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[Jubilee]

Spoilers for the end of Siege and related books here, also from other comics in the last year.

Siege pretty much ended 6 years of story. Coincidently, it also will end my six years as being an avid comic collector. I'll stil check out a couple of books a month, I'll still buy a few trades of well recieved runs, but overall, I think I'm done with Marvel/DC comics for a while.

They're just to samey.

I was trying to think of a way to show how I feel, and the most obvious metaphor for me is that of the Sentry character.

I started reading comics with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-men at 13. I liked the X-men films, and liked the cartoons when I was a kid, so when I went into a game shop and it sold comics, I just picked up the first few I could. Astonishing X-men, Excalibur, Amazing Spider-man and Avengers Dissasembled. Some I liked better than others, but the one I always stuck with was Bendis' Avengers.

I remember how exciting it was when the blacked out characters appeared on New Avengers #1. I remember the little clues Marvel gave (The Avenger that no-one remembers, people thought it might be Giglamesh!) and I remember the excitement on seeing the New Avengers form in a stellar first arc. But the most memorable moment of that arc was Sentry, an unused character being introduced into comics in a big way, by ripping Carnage in half. Whoa, I thought. This character kicks ass!

Since then there's been many twists and turns, Captain America died, Iron man was leader of SHIELD, Green Goblin led the world, Hawkeye died, come back, died and came back again. Skrulls had taken over etc etc etc. But with each passing event, the more I noticed that the things were not truly changing. The "illusion of change" I'd seen people on Newsarama posting about which I originally didn't believe in was slowly appearing. Cap came back. The Skrull heroes returned, Hawkeye was back in his original costume. etc etc etc ad infinitum.

And it's not for me at all.

Like I said I think the Sentry represents the last six years of comics. A cool new character with lots of interesting ideas, yet some of the best writers in comics couldn't get him to fit into a prexisting universe. How can he exist when Spider-man needs to be on the same team for sales. How can a guy like Wolverine be on the same team as Thor? It makes no sense to me.

The Sentry was this new guy, a new guy who was fresh, exciting and often looked incredibly interesting. Like so many other new ideas at Marvel, yet he kept getting pushed to the side, like so many new ideas in the comic industry, it got stifled, it switched between writers and in the end it failed. Sentry was killed, and with it so was probably the best representation of 00's Marvel.

He arrived, he changed a bit, then eventually thing slipped back to how they were.

So yes maybe one day Sentry will be back, but until comics can tell a continuous story, instead of one continually stuck in the status quo, I won't be

Sorry for this ramble, I just look at Avengers #1 preview, and I a comic by my favorite comics writer, which looks incredibly boring

[AaronW]

Whew. About time.





Mainstream comics aren't really for you dude, I love comics but I got tired of the same story being repeated, everything is a copy. Read manga, read stand alone graphic novels. I love the Marvel & DC characters but I get my "fix" from the movies now other than the odd classic trade.

[Jubilee]

Whew. About time.





Mainstream comics aren't really for you dude, I love comics but I got tired of the same story being repeated, everything is a copy. Read manga, read stand alone graphic novels. I love the Marvel & DC characters but I get my "fix" from the movies now other than the odd classic trade.

Yeah, I think I'm going to still get Criminal, Invicible, Fables etc in trades (or preferably HC) but I think I need to accept mainstream comics aren't for me.

[AaronW]

Mainstream comics, ie Marvel & DC, are about keeping a property viable for licensing. It means few long term changes as they mess with an established profit generating formula.

[Victorian Squid]

You bloody hipster!

[outsider]

Now, multiply your six years times four and switch from Marvel to DC. That's what I went through a few years ago. The Post-Crisis DCU was an amazing place that wasn't perfect, but damn it was amazing.

And then along came Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis to muck it all up.

[Potter Who]

Yeah, it sounds like maybe DC and Marvel may not be for you in the long haul. For you I'd stick to creator owned stuff where they tend to be a lot braver in terms of taking characters to new directions.

[Amoebas]

Funny how you spent the last 6 years loving all that stuff you mentioned while I spent the last 6 years waiting for all that silly/crap stuff to end so that comics could be good again.

If you're really done, can I have your run of Bendis books (I can use them to soak up the gulf coast spill).

[Punchy]

I'll keep reading Avengers so I can tell you to buy the trade.

[Victorian Squid]

The Bendis Backlash Begins!

[Jubilee]

I'll keep reading Avengers so I can tell you to buy the trade.

I imagine I'll still get around 3 or 4 comics a month. I think New Avengers, Secret Avengers possibly at least till I go to uni in 3 or 4 months, when I get there, I might just drop them all if they aren't for me.

[Punchy]

I imagine I'll still get around 3 or 4 comics a month. I think New Avengers, Secret Avengers possibly at least till I go to uni in 3 or 4 months, when I get there, I might just drop them all if they aren't for me.

At least in Manchester there'll actually be comic shops! I'd say you switch to trade on the superhero books you're interested in.

[AaronW]

Fear of change and fanboy backlash is what makes comics a second rate artistic medium, at least in terms of storytelling. Its almost like they have a cycle of stories they burn through, then kill the character for a year, then bring them back and shake the barrel up and grab story idea 47a out of the bin and write it for the 37th time.

It reminds me of when everyone was gushing over Astonishing Xmen's few arc, I read it and it was just rehashed story ideas from older xmen comics put together. I think it was around then when I began to lose interest in monthly comics and the big two for the most part. This is cutting edge storytelling from the big two?

Hopefully Kirkman ends Invincible and Walking Dead before he really starts cannibalizing his own stories. Not that he's there yet or anything but I just hope he knows when to call it a day with a character.

[ReturnoftheMack]

So 6 years of continuous story isn't enough for you? And how do you even know what the "status quo" will be? How do you know you won't like it if you weren't reading comics during the time the "status quo" was the status quo? Just another reactionary poster. Fail.

[MrBlack]

I'm feeling much the same way, at least as far as DC is concerned. I started reading with Identity Crisis, and the mystery of that series totally sucked me in. After that, I read the series leading up to Infinite Crisis and that completed my transformation into a regular comic buyer.

Today, the mystery has worn away. I keep seeing the same themes repeated in every yearly event, and the writers who I thought were brilliant a few years ago keep repeating the same tropes over and over. I've taken some respite by switching to primarily Marvel titles, but with the closure of my local comic shop at the end of the month, I think I will be further trimming my purchasing and moving to monthly mail order for a few books and trades. I still love comics, but I don't think I need my weekly hit anymore; I'd rather read a good story.