Mark Millar is back in love with the comic industry:
You know what? I was reading almost nothing last year.
It felt a lot like 1999 where I’d barely read a comic in 2 years. Last year none of the big companies were really putting out much I was excited about and Walking Dead was about the only thing I was reading consistently. But how much things have changed in just 12 months. DC’s reboot worked out really well for them and there’s a few really interesting books (not least of which being Snyder’s Batman), Marvel’s spiked in the charts again with a fun crossover done by all their biggest writers and the sleeping giant of creator-owned has just begun to stir… Saga, Fatale, Mudman, America’s Got Powers and a half a dozen other new books in the last few months (not to mention Kick-Ass 2, Jupiter’s Children, Supercrooks and many OTHER Millarworld books) really makes the shelves look completely different from last year. It’s like all my favourite creators are back and working full blast again, a bunch of brilliant new ones coming of age too.
In contrast, I was just telling a friend the other day that I was feeling a little burned out on Marvel and DC for the most part recently – Although I loved Action and Earth 2 a lot this week – and have really been focused on indie books… I’m curious: How’re you feeling about the industry’s output these days? Is everyone riding high? What’re you reading? And what could be better?
May 3rd, 2012 at 11:16 am
I’m much more interested in “indie” books these days. Image, for one, is publishing a lot of amazing books right now, like Prophet and Saga. And I read a bunch of Dark Horse, IDW and Oni Press titles, too.
Most books from Marvel and DC do nothing more than bore me. I read some for the writers. I still enjoy Peter David’s X-Factor and Matt Fraction’s Iron Man, for example. But most of the Big Two books I read, I read for potential review purposes and I usually have nothing good to say about them. For the most part, there’s nothing new or exciting going on at Marvel and DC.
I always felt “The New 52″ was pointless, and for the most part I think it is. I don’t know of any stories that couldn’t have been told within the confines of the pre-rebooted universe. (Though I am glad we have Scott Snyder on Swamp Thing and Jeff Lemire on Animal Man. And the first issue of China Mieville’s Dial H was wonderfully weird.)
And Marvel’s “event” books, like the current Avengers Vs. X-Men, are just boring. I think the last big crossover title I got was Civil War, and at least that had an interesting discussion of civil liberties amidst all the fighting.
May 3rd, 2012 at 12:14 pm
I am as much of a DC fanatic as ever, though not without some concerns. The New 52 comics tend to be really slow in developing things, even the really good ones. There have been a lot of missteps that a better editorial team would have avoided. And only a precious few titles are fun (as opposed to good. Swamp Thing is excellent, but I’d be hard-pressed to call it fun.)
But I am reading a lot more now DC books that I have in ages and with renewed enthusiasm. Almost everything I am reading looks great. And nothing on my pull list is likely to be dropped anytime soon. What has me most excited? Batman and Robin, which I consider to be stronger than Batman (The Court of Owls leaves me cold even if the script and art don’t). Batgirl has been a great exploration of one woman’s effort to rebuild her life. Swamp Thing and Animal Man make a great one-two punch (despite pacing issues). Justice League is tons of fun, even if it’s pretty shallow. The debuts of Worlds’ Finest and Earth 2 were great (Dial H was promising). And Flash, despite some definite issues with the scripts, boasts the best art of any DC book.
Elsewhere, it remains a great time to be a Spidey fan, and I have been in love with X-Factor since the start. Morning Glories and Infinite Vacation have me clamoring for more of Nick Spencer’s work. Angel and Faith is great (Buffy, like the last series, has been really erratic). I am sure there are lots of indy books I will stumble over in the library in due time
But yes, it’s a great time to be a fan. Unless you really, really miss the old DCU. And if you do, I can’t say I don’t agree.
May 3rd, 2012 at 12:16 pm
I’m down to 3 Marvel titles (2 when Thunderbolts becomes Dark Avengers) and while I like alot of the new 52, I dropped Action because I don’t get Morrison’s Superman. I’ve re-added Super Dinosaur to my subcscription at my LCS and I’m going to try Mudman. I’m looking forward to Trio next week.So I guess I’m sort of burned out on the Big Two as well.
May 3rd, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Not to mention that I read Next Men Aftermath, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Invincible, and Archie.
May 3rd, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Hey Shawn Kane — out of curiosity, why is the name change causing you to stop reading/buying Thunderbolts?
May 3rd, 2012 at 4:46 pm
I started up trying a lot of the new 52 books. And a great many of them were less than I hoped for. Even books that I thought were “good” weren’t enough to keep my interest. And some were just… the opposite of good.
I do find that, while not perfect, I’m enjoying Action Comics and Morrison’s overall take on Clark. Similarly, Wonder Woman is quite enjoyable. But I don’t feel like any of the books I’m reading, at least, really needed a universe-wide relaunch to happen (save Action). And I still feel like it should’ve been all or nothing… Why are Green Lantern and Batman building on past continuity when nothing else is? And even that… Steph was never Batgirl now? Just… why? I read Crisis on Infinite Earths when it came out, and what followed was sloppy, even the best of it, in the new continuity. This feels much the same.
Marvel had been losing me so much the last few years already. Pricing, page counts, books where characters talked to the camera instead of actually do anything, death and rebirth and death again… I was down to pretty much X-Factor only. And then… I read Wolverine and the X-Men #1 at the recommendation of my shop owner, and I love it! I also picked up the mini-series to go along with it. I’m interested in getting the Avengers Academy run with the Runaways joining, but I can’t find the single issues (so I await the trade). But AvsX and the next iteration of Dark Avengers is certainly not interesting to me in the least. So, I’m barely involved with their line.
I’m picking up a lot more Image because of this, if only to try it out. Some of the books are great. Top-of-my-pile great. And I feel like there’s always something new to look at, they have so many new titles hitting all the time.
Because I’m spending less on the Big 2, I’m getting more adventurous with other books or GNs and trades. I have the money I expect to spend… I want to keep that going to my shop, so I look at the table with the new colletions every Wednesday. This is what got me to try Atomic Robo, which is now what I consider the best comic coming out. I’m buying Chew, I’m buying Morning Glories, Skull-Kickers… I think the lack of diversity at Marvel and DC has actually gotten me to break outside my superhero walls elsewhere.
I agree with Millar conceptually that there’s much better stuff out there than maybe what he was reading last year. But I don’t know if I agree with what he’s digging now. But to each his own.
May 3rd, 2012 at 7:13 pm
I dropped buying monthly comics from the Big Two all together. I realized that I buy a lot of them out of habit, so having to wait for the trades will kind of weed out the books I’m not all that invested in. Besides, the trades work out to be cheaper.
All my monthly comics are indie books these days. There’s a lot of great stuff out there these days.
May 4th, 2012 at 1:48 am
不错，很给力！
May 4th, 2012 at 4:58 am
I tend to think of the comics industry as a Dante-esque progress through depths of human folly and vice.
May 4th, 2012 at 8:21 am
RF,
It’s probably due to my opinion of the name change more than anything else. I’m an old fan, the Thunderbolts are not Avengers to me, they’re the Thunderbolts. To change the title to Dark Avengers is just not something I approve of as a fan. I can’t comment on any change that the book will make but I didn’t care for the Ellis run and while I like what Parker has done I don’t really like the team that he’s put together. Basically, I’ve been looking for a reason to drop the title and “Dark Avengers” gives me that out.
May 4th, 2012 at 11:31 am
anyone who pays for comics is a fool and is feeding a beast that hates them and doesn’t even want their money. screw em all
May 7th, 2012 at 12:44 am
i will read anything that is panned by the graeme cracker… and will drop anything he suggests his readers read…. he is that stupid
May 27th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
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