On all kinds of sites and magazines I read little references made to the "awful 90's" concerning comic books. I don't understand this. Exactly what was it that made so many people hate comics then? I know that there were tons of variant covers and stuff like that, but what else? Were the stories bad, and why? Also, is this comics in general or just Marvel?\nThank you, this has bothered me for a long time.
120831
There is a number of reasons why the 90's have such a bad rap.\n\nThen came a certain artist named Rob Liefeld. He was barely out of high school, no art training, (barely any skill) and there he was, drawing the New Mutants. He drew huge superhero guys with enormous muscles, "hot sexy babes," barely any background, "dynamic poses," lots of action, splash pages and giganormous guns. His stuff was just very different from the traditional Jack Kirbiest style. For some reason that still eludes me, it stuck a cord with the fans and his stuff became inmensely popular. Then along came other "sensational" artist stars, such as Jim Lee, Mark Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino and Todd McFarlane. All distinguished by sexy babes, bulky guys, dynamic poses, splash pages... but their stuff was very unpolished and amateurish, lots of anatomy errors and weird composition. The fans loved the art so much, the house became more and more focused on the art, and the story (which had been declining in quality for some time as it was) got shunt to the background. People wanted shock and action, and storytelling was almost forgotten. \n\nSoon Marvel gave much more importance to its superstar artists, they started to give them plotting and writting priviledges as well. This was clearly a mistake, because these were mostly young people with no storytelling experience... or skill! This was the time were X-Force and the new X-Men series were launched, selling literally millions of copies. \n\nAlso, in the late 80's the first inter-house cross-overs were created. Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC) and Secret Wars (Marvel) were a huge success. So both companies started doing cross-overs like crazy. Again, it was all about the hype and sales, the stories themselves were usually jumbled and pointless, just an excuse to have a bunch of characters jumping around. Lots of people who just didn't have enough skill got involved in the creation of comics.\n\nAdditionally, 1991-1995 was witness to the boom and decline of comics. Around that time, the distributors made it quite easy for someone to open a comic shop. Also, collectors were starting to realize how old key comics from the 30's-60's were quite hard to find in good condition, and the prices of these comics went up to thousands of dollars. So people discovered: comics can be worth money. People would buy new comics 10 and 50 copies at the time. Shops would order hundreds of comics. A new company, founded by the Marvel superstar artists, called Image was founded, as well as Valiant and other independent publisher. Everyone thought all the new comics coming out would be gold. But soon people realized that their "investments" were printed in the hundreds of thousands, and they were so common, they couldn't even sell them for half cover price! Suddenly shops were stuck with tons of unsold copies, and most went  quickly out of business.\n\nComics just went through a rough time. Marvel made a lot of bad moves, but they drove the market at the time and whatever they did, DC copied. Marvel went throught a lot of ownership changes, each trying to make a quick buck and not worry about the product itself. Thus came hologram, foil, glow in the dark, bagged, fancy covers, because fans dug them and bought the comic... but the inside was never something to write home about. Lots of crappy new series were started to have volume and increase sales... bunch of them aren't worth the paper they are printed in today.\n\nAnother terrible decision by Marvel was to do its own distribution. Comics are usually distributed by a third party distributor. Marvel decided to conduct its own distribution duties, and it was disastrous. First of all, they couldn't handled it and comics started to arrive late. Then, the other distributors were so affected (they had just lost the business of distributing half of their product, which was Marvel), they folded one by one, unt
65500
*Shaking my shaggy skull* While I believe that bounties to kill, killing, violence of any kind is wrong, seems a lot of people either forget or just dun understand some basics...\n\nTop of the list, that cartoon to a Moslim is highly highly insulting thing and basically is like 2 "You shall have no other gods besides Me...Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..."\n\nI mean how would a christian feel if a cartoon was made showing say jesus performing homosexual acts? They wouldn't like it, not one little bit and would be screaming bloody murder...\n\nNext, frankly the Middle East has gotten the short end of the stick from the western society for a loooooooooong time. Now the top superpowers are invading them one country at a time. They are fed up and I dun really blame them for it.\n\nLastly the cartoonist should have known better, so should have the papers that printed them. When the Moslims said "Hey, we don't like that!" an apology should have been made right then and there. But instead all they got was arrogance.\n\nNow before anyone says "But we have freedom of speech and creativity." Do we really? I certainly couldn't put the before mentioned cartoon of jesus in a national/continental newspaper. It would have been nixed purely because it would upset people.\n\nSo before calling them insane, imagine how you would feel if the roles were reversed and it was your savior that was shown in a nasty light...
607499
Oh, Jim!  I want to meet that flying spaghetti monster!  Did I miss him again? The meatballs were bouncing all over the place and I looked for him, too, but he was gone.  Or did someone eat him.  Did you eat him, Jim?  Tell me you didn't....  The Creation story has been around alot longer than the Evolution story...whether we agree with these two shouldn't make any difference...they should get equal time so people have a chance to make up their own minds.  Elevating either one over the other is not what it's about...is it that you can't trust kids to choose your way?  You probably say it's religion...it's not.  Just like when it told of the planets in space when men thought the world was flat...Someone may know a little more than you.  Just because it's written in a book and not in fossils shouldn't blind you to the fact that someone had to know, and then told the writers.  Anyway, I'm not that worried about it.  I don't fight over it, I just fight over the abusive treatment that flies around.  So, if other religions want to say their thing, great.  Maybe they should have a special course for the ideas over the origin of man...maybe the kids can act each one out and have a good time doing it. What is the threat???  I don't get it...
481488
I've often wondered why the God-haters have a compulsion to live in this category.  I know some are kids thinking they are being amusing and daring, but some are adults and they just come to insult, slash, and hurt.  Those I don't understand at all, unless they are under conviction and think they can fight God on this site.  Maybe you are on to something, "closet Christians", that's cool.
612194
I thought the X-men was a flop. How can one just change the whole story around. I stand for the fans of the x-men because the the writer decided to play god and messed up everything-- killing cyclops, xavier, making phoenix bad and good, crazy and stupid.
66803
No. \n\nWe can see certain current issues fictionalized and addressed in some of our comics (in "Ex Machina" the hero manages to save one of the twin towers), but I think that iconic heros should not be brought into this.\n\nWhat's the point of Batman v. Bin Laden? Obviously Batman will win, but it will be a hollow victory, as the real terrorist is still at large.\n\nI'd like to see a comic about radical islam, terrorists, or even one that painted a picture of what's going on from their point of view. However, to have our mythic do-gooders clash with real evildoers could leave us feeling empty.\n\nI fully realize that Captain America was originally out smashing Nazis, but times were simpler then. The enemy had a plan, wore uniforms, and were easy to single out from non-combatants.\n\nIf Batman actually went after Bin Laden, he'd probably have to spend a fair amount of time beating up innocents for information that they didn't have. Cap can just smack any guy with a swastika armband. There's certainly a difference.
597234
Well.. I think many here described it well and gave you some of the comic book background to the Moira character... \n\nBUT...\n\nWhy not watch it yourself!\n\nThe movie studio is on the rampage to delete this camera phone file from the net, so no guarantees as to how long this link will work, but if it doesn't... message me direct.\n\n(It will be interesting to see how long this answer and the link survives.  As of 6/20/06, 11:00 AM EST, it was working.)
92028
I think its because kids don't seem to read any more. I'm not sure why that is, but its pretty sad. \n\nPS - great Pulp Fiction reference.
258062
It started as a result of a reality TV show that follows the superhero team New Warriors. They are a team of "B" list heroes who attacked some villains who were hiding out. Thinking only about ratings and ignoring the fact that the bad guys were more powerful than they were, they attacked them and during the fight one of the bad guys (I forget the name) caused an explosion that killed hundreds of children.\n\nAs a result of that carelessness, the government wants all heroes to register their real identities with the government so they can sanction them (or punish them if they act up). The heroes of the Marvel Universe are divided between those they are willing to comply with the government and those that aren't.\n\nIf you want to know more, you'll have to read the book!
362400
Well, you were a bit vague on the area of English this is for and what grade, but I did an English research paper on the evolution of horror stories and it was a success.  If you wanted something more physical to research, you may try the topic "Comic Books: Evolution of an Art Form" where you compare and contrast old comics with today's.\n\nGood luck
275264
Has anyone ever seen that comic strip that had the kid walking down a hallway with a HUGE sign that said "I'm missing out on an important educational opportunity because I have to tinkle"? My teacher did that, and made it a lanyard so we had to wear it around our necks. I hated that so much...\n\n~~Naomi
612369
I did like your cartoon. The only thing I didnt enjoy was the languare of the power rangers, but I'm a 36 year-old prude but....that the language does illustrate how their characters are, w/out it,the readers may not understand how unlikeable they are. So, I definetly see a difference between good and evil.
102628
It WAS the Avengers until Marvel, in their infinite wisdom, decided to kill-off the whole stinkin' team. Now, I understand that they have some "Grand Scheme" to bring back just about everybody, but as it stands now, the New Avengers is just ONE MORE WAY to exploit Spider-Man and the TOTALLY over-rated and over-used Wolverine. Give me Hawkeye, the Vision, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, etc. any day. Forget this New Avengers crap... bring back the REAL Avengers!
217246
You're not alone!!! I'm not alone!!  I can't believe the crud they're putting on Saturday mornings these days!!!  \n\nThe old cartoons were simple, fun and bright and usually cheerful.  They had messages in them that were good for kids to learn.  They also had a pinch of humour.\n\nI loved Smurfs, HeMan, Shera, Rainbow Bright, and the looney tunes and warner bros ones too.\n\nThe new cartoons are involved, dark, sometimes violent and just plain really annoying!!\n\nI just love that movies like Ice Age, Monsters Inc and the like have come out to fill the hole in my cartoon heart.
625451
I think I have to give a two-fold answer to that question.\n\nFirstly, you have to take in context to the storyline, which is basically that world goverments are basically classifying super-beings as walking weapons of mass destruction and are demanding that they come forward and itentify themselves (and their alter egos) so that they can be catalogued and monitored.\n There are those who feel that the governments are asking too much, and refuse, and there are those that step forward and comply. I believe Spider Man is the first one to do so. \n\nIt's refreshing in that this is doing what comics have often done: reflecting modern societal problems and casting them back out there for thought and discussion. Which is certainly what happened when Spidey revealed who he was. \n\nSecondly,there's only so much you can do with a character unless you're willing, as a writer and artist to take risks. Was it a risk? Given the furor that erupted in the media when this was announced, I'd say yes. All art is there to promote thought and discussion, and comic books are not outside that realm. They are a new form of modern literature, combining writing, art, the classic hero's tale smushed up against modern problems. I, for one, thought it was a brilliant idea and very much needed, not only to bring, as you say, fresh life to an old character, but also to force people to look at modern issues that affect *us* everyday...
103610
As has been said here, Levey is the author. You can find a copy online as I did. It isn't really what people think. Mostly, Levey talks of the philosophy behind his Satanist thing. It doesn't have anything grim in it, no evil spell, no sacrifice concept. It merely talks about individuality, independence. Naturally Christianity is threatened by it, and wants to suppress it, but I don't see why it should. \nLevey wasn't one of the insane people who would kill a child and put it on the dark altar. He just wanted to go against all the conventions.\nThe only reservation I have against it, it shows you what not to be, but doesn't give you a good idea of what to be. This psychologically is an unsound practise. One ought to be able to concentrate on something constructive instead. So, other than that unwise slant, it is alright.\nOf course, one should be warned of the mad Satanists who wouldn't hesitate to kill, but the black bible is not for those. It appeals to our common sense. \nI was surprised to find out that some Satanists, simply misapply the term, being mentally healthy. I don't like that confusion myself and would rather people who are normal wouldn't call themselves Satanists, but oh well.\nAs for the specifics of search, go to yahoo search or a google one, and put black bible in the search frame. You are bound to find soon some freely distributed online edition. Just don't subscribe to any memberships before you find out what they stand for. If it is just rebellion against brainwashing, it's all well, if not, be careful.\nHope that helps. Good Luck.
652468
I think there needs to be a distinction made here between "Comic Book" movies and "Super Hero" movies.  Sin City, Ghost World, 300 (in production), A history of Violence (I know there are many I left out) are all good movies culled from comic books that do not involve super heroes.\n\nIf the filmakers stick with and properly utilize the source material there are plenty of good stories in either category to keep it going for a long time.  And why not.  It is about time comics were recognized for their literary and cultural contributions.  But Hollywood does have a tendency to take great ideas and dumb them down to affect a greater mass appeal.  It is up to the public paying to see these films to control this downward spiral.