I think I've had it with mainstream comics. Some might say that's about 22 years past due, but I finally fee alienated enough to stop wasting the money. Since I moved to Nashville, I have visited the local shops almost every Wednesday, thrown down money in search of a good read, and become connected with other comic fans here in Music City. But I can't escape diminishing returns any longer, not at $3 or $4 a pop.
In short, every book I've come to enjoy in the past 2-3 years has skewed off on tangents I can no longer follow.
After killing Captain America two-plus years ago, he was replaced by his World War II partner, Bucky Barnes. Superheroes return from death all the time, but this one felt different: an heir apparent with a new attitude, myriad new plotlines and a supremely underrated supporting cast made the new Cap a can't-miss read.
Bucky's history since the war had years of storytelling potential, but Marvel pissed it away for Captain America: Reborn, which asserts Captain America didn't die, but became unstuck in time. No, they didn't drop Billy Pilgrim under the mask. They just took a noirish, street-level book and crossbred it with Lost. Maybe they'll keep two Captain Americas around after this plot-by-numbers story ends. The fresh one they shoved off the stage for the status quo worked just fine.
Then there's Batman and Robin - with longtime Robin Dick Grayson now in the Bat-suit and possible Bruce Wayne heir Damian as Robin (long story). After a first arc with uber-collaborator Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison's stellar writing gets bogged down in awful art. A great story can survive weak art, but Morrison struggles without a better foil (great art, of course, cannot hoist a weak story). Another problematic plot point to come: Bruce Wayne isn't dead but has been (ahem) .... lost in time.
After years of build-up, DC finally unleashed Blackest Night, a major plotline about the dark forces of the universe seeking vengeance on the light (aka the Green Lantern Corps, which maintains it quality despite the trainwreck of an event book it's inexorably tied to).
They swore it wouldn't devolve into another zombie story. Yet almost everything tied into it features the same plot - hero confronted by dead allies/loved ones/villains, they run, they try to reason with the zombies ... er, Black Lanterns, then come up with a last-ditch method to defeat them. The Green Lantern books had been among my favorite for the past few years - and Sinestro Corps War revealed how to handle a compact crossover. This one has spiralled out of control, what surprises that still remain have been dampened
So for weekly comics, count me out. Aside from the always-stellar Astro City, which combines 1960s comic innocence with modern flair, and the occasional work from Alan Moore, Morrison (not if it features Phillip Tan art, though) and Neil Gaiman, I'm ready to give up the comics ghost.
What scares me is how close this parallels my departure from the hobby in the 1990s. Collectible covers and variant issues ruled the roost, idiotic plotlines overtook my favorite books, Spiderman had been a clone for the past 20 years and Green Lantern became a mass-murdering despot.
Change a few names, and oh so little has actually changed.
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