Before I begin to take this post seriously, I just want to say this:
GameFAGS
teehee.
Okay, seriously, I know GameFAQs is, obviously, only going to feature the opinions of the gamers of the world, but I am nevertheless saddened by their most recent poll. Specifically, there are a couple of things about this poll that sadden me. First, an overwhelming majority of voters don't read comic books. Second, an overwhelming majority of voters who read comics only read manga.
Where is the love for the American comic book?
Actually, I know the answer. It's hidden under massive regurgitations of the same old puke spewed again and again from the same major comic publishers. Which is not to say that the putrid, nauseating vomit of Marvel, DC, and Archie are particularly BAD. No, that's not what I mean at all.
Rather, it's just the same thing over and over again. Yes, Wolverine is STILL a bad-ass. Yes, Batman STILL provides dark and disturbing characters and storytelling. Yes, Spidey STILL can't remember to reload his web cartridges.
Everything that made us love these wonderful characters and their stories has been done and overdone to an extent that we are sickeningly bored with them. And no, it doesn't help to add new content because that new content is usually shit. I mean, have you seen Spider-Man's new costume? That costume was the gravel's fall for my subscription to Amazing Spidey.
Now, I don't want these beloved superheroes to die. I love Spidey, X-Men, and Flash as much as anyone. I just wish they'd step out of the limelight and give some other stories a chance -- stories that DON'T involve superheroes.
Although...
Come to think of it, Westerns comics seem to come in two bulk genres: superhero and underground. IMO, both of them have had their day. I've already expressed my opinion for superheroes, but it seems like whenever you turn from superheroes in Western comics, you get a facefull of angst, midlife drama, and disturbing realism. If Western comic artists aren't working on people with tights and capes, it seems, they're bitching about their own fucking boring lives.
Why can't we just have more genres in Western comics? What happened to Jack Kirby's days, when we had superheroes and underground coexisting with horror, romance, sci-fi, and just as many genres as movies and novels have? I mean, that's why manga will always beat out American comics after all. Marvel had it wrong when they released the Marvel Mangaverse -- you can't expect a book to sell just because of the giant eyes and crazy hairdos. It's because manga can be themed any way the writer/artist feels fit, without the constraint of fucking tights, that manga has such a dedicated audience.
Not convinced? Then get this:
Manga has GIRLS on its side.
Y'know the other half of the human race? The one that had zero interest in how bad-ass Wolverine might be? The one that was turned off by the countless revealing and kinda sexist costumes of their superhero counterparts? The one that hasn't been reading anything more interesting than Archie for the past few decades? Yeah, THEY'RE reading manga. Manga wins.
The current situation with American comics is very unsettling for me, an aspiring illustrator. I DON'T want to be stuck drawing Hulk for the rest of my life just to make a mediocre living, nor do I want to have to whore my art out to the manga-style to get my creativity to an audience. (Actually, I already draw manga-style, but that's beside the point.) I hope that the industry beyond Image and Vertigo wakes up soon and stops this superhero binge cycle. Gaiman and Miller can't have too many good ideas left.
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