Indeed, one of the biggest obstacles to supehero comics telling legitmately good stories is the static nature and endless serialization of the genre. People snark (in character!) about dead heroes returning from the grave
I for one would like it better if comics openly acknowledged this fact. Have Death sitting around in a bar getting soaked and complaining about how her job used to mean something. The really funny part is how the heroes still act as if death threats are a big deal, still mourn the loss of their fallen comrades, and nobody ever expects that they might return from the dead, even characters that have already done so. It is indeed quite silly.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE superheroes and I've read plenty of great superhero stories but the genre has problems and the current comic book format may be its greatest villian. And there's no reason for it other than coporate and editorial calcification.
Which is all it takes. The best comics are usually those devoid of continuity, I've found - and DC seems to have a lot more of them than Marvel, with probably the ur-example being "Kingdom Come". The bottom line is that some comic book writers (and artists) are just plain better than others, and the publication schedule means that a lot of excess has to be generated in order to meet demand; I would like to see ten quality comics published per year, instead of a hundred per month, but the business can't generate sufficient sales that way to stay afloat, or so it seems. So I content myself with cherry-picking, and slogging my way through a lot of drek in search of the rare jewels.
"I'm starting to feel comic books lack realism."
"Master of Understatement: Level Up!"
--Two nearly-consecutive (in the other order) quotes from the webcomic "Grrl Power".
Marvel actually acknowledged the problem of mourning the loss of a fellow hero in a tie in comic to the Fear Itself event (terrible event but a good tie in). Bucky Barnes had just "died" again and Black Widow was arguing with reporters at the daily bugle about publishing the information and how the deaths and resurrections affect the heroes. She posited it was harder for the heroes to have to mourn then have the person back then have to fear losing them again than for normal people to just lose someone. I don't know which side was right but the issue was good
Yeah - superheroes talk about how cheap death is in their worlds ALL THE TIME. I would refute that this helps things appreciably, but it certainly happens quite frequently.
"Is it a bird?"
"Is it a plane?"
"No... it's ironic!"
The only graphic novels I have are Ed Brubaker & Sean Philips "Criminal" Series. I guess it helps that that one is a collection of short series that each combine in to a greater whole (a bit like Sentinels really). When it comes to superheroes, I definitely prefer the films as they work with arcs much better. It'd be nice for a TV series to try an original superhero thing again but given what a total mess Heroes descended in to, I can understand their reluctance!
They did try again. No Ordinary Family. I enjoyed it a lot, but apparently was in the minority. They got one full season before they got cancelled which was cool that we weren't really left hanging in the middle of a storyline. Of course with 2 superhero based shows off the air in recent memory, their reluctance is even more understandable.
And then we have Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which is superhero-adjacent. (WARNING: I'm getting on my soapbox now. Why aren't more people watching it????? If people want a show in a particular genre but won't support one that IS in the genre but isn't THE ONE that they wanted, then the panicy tv executives immediately assume that the genre is dead and won't make another one. </soapbox>)
Yak Guardian
(aka Michael)
R.I.P. Blake Washington
I think, overall, it comes down to two things:
1) People don't want to spend time watching a show that might just turn out to be "okay" or even bad once all is said and done. Watching a show takes a time investment; personally, I have about 5 hours of free time a night, most which is spent between the gym, cooking, doing laundry or other cleaning. It's rare that I have more than 2 hours a night to just lounge with a TV show, board game, or video game. And with Netflix, Redbox, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. it's so much easier to wait until the reviews are out and then binge watch it once it's been affirmed that the payout is worth it. I don't want to repeat the mistake I made with Heroes; investing myself in a show that went from really great to utter garbage after 1.5 seasons.
2) It's the fans' way of demanding something better. If they do "watch it because it's there," they are telling the executives that they'll swallow absolutely anything they feed them as long as it has a Spiderman, Xmen or Batman sticker on it, regardless of quality. I think it's important that fans voice that they WANT more of the genre, but not without a certain level of expected awesomeness.
And I say these things as a Marvel and Agents of SHIELD fan. This is one of the rare shows I AM watching from the beginning and not just waiting until the series is out in full (just caught up on Tuesday's episode last night). I'm a sucker for Marvel and am excited to go to Captain America with the girlfriend tonight. Overall, I'm enjoying SHIELD, even if it has plenty of shortcomings, but just because I'm liking the show doesn't mean I blame fans who feel more apprehensive and can't see past its flaws (and it DOES have flaws).
I've been thoroughly enjoying SHIELD. It really improved after the fifth episode, when the writers actually knew who the actors were going to be and could write more appropriately for those actors in these roles. I've been impressed with where they've gone with it and how they've evolved the characters. And the humor really nails it for me.
Right now, it's the only show I'm actively watching. It's not to the level of Firefly, but I think it's been really impressive.
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
I agree that the show really took off after the 5th (I'd even argue 4th) episode. The characters, while somewhat insufferable at first, have come into their own light and have definitely grown own me. And I think the over-arching plot has done a nice job of moving forward at a pace that keeps people interested by revealing pieces of the puzzle each week (Centipede, Raina, Ian Quinn, the eye detonator, and so on) and eventually showing the viewer how their connections. I'm really loving the lion's share of what SHIELD has to offer and I think fans who may have written it off due to the first two episodes are making a mistake.
That being said, there are still some things that poke and prod at me every time I watch it, despite the overall praise I have for it.
Okay, upon writing this, I realize that I'm drastically derailing this thread, and I apologize.
And I thought I was the only one who watched No Ordinary Family (who'd make quite a cool Sentinels promo pack if Tachyon wasn't so close to the Julie Benz character)... I'm mixed on Agents of Shield - I think it's better than Arrow, but it hasn't impressed me yet (and I also have the dubious pleasure of spotting Gemma's accent slip northwards on occasions...)
I don't agree that we should watch bad shows in a genre though. Quality has to be the first consideration, though it's frustrating when quality shows are canned like The Fades which was a really interesting Ghost/Zombie hybrid set in small town England, (starring Fitz from Agents of Shield).
I 'watch' Agents of Shield, by which I mean it is in a window on my laptop screen that in not where my work is, and it it playing. I use it for it's noise value. Arrow... I tried, but I just can't watch it.
I may need to track down The Fades though, sounds interesting...
I don't know what makes me different and I don't care. Maybe it's not my problem, but why do they stare? - The Living End, Strange
It's a cautious recommendation - I had some friends stop watching it because they couldn't figure out what the 'fades' were (though that is part of why it appealed to me!). BBC decided not to fund a second series as Being Human was more popular (so make of that what you will!)
If you want to track down something really curious, there is another BBC zombie show "In The Flesh", which uses the undead being cured as a metaphor. I won't go further as I risk spoilers, but it was one of the most intelligently provocative shows I've seen in a while. It's not big on action though
A couple weeks ago, I read a comic in the Peter David X-Factor series where a character was in total denial that her father was dead because of this exact point for several issues before finally accepting it.
Still watching Arrow and Agents of Shield, though both are testing my endurance for different reasons!
SPOILERS (maybe)
Reversals, particularly multiple reversals always feel like cheap writing, and both shows feel like "plot happening to characters" which is really unsatisfying. It's always better when the characters (at least some of the time) drive the show/story. I'll hit the end of both seasons, but I'm far from convinced I'll pick them up again next season... Though I'm pretty sure I'll buy Bear McCreary's Agent of Shield score CD...