Stuntmania...please make it stop!!! Article by aviewaskewed, 12:56 AM 22nd May Disclaimer: The following column is entirely the opinions of the author (even at that we aren‘t sure), any similarity to the opinions of any other staff or affiliate of theendlesscrew.com is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all creator comments have been gleaned from other sources and no creators have actually endorsed any aspect of this column. Just when you thought the senses assaulting goodness of avie rants had abandoned you! Well, firstly, I’m sorry for not having a column out sooner. The facts of the matter are that I’ve been tired, I’ve been busy with games, and movies, and I just haven’t felt the real burning desire to talk about anything in comics lately. Which got me thinking (as I’m often doing) about exactly WHY I didn’t have that burning desire to really talk about comics lately. Certainly the cancellation of JSA had something to do with it (nobody wants to hear about one of their favorites getting cancelled, but at least it’s only to be re-launched), and then there was that delay of being able to finally finish Infinite Crisis, and begin 52. Right about getting to that point in time is when I think it finally came to me…I’m tired of the current comics scene. I don’t mean as a whole, I mean in terms of the super hero books that sit on my pull list. We are quite simply being inundated with a seemingly nonstop glut of stunts, gimmicks, shocks, “re-definitions” and every other buzzword you can use in terms of a modern super hero story. I’m sick of it folks, I’m tired, and if some of the comments we’ve gotten when I brought this up on our forums (over in the “Infinite Crisis” thread for those who’d like to see my first thoughts on this one) are any indication, I’m not alone. It’s not all bad though, while I didn’t enjoy every little bit of Infinite Crisis, either the main book, or some of what went into it (to be honest, I think the main book limped into a conclusion that was nonetheless somewhat satisfying for me, if a bit dulled by the fact that we are quite given a feeling of “ending”), I think it was overall an enjoyable ride. It also has a rather organic setup going for the next stunt book, 52, which two issues in is also enjoyable to me. DC has done a good job over the last few years of creating some great over reaching interest in their universe, and have managed to get a few new series’ launched that would have been unthinkable, if not outright impossible before the “Crisis” started. So now I’m sure some are wondering “but if your happy with how these stunts turned out, what’s your complaint?” my complaint isn’t really so much with DC these days…it’s their distinguished competition across town that could use a history lesson it seems. It wasn’t too long ago that DC was shoveling “5th week events” down everyone’s throats, events built around some major villain getting up to something major league villainous and it would cross into every book DC published for about a month. Eventually DC had to stop doing these events because their sales were suffering. An event is only an event if it manages to change the status quo for some discernible amount of time, and that can only happen if your not shoe horning more events, and more changes onto people just to have changes. That’s a recipe for disaster, disaster by disinterest. DC learned the lesson, and they stopped pulling big company-wide crossovers until “Identity Crisis”. Marvel also did the same…but now? It feels to me like Marvel is preparing itself to fall into the same trap that DC did. Marvel I think got caught with their pants down. I’ve said that before, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m dead. Marvel, just like the rest of us, never saw what Identity Crisis really was, or what it meant for the future. DC had a plan, and they did something that is virtually impossible in today’s world of the internet: They kept that plan a secret until THEY were ready to reveal it. Apparently Marvel never saw it coming, and they’ve been left scrambling with crossover after crossover, forming a hasty plan it would seem to try and redefine their universe in the way that DC has. But I think Marvel has completed misfired in terms of approach, and execution of these plans. Let’s talk about the approach. Marvel decided first to parody DC (with Identity Disc), then they decided to trade on past success’s (Secret War). Then they decided they needed to redefine their universe a piece at a time. First they take apart The Avengers, which then leads to House of M, which now brings us into Civil War, and will feed an Onslaught/Heroes Reborn anniversary dealie besides. On paper, it seems all well and good, one event seems to feed the next, but it honestly feels like far too much. Avengers: Disassembled splashed into all the solo titles of The Avengers members, plus Spider-Man (who’d be recruited into the new team) requiring a big financial commitment from the readers if they wanted to follow it all. A few months later there’s an even BIGGER crossover in House of M, an eight issue mini that commandeered anywhere from 1, to 4 issues of all the titles involved, or simply created new ones to accommodate the crossover, so there’s another big financial commitment. Then there’s the House of M spin-off books which have run since the end of it, Marvel is now embarking on another major crossover in Civil War, and if I’m remembering correctly, the Onslaught/Heroes Reborn anniversary project will be happening WHILE Civil War is going on. That’s a lot of commitment financially to put upon your readers. Now let’s look at the actual execution of these projects. Identity Disc was a total failure, commercially, and critically. Secret War suffered from Marvel thinking they had the shipping schedule in the bag by making it quarterly…and it still shipped late, which is a horrendous problem when your schedule is already set so that the issues ship months apart. It wasn’t that great or earth shaking a story anyway, and now it looks like the only aspect of it that really changed the Marvel U (Fury being pulled out of SHEILD and going to ground) will be undone with Civil War. Avengers: Disassembled was a horrendous bloodbath, it seems like Marvel decided to let Bendis indulge that much talked about bloodlust he has about killing characters off. There’s an uplifting sequence at the end, but it feels almost like a tack on to show that he doesn’t REALLY hate the Avengers (because those first couple issues will sure convince you that he does). House of M has been decent from the satellite stuff I’ve read of it, I like alternate universe concepts, but really wasn’t going to put the financial commitment into it when it was coming out monthly, nor am I motivated to buy the one or two titles that spun from it. Civil War? Still going, haven’t read any of it…but I haven’t heard good things thus far, and it seems to be another event preoccupied with death and forcing cancellations. That’s the other problem I’m having with Marvel vs. DC right now. While I agree Infinite Crisis reveled in character death to a pretty insane degree within the last two issues, but the saving grace to me of the series is that it’s putting a lot of new books on the shelves, characters and concepts that wouldn’t have gotten a shot before the Crisis, are getting one now. Whether the books stay or go is another matter altogether, but I applaud DC that they are at least making that attempt. With Marvel? Not so much, all Avengers: Disassembled gave us was New Avengers, which has been pretty good…but now they’re going to take THAT apart to help fuel Civil War, which leaves me wondering what was the point? House of M led to a new X-Factor, and a couple of other mini’s, not to mention a book that will finally out all the secrets of Wolverine‘s past…personally? I think we have too many books with X somewhere in the title, so to me the hype on House of M that said it would “drastically reduce the mutant population” certainly didn’t drastically reduce the population of mutant related books. Not that DC is peachy keen, I’m not seeing the reason to cancel JSA and re-launch it as Justice Society of America, unless they want it to sound like “Justice League of America”, they definitely botched the ability to make that book more important in the scheme of things, but I think that’s a part of a column for another time (more on that when I got the idea more crystallized). So in the end, what have we got? We’ve got a situation where the big two are pushing out crossover after crossover on the mainstream public. It’s true that for me, Marvel has burned me out, and DC still has some credibility, but if I see too many more “events” out o them, they too will have burnt me out, and made sure that my wallet is only open to them to the extent that they leave the books I want to read alone. The event is a useful tool in the publisher’s toolbox, there’s no doubt it makes money, and will continue to make money. I’m just saying that like any tool, it’s got to be used responsibly, and only when the job dictates it. Overuse kills it, and we’ll be right back to where we were a few years ago, where nobody is doing any sort of bold, risky changes, because they’re afraid the readership will be burnt out and walk away. Overload of change can be a bad thing for all the reasons I’ve just outlined, but stagnation is even worse. Next time: I’m not sure yet. I’m planning at some point soon to do a lengthy examination of the JSA through time, and also outline what they’ve contributed to the super hero genre. Not sure when I’m going to be starting that one up, I’d like to nail down a few more pieces of material first (like the end of the current series) we’ll see how it goes. Have a great week everyone! Back to Rants