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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 17:19:24 GMT -5
Each one of them contains a microchip in the Benday dots that alters your DNA and makes you buy more. Now you're just being silly. *Everyone* knows the microchip is in the Comics Code Authority seal. Which hasn't existed for decades.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 16:40:45 GMT -5
I wasn't aware that there was any difference between the meaning of the words film and movie. I had a film professor in college who hated theu term "movie." Must admit, when I was growing up I rarely heard anyone refer to films as movies, except in American TV shows. It's a word which only seems to have become popular here in the last twenty years.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 16:11:44 GMT -5
They are not totally unavailable in any capacity in the strict literal sense, but you have to go out of your way to specifically look for them if you want them. You used to be able to grab them on the self in any grocery store, gas station, etc. They were an inexpensive, mass-market entertainment medium. Now they are an expensive niche specialty item. Just the facts. In Britain, you can still get comics in many high street stores and newsagents. Just not US imports.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 16:10:29 GMT -5
I don't see that they're unavailable. I'm not even in America, and there are two comic shops within twenty five miles of me. One of them just half an hour away. And of course, there's always eBay shops. Not to be a contrarian, but I live in America and there is but one store that sells comics in my neck of the woods. It's in the only mall hereabouts and serves an area of just about 400 square miles and a population of around 225,000. The next nearest stores that sell comics are 60 and 70 miles distant, one to the west, the other to the north. So... yeah, they're not easy to come by. I'm glad I'm no longer collecting; it'd be frustrating. Bizarre. I'm not exactly in a huge metropolitan area, here in Suffolk, but comics fans are well served. And when I briefly moved to Cheshire a couple of years ago when my wife had a work placement in Manchester Royal Infirmary, we stayed in a relatively small town but it still had a comics shop.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 16:02:47 GMT -5
I don't see that they're unavailable. I'm not even in America, and there are two comic shops within twenty five miles of me. One of them just half an hour away. And of course, there's always eBay shops. I don't think it is reasonable to expect a non-comics reader to drive 25 miles to one of only two specialty shops in an area to buy into a very expensive hobby that is not remotely aimed at newcomers. The direct market is aimed at existing readers, and the big publishers don't do much to make it easy for someone to jump in. Even if they wanted to, how could they? How many # 1s, new origins, renumberings, jumping on points are there? Not to mention comic stores are closing all the time. There are fewer comics made than before. Those that are made are more expensive than ever and sold exclusively in specialty shops. You can buy some back issues online, sure, but it's not easy to consistently get full stories, and keys are already priced at a premium. Not everyone who isn't already a collector is interested in buying lots of back issues and piecing together runs. Really, the logic seems quite similar to saying unless you track down a band's first-pressings on the original LP only you're not a true fan if the band. The statement "comic books are available for purchase" might be technically true, but it's about as unapproachable and unwieldy as anything could be, and expecting movie fans should not only want to be are somewhat obligated to dive into an expensive, dense and convoluted hobby is quite unrealistic IMO. Actually, there aren't fewer comics being published these days. Quite the opposite, in fact. And sales have apparently been steadily rising for a few years now. Sales of comics and graphic novels reached an all time high in 2020, according to some sources. 1.28 billion dollars.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 15:58:41 GMT -5
Who are you to say how seriously people should take them? Comics are as legitimate a storytelling medium as any other and can be used to tell any kind of story. Are we not supposed to take Maus seriously? The prosecution rests. what a closed minded view. I've been reading, collecting and dealing in comics for most of my life, but for the last twenty odd years I've also been writing about them, either just for myself or semi professionally, and trying to champion them as both a serious art form and genuine literature, both of which they are. Attitudes like yours are the reason they are frequently not appreciated as such.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 15:53:39 GMT -5
It was honestly a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to those who insisted on calling every floppy a "graphic novel." And it just kind of stuck. At this point it's really less about being iconoclastic and more about the fact that I like the sound look of the word funnybook. It makes about as much sense as people who try to split hairs between films and movies with one being "serious art" and the other being popcorn fare. They're the same thing and any difference in the terms is in account of the pretensions of the person making it, not in the terms themselves. Both movies and film can be serious or frivolous, just as both comic books and funny books can refer to the gamut of things that used words and pictures in panels and/or pages to tell stories or a joke. And I find it's not how seriously or not someone takes it where people find offense in which term is used, but when people link how seriously others take it to their own self-esteem and validation of what they like it and take seriously where people get bothered by which term is used and take offense. -M I wasn't aware that there was any difference between the meaning of the words film and movie.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 15:34:23 GMT -5
Well, the the whole question of advertising revenue is part of it. I have some experience of magazine publishing, and a big part of why periodicals of all kinds are slowly dying is because nobody wants to buy advertising space in them anymore. Why would they, when they can reach a far wider audience for far less cost by advertising online? Even if they were selling in the kind of numbers they were in the early nineties, it would still be nothing compared to the exposure the advertisers could get just by people scrolling through Facebook. So, we agree, comics are less available than ever, more expensive than ever, and the obvious strategies to try and mitigate cost and placement as a barrier don't work, and companies wouldn't be interested in doing them. How can you really fault newer fans of the characters brought in by the movies for not reading the comics, then? I don't see that they're unavailable. I'm not even in America, and there are two comic shops within twenty five miles of me. One of them just half an hour away. And of course, there's always eBay shops.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 15:29:09 GMT -5
Why do you lot call comics "funnybooks" when most of them aren't actually funny and aren't even supposed to be? It's what my Dad called them. But mostly it's because it tends to irritate people who take them far too seriously. Who are you to say how seriously people should take them? Comics are as legitimate a storytelling medium as any other and can be used to tell any kind of story. Are we not supposed to take Maus seriously?
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 14:04:59 GMT -5
Why do you lot call comics "funnybooks" when most of them aren't actually funny and aren't even supposed to be? They're not comical either but they're still called comic books. Comic Book and funny book were interchangeable terms for these things up through at least the Silver Age, and my folks still used funny books to refer to them through the 70s and 80s. -M I've never really understood the "comic book" qualifier, either. In Britain, comics were until recently just called comics, regardless of whether they were actual comic magazines or just newspaper strips. Anything that told a story with sequential art came under the general heading of comics.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 13:58:44 GMT -5
They ought to face off against the Terrible Trio from Nova (Condor, Diamondhead, and Powerhouse) or from Batman (Fox, Shark, and Vulture). I think Powerhouse is supposed to be dead. But I wish he wasn't.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 19, 2021 13:57:05 GMT -5
I will never accept that the Eternals were sitting around doing nothing while Thanos was decimating the universe in the MCU. There I said it. But you accept that nobody but the Fantastic Four get involved when Galactus first comes to eat Earth? It’s a completely common superhero funnybook trope. Brought to you by Slam Bradley's "Rules For Reading Superhero Funnybooks." Why do you lot call comics "funnybooks" when most of them aren't actually funny and aren't even supposed to be?
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 18, 2021 16:58:53 GMT -5
I really don't understand why people are so upset about this.To me, Jon is far more interesting as a teenager. He was just an annoying waste of panel space as a kid. But then, admittedly, I have no interest in kids. Never have had. I could never be a parent, I wouldn't have the patience. The family aspect with Lois, Clark and Jon worked better as a kid and of course Damian and Jon together is a blast when ever they team up...as a teen who grew up apart from his parents though it's just a bland young Clark Kent. I'm just not really interested in the family aspect. I get that a lot of people inexplicably find kids interesting or cute. I just don't. They're annoying and make no sense. Damien is the exception, but that's because he's a superintelligent little psycho. And he's still my least favourite Robin.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 18, 2021 16:55:42 GMT -5
It's not just about falling readership, it's also about rising overheads. There's no point in selling half a million copies of a comic if the price is so low that you lose money on every unit sold because it costs too much to produce and distribute them. Yes, we agree. It's more and more expensive to make them, and the pool of people buying them is shrinking. For these and many other reasons, comic books are a very expensive hobby now, particularly when competing for the same limited entertainment budget. Theoretically if somehow comics got back to early 90s sales numbers, at some point there should be enough units sold to cover overhead. Then your only costs would be variable. With a significantly wider audience, again, theoretically comics might have enough ad revenue to subsidize costs enough to get the price point down. I have no idea what that looks like for comics or where the economies of scale lie, though. Theory aside, in practice, that is of course unrealistic because that is not what happened. Other folks here can better speak to how the state of comics got to what it is. Well, the the whole question of advertising revenue is part of it. I have some experience of magazine publishing, and a big part of why periodicals of all kinds are slowly dying is because nobody wants to buy advertising space in them anymore. Why would they, when they can reach a far wider audience for far less cost by advertising online? Even if they were selling in the kind of numbers they were in the early nineties, it would still be nothing compared to the exposure the advertisers could get just by people scrolling through Facebook.
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 18, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
That was part of the Original Sin story.... don't remember the exact details, but Tony Stark was definitely involved. I haven't seen it retconned, but I suspect (like Tony really being adopted) they'll just never speak of it again. I decided to trade Wait on the Batman:Imposter book... it did look very good, but I suspect it'll read better as a trade. X-Men #4 : I didn't love the power level for Jean it required, but this was a great Halloween themed done in one story. It referenced the recent Death of Doctor Strange without it being a tie in, and offered tidbits of the ongoing plot, and was a fun story... well done! Challenge of the Super Sons #7 : I somewhat predictable ending, but still awesome. All the hulabaloo about Jon's sexuality is missing the bigger point... he a WAY more interesting and fun character at the right age than as a teenager.... he can grow up later... we have PLENTY more stories of him as a kid first that can be told. If I had my way, I'd lock Tomasi in a room and not let out until he writes all the Super Sons adventures he offered in the flash forward. I mean, how awesome would grampas Damian and Jon babysitting the super great grandsons be? I just need more Tomasi writing Jon and Damian. Yeah, Jon works really great as a kid, aging him up was hands down the worst decision DC has made in a while. I really don't understand why people are so upset about this.To me, Jon is far more interesting as a teenager. He was just an annoying waste of panel space as a kid. But then, admittedly, I have no interest in kids. Never have had. I could never be a parent, I wouldn't have the patience.
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