you think of a storyline or plot twist that you’ve greatly enjoyed that you can’t retell to someone else? Have you ever stood at the counter of your local comic shop and gotten a ‘recap’ of last month’s issue? Have you ever told a kid the origin of your favorite hero when asked who the “guy in the cape” is? We tell these stories as much as they are told to us, one more ‘color’ to the art of visual adventures of our favorite funnybooks.
Marvel Comics has a long and treasured history of getting to the reader thanks to Stan Lee and it’s a hallmark of the House of Ideas. Nowadays, can we say the same?
Well… yeah. It may not be everywhere in the company, but the excitement from writer to artist to reader still remains. In fact (and you’re going to love me for this one), I would go so far as to say that the latest issues of Amazing Spider-Man have brought back that era in the finest example possible. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the storytellers who have been handed our pal Spidey have really done their best to get across that connection once more, telling us about last issue within the story, telling us how dangerous next issue is going to be with an end credit, and excitedly telling the reader about this Brand New Day with enthusiasm and a love of the character, just like I was told back in high school through my friends at lunch.
It is a connection that was sorely missed and I’m glad to have back.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I’ve never read a Spider-Man series regularly (not counting the old MARVEL TEAM-UP), except for Busiek’s UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN, so I can’t say what effect the BND series would have on me. I’d consider Marvel’s artistic high point, in terms of the quality of the writing in several series, to be the mid-70s, when Englehart, Gerber, Moench, et al., were doing their best work and letter hacks such as Macchio, Rodi, et al., were writing to comment on the stories. There was a feeling that the writers were really trying to do the best stories they could, and never writing down to a juvenile readership. I haven’t had that kind of feeling from a Marvel comic since the ‘70s, unfortunately, and I don’t see a series in the foreseeable future that will bring it back. Marvel’s focus on big “events,“ the diminution of series’ importance, and the dialogue-only style of scripting, which makes saying things about characters difficult–one could say that the Knaufs are doing a decent job on IRON MAN, but the plot in the “Mandarin” arc was thoroughly predictable, the equivalent of renting a direct-to-DVD action movie to see people hit each other and things blow up. If a close approximation of a cheapo action flick is among the best stories a writer can do, the future for storytelling in Marvel’s comics is dim.
SRS
February 27th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
This seemed to be a rambling mess and I don’t really see her point about the storytelling at Marvel now. I think they have tried to expand their lines and just push as much stuff out there as possible despite the low level of quality in much of the work. Pretty good sales on third and fourth tier books makes for a healthy bottom line. I’ll admit there seems to be genuine effort on Amazing Spider-man but there has to be such effort now due to the horrible storytelling and lack of concern for readers and their enjoyment during One Last Day.
Do Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Heroes for Hire, Warbound, Damage Control and Black Panther read like anyone cares? How about X-force, Excalibur, Exiles, Wolverine Origins and the recently canned New X-men?
Marvel has been living off of mega-events and the work of Ed Brubaker and Brian Bendis Post-Secret Invasion, they should really focus on bringing up the level of quality line wide and making each comic worth reading.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I’m a DC guy whose only been recently venturing back into Marvel (I say back, because every kid loves the X-Men, right?), but I totally agree with you about Brand New Day being fun as hell.
This time last year I began the processes of utterly destroying a very dear friend my get him hooked on reading my old trade paperbacks and scans of things like JLA, JSA, and 52 and whenever he would have something to ask me it would inevitably precipitate to a long and drawn out round of wonderful storytelling about the rise and fall of Hal Jordan and the like.
Did you like this week’s issue of X-Men First Class? I thought it was superfun. I’m intimidated by the other X-titles, having given up on Messiah CompleX because I don’t have a lot of other fan people around to explicate House of M to me.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
that should read “by getting him” instead of “my get him.” I need to learn to proofread.