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Post by tolworthy on Feb 21, 2016 7:34:48 GMT -5
I'm currently reading the Flash Gordon Sundays for the first time. All my life I've heard how wonderful they are, and as individual strips they do not disappoint! The art is wonderful and the ideas are magical. Plenty happens in one page, and I can imagine what it was like to wait a week between each instalment. Superb.
Except...
After reading the first year's strips, at 2 or 3 per night before going to bed, I think it suffers. You start to see the repetition, the plot holes, and frankly I am starting to sympathise with the bad guys. Well maybe not with Ming, but sometimes I like the hawk men better than Flash. I now wish I had the patience to wait a week between pages.
Anyhow, this got me thinking of other series that I think work better in small doses. The other one that comes to mind is the Hulk. There are lots of Hulk runs that I enjoy, so a few years ago I got the 40 years DVD. I recall the disappointment as ideas were raised then forgotten, and one writer would make me care for the characters and the next writer would forget that characterisation and go in a completely different direction. I suppose that's in the nature of the Hulk, the nature of serial fiction, and the nature of "the illusion of change." Still, I think some comics suffer from this more than others.
What about you? What comics would you recommend in small doses but not all at once?
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 21, 2016 9:28:31 GMT -5
I'm figuring that strips will suffer from this more than comics. Strips have to constantly catch you up with maybe 5 panels a day.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 21, 2016 11:35:46 GMT -5
I actually feel that way about most of the Silver Age stuff I've read (especially DC)... they can be weirdly wonderful, or something brilliant, but you can't read too many without losing the charm, IMO.
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Post by MDG on Feb 21, 2016 12:11:52 GMT -5
I actually feel that way about most of the Silver Age stuff I've read (especially DC)... they can be weirdly wonderful, or something brilliant, but you can't read too many without losing the charm, IMO. Yep. I'd extend this to most silver and Bronze Age books except Kirby on FF (and maybe Thor) and Ditko on Dr. Strange. Might give Kamandi a pass, too. Most ECs and Warrens too-- some individually great stuff, but gets samey awful quickly. i actually find daily strips paced pretty well. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 21, 2016 12:17:10 GMT -5
I actually feel that way about most of the Silver Age stuff I've read (especially DC)... they can be weirdly wonderful, or something brilliant, but you can't read too many without losing the charm, IMO. Yep. I'd extend this to most silver and Bronze Age books except Kirby on FF (and maybe Thor) and Ditko on Dr. Strange. Might give Kamandi a pass, too. Most ECs and Warrens too-- some individually great stuff, but gets samey awful quickly. I've been reading the Dark Horse Warren Archives on and off for a while now and I agree. The Archie Goodwin era or what came after, lots of great and varied artwork, but the stories get very repetitious after awhile. So many stories revolve around the conclusion of "Oh, So it's that person whose the vampire/werewolf/ghoul or combination, not the other one |
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Post by JKCarrier on Feb 21, 2016 12:35:59 GMT -5
Agreed. I have to force myself to take it slow with those giant Showcase or Essential volumes. Gardner Fox's JLA is one of my favorite comics ever, but if you try to read a dozen of them in a row, your brain will start leaking out your ears. There's only so much convenient coincidence and crackheaded science you can digest at once.
A counter-example would be Master of Kung Fu. After coming to the series relatively late, I managed to get a big stack of back issues for cheap, and binge-read most of them over the course of a couple of days. Once you get past the early must-have-Fu-Manchu-in-every-issue stage, it holds up really well.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 13:00:29 GMT -5
Most crossover events that go into 8-12 issues and spread over 8-12 different titles. In times gone by, you just picked up one title and read the storyline over 2-4 issues. 1981: Days of Future Past - 2 Uncanny X-Men books. 2016: Similar story line - 12 different books, including Rocket Racoon.  |
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 21, 2016 14:05:25 GMT -5
This has actually been a problem of mine. It hits me most with the giant reprints of newspaper strips in books. I buy but never quite finish them.
But it also affects me reading a lot of Essential stuff.
And '50s sci/fi stuff.
I like what I'm reading, but get tired before I finish the entire giant collection in front of me. Then put it on the shelf and forget to ever return to it.
I need a system for identifying such things, putting a bookmark in them, and then picking them back off the shelf.
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Post by Mormel on Feb 21, 2016 15:06:25 GMT -5
I have this with Avengers. I love the Avengers dearly, but I prefer to read their issues as a companion piece to Iron Man or Captain America or other featured heroes that have a solo. I think it's because those delve more into the personal life of the characters l.
There are story arcs of Avengers I can keep re-reading, but the more standard fare of Earth's mightiest heroes teaming up to once more fight Kang or Ultron gets just a tad repetitive for me. Not right now, though, right now I'm on an Avengers kick!
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Feb 21, 2016 15:09:27 GMT -5
I feel that way with most comics. I have chunks of titles to read but I really cannot sit down and go through every issues. For examples, I have an almost complete run of Ms. Marvel from the 70's but after reading 2-3, I want something different. So generally, I read 1-2 in a row and then switch to something else, like a Batman or Daredevil issue.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 15:53:40 GMT -5
Almost any comics published before "writing for the trade" collection became popular. I miss those days when comics (& TV shows) were meant to be read (watched) in small doses rather than in one sitting - binge reading (watching).
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Post by The Cheat on Feb 21, 2016 16:23:07 GMT -5
Lone Wolf & Cub. Great stuff, but a tad repetitive.
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 21, 2016 16:28:50 GMT -5
Almost any comics published before "writing for the trade" collection became popular. I miss those days when comics (& TV shows) were meant to be read (watched) in small doses rather than in one sitting - binge reading (watching). Have to disagree. Avengers v.1 had all types of different stories that were not repetitive. Heck, most of the Marvel Silver age was miles better than this decompression crap. |
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 22, 2016 22:49:43 GMT -5
I have this with Avengers. I love the Avengers dearly, but I prefer to read their issues as a companion piece to Iron Man or Captain America or other featured heroes that have a solo. I think it's because those delve more into the personal life of the characters l. There are story arcs of Avengers I can keep re-reading, but the more standard fare of Earth's mightiest heroes teaming up to once more fight Kang or Ultron gets just a tad repetitive for me. Not right now, though, right now I'm on an Avengers kick! I feel differently. I sat down a few years back and read through the first 300 issues of Avengers in pretty short order. I never felt bored as I sometimes do with massive reading projects. |
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Post by lobsterjohnson on Feb 23, 2016 9:31:26 GMT -5
This has actually been a problem of mine. It hits me most with the giant reprints of newspaper strips in books. I buy but never quite finish them. But it also affects me reading a lot of Essential stuff. And '50s sci/fi stuff. I like what I'm reading, but get tired before I finish the entire giant collection in front of me. Then put it on the shelf and forget to ever return to it. I need a system for identifying such things, putting a bookmark in them, and then picking them back off the shelf. I do that all the time. I have about 10 different books on my shelf that I was enjoying, but I'm never in the mood to finish them. |
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