Razgriz-Specter
Member
Reboots, Mindwipes, Writers with selective memory.
They do, I admit, and I feel that the Shonen superhero crap is as just as terrible to read (Bleach, One Piece, etc are all shit). But they aren't as dominating in the Japanese market as compared to Marvel and DC's superhero stuff. There tends to be way more stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
Out of curiosity, are there american equivalents to say, sport comics or chess comics or even cooking comics?
Yakitate parodies shonen tropes. There are plenty of manga about more down-to-earth subjects that run from the exaggerated (kami no shizuku) to the everyday (nodame cantabile, march comes in like a lion) where that crap doesn't happen. That's because everyone in Japan reads comics, not because the genre is inherently more mature or anything.Admittedly I have only read a handful of Manga series, and I stopped reading Manga close to a decade ago. However, from what I read, even those manga that featured ordinary things like cooking eventually turned into characters with ultra cooking powers. Look at Yakitate Japan. Yes the book is about baking, but it has samurai bakers, super scientist bakers, mystical bakers, etc.
Mark Millar
Ugly art, constant retcons, never-ending stories, etc.
Carlie.
Cooper.
Comics have a unique narrative tradition with certain features (retcons, resets) that would be unacceptable/unheard of in any other storytelling medium. But it's accepted by the fans because they're used to it, and they are the only demographic that actually buys comics so the big names (Marvel/DC) have no reason to change the way they do things.*
Not that non-traditional storytelling methods are necessarily a bad thing, but from my point of view all the retcons, continuity tie-ins, etc., seem like marketing gimmicks rather than genuine attempts to tell a better story. That's what I hate most about comics, I think. Too much of it is governed by marketing.
Shitty writing and a terrible over-reliance on established characters/series.
It's similar to how the videogame industry has become so reliant on trotting out sequel after sequel, but it's even worse with comics. It's just not appealing for someone trying to get into comics.
Also, there's no way I'll ever get into comics since they tend to do the same ol' characters time and time again, and as a result there's no point getting engaged in a character's struggles since it's so common for them to just be written back to life as a clone or some nonsense.
Edit:
This too. I tried reading Civil War and found myself giggling at how seriously it took a mind-bogglingly stupid story.*²
This looks great!
And my library has a copy.
*² Man, people should branch out. There's a lot of great stuff.
It's hard to resist posting a preachy list of comics to read. The "comics = (Marvel/DC) Super-Hero comics" mode of thought is so prevalent. I didn't expect it to be as much on this forum. It's not even like these issues people are listing are incorrect, they're just problems with a specific genre of comic's. Not comic's themselves.
Agreed. Don't get me wrong. I love my cape books (for all the silliness that exist in the genre), but a lot of the issues people are posting about and saying are keeping them from western comics could be overcome by simply ignoring the superhero genre and looking elsewhere.
It really isn't.That's not accurate at all.
It's like you're reading my mind.
That and awful traced art. Salvador Larocca and Greg Land immediately come to mind when I think of it.
People who read only Marvel/DC and proclaim that comics are dead/lame/unoriginal/all superheroes
Well I'm not trying to imply that Marvel/DC are bad, just that only reading stuff from those publishers doesn't give you anything close to a full perspective on some of the cooler comics that are coming out now.Pretty much this. Although, when you say DC, you should make sure you're excluding Vertigo. The Vertigo imprint is still reliably putting out good stuff.
Don't like guns but like Miller? Don't like -man/-woman but like Hellboy?What Im tired of in comics though? Guns? yes, guns. The constant overuse of guns.
Hate to bring up a stereotype but american comic artists have such a hard on for guns in all sizes. That, and Im tired of the constant use of ending most superheroes with -man or -woman.
Pretty much the only american comics Im fond of and respect is Hellboy and Frank Miller's graphic novels.
Don't like guns but like Miller? Don't like -man/-woman but like Hellboy?
Superheroes.
Some more of Larroca's tracing
Some more of Larroca's tracing
Disgusting.
This is one of the reason why I always endorse original art styles. Realistic comics/manga are so prone to plagarism. I really look down on artists who conjure stuff like the example above. Doing that involves no skill whatsoever.
Original strokes and styles make things more unique with your own personal touch and talent.
And this is a splash page with panels of 'pregnant silence'You don't like Bendis-style dialogue?
Iron Man: "We've stopped you before Thanos!"
Thanos: "You've already lost. This thing? It's done."
And this is a splash page with panels of 'pregnant silence'
3. Traced panels. People are angry over traced panels on some sort of philosophical level, like the integrity of the artist, but forget about that. What really matters is how it impacts the quality of the visual storytelling. The problem with photo-tracing after a google image search, is that the artist rarely finds a random photograph that looks great as comic art. A realistic person, yes, but comic art requires a careful form of exaggeration and strategic gesture to help create a sense of a story in motion in still art, and to maintain the narrative between panels. Traced art ends up looking like a bunch of individual illustrations on the page.
I have a trouble enjoying most big name American comics these days because comics are not just novels that have pretty pictures attached to them. To get into Scott McCloud territory, comics are their own unique thing. The combination of sequential images and words are different from any other medium, creating a unique experience even in the brain of the reader. But the bad compositions, photographic staging of panels and characters, and cramped, rushed drawings of characters and body language neuters the power of the medium.
I just saw one of my favorite ever villain....Doctor Doom.....shed a tear for 9/11....
DA FUQ is this SHIT?!?
Robert Kirkman's lack of faith in his readers and artists on The Walking Dead. He clearly believes that readers can't read between the lines or that the artist can convey anything in visuals. Instead he has every damn character monologue about their feelings all the time and over explain every damn thing that's happening.
Bad lettering when they just put seemingly random words in bold that don't really follow regular kinds of emphasis.
Definitely needs to be re-posted in here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR2CVpYXm4Q
Worst AND YET sort of best.
I have a trouble enjoying most big name American comics these days because comics are not just novels that have pretty pictures attached to them. To get into Scott McCloud territory, comics are their own unique thing. The combination of sequential images and words are different from any other medium, creating a unique experience even in the brain of the reader. But the bad compositions, photographic staging of panels and characters, and cramped, rushed drawings of characters and body language neuters the power of the medium.
I actually like a lot of Japanese comics that Americans would probably take a shit on because they are offended by funny faces and "it's not real people", as even in dead-average manga, you're more likely to find artists expressing themselves far more than in mainstream American comics.
Don't forget the 24 panels on one page of alternating facial expressions!
It's called propaganda.
To me, 27 panels over 3 pages of Herr Starr in front of a mirror is one of the funniest things Preacher has ever done.
Also the whole industrialized way of drawing comics is as far from art as possible. Same goes for some manga.
God damn those traced pseudo-realistic styles look terrible.
Definitely needs to be re-posted in here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR2CVpYXm4Q
Worst AND YET sort of best.
That's not accurate at all.
All superheroes are visually distinct then?
Ok yes Spider-Man is skinny sure. Ill admit thats a stretch. Now tell me how the faces of all those people are different except for their hair, go.
And dont give me that "depends on the artist" bs, thats a specification in a thread that is all about generalization. If its according to the writer, artist and editor then theres nothing people should dislike about comics because anything they dislike is always remedied by a good creator.
the thing is that the characters you listed share very few similarities when it comes to their personalities. like i said before, spider man, daredevil, and the green lanterns are night and day when it comes to personalities.
and really? what artist can draw distinct faces for characters without them looking like caricatures, or happen to be covered in fur?
How awesome would it be for Spiderman, Daredevil, and Guy to hangout for a night. Guy could be talking about his problems with Ice, and Matt just give him the black guy stare. Cause that is how fucked up his relationships are.
There hasn't been an issue #10 of Fell yet
That's because the other stuff isn't interesting.
So, all these Quitely haters, when you say he's one of the worst things about comics, do you not even see the level of craftsmanship, even if you don't like the style?
craftmanship?
Watchmen is DC. Also, I think most people or at least comic fans are aware of all the more popular Japanese super hero comics and Image stuff.