|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 9:38:01 GMT -5
I don't want to sound like the equivalent of the colleague who keeps threatening to quit (I have witnessed that back when I worked in an office!). Nor is it an egotistical topic. Call it therapy. I am done with current Marvel Comics. I'll always pick up back issues, reprints of classic volumes, etc. But, and this is a decision I made over Christmas, I am done with Marvel Comics. I'm done with them dragging out stories. A recent Captain America comic had no action in it, just talking heads. For nearly four bloody quid! This is what happens when your motivation is to drag something out for six issues so that you can release a six-issue volume. How on Earth did the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby manage to do done-in-one stories with plenty of action and exposition? I'm done with them ignoring the fact that their readers don't possess bottomless wallets. My goodness, the 60s Galactus story was told over three issues (a wise choice). Today it'd require 12 issues, a prelude issue, an epilogue issue and it'd tie in to every comic from Deadpool and Spidey to Nova. I'm done with the constant event fatigue. One six-issue or twelve-issue arc after another. And the tie-in issues. In my youth, big events were rare (e.g. Secret Wars). Now, you get the big events AND the tie-in issues. And it is a cash cow thing. We can't simply have the occasional five-issue Avengers tale. No, we have to have a six-issue Avengers arc and it tying into almost every title. Hell, let's sell even more Deadpool copies and confuse readers who only buy Deadpool by having his latest issue tied into the big event.  I'm done with them renumbering constantly. Thor #1 is out this week. And Star Wars #1. Why even have numbers now? It makes searching for such issues impossible on comiXology. Try searching for Wolverine #1. One could easily find Batman #400 via a mail order catalogue or website, but good luck finding the exact Star Wars #1 you need. It's nothing more than a gimmick - and a pathetic one, given they reverted to old numbering not that long ago. If you're gonna constantly renumber, and destroy any sense of history, I'm not hanging around. A sense of history is nice - and something like Incredible Hulk should be past 700 issues by now. Just get rid of the damn numbers and have a month/year on the cover. Now, if mrp reads this topic, he knows I love him. He knows I have nothing but respect for his views which he articulates in a readable and logical fashion. And I know, if he reads this, he could come up with business reasons why Marvel is doing it, he could tell me about the realities of profit, etc. All that does make for good reading. If I was doing a "Business of Marvel Comics" topic, mrp would be an asset to the topic. But this is a personal topic. It's about me and me alone. It's about fatigue. And I am not fatigued with comics in general. I'm currently reading back issues of the Legion of Super-Heroes. I'm enjoying each volume of Judge Dredd's "Case Files". I enjoyed Doomsday Clock. For now, I will stick with DC (even though some of the above could apply to them, too). The comic industry is as fascinating to me now as it always was. It's just a very personal decision based on Marvel fatigue. But it's modern Marvel fatigue. The decision has been long in comic, but I think the camel that broke the straw's back was the recent Cap comic with 20+ pages of talking heads. I was left thinking, WHY? Thank you for allowing me this "therapy session". |
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Jan 2, 2020 9:45:48 GMT -5
Vent away friend! I haven't purchased a NEW/Current Marvel regularly in well over 2 years now. Occasionally I have read some when purchasing a TPB for friends as gifts (just read the Deathshead 4 issue mini in trade where he essentially is a guest star in "HIS" own story?) but they have absolutely NOTHING being produced regularly that I wish to read. Occasionally something will pop up and I might be curious but then once it comes out and I look it over I am disappointed once more. I am not quite sure as to who exactly is buying Marvel comics these days? It seems MOST of their ongoing series are dragged out too long and that everything is meant to be the NEXT BIG EVENT to guarantee people will buy them. And it seems that NONE of the current characterizations fall in line with the "classic" hero or villain's we all grew up with.
|
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 2, 2020 9:48:48 GMT -5
I wish they'd label them like TV shows: Season 2, Episode 1. That way they could keep their renumbering but make it easier to follow, and yeah I know there are volume numbers but those are buried in the indicia which isn't easily view-able when just casually browsing.
As for current Marvel books, I've loved Immortal Hulk. It's a fantastic take on the character that plays towards horror which is a great fir for old jade jaws.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 9:51:42 GMT -5
Thanks!  If something has to be dragged out for the contrivance that is a trade paperback, that's a problem. There are some tales which could have been told with fewer issues. On the fatigue thing, and this means nothing if you're not a wrestling fan, I miss the days of quarterly PPVs and the syndicated shows. Now, and I avoid their shows, Raw is three hours long every week. PPVs are monthly - and often 4 or more hours. Less is more. I like football. I like the FIFA World Cup every four years. A Marvel event every four years would appeal to me, but not constant events - and their tie-in issues. We're missing out on potentially intimate issues or variety. What about the Cap issue where he tackled Scorpion? Couldn't have that today because Scorpion would be tied up in "Armageddon War of the Multiverse Spider-Realm" for 11 issues. We couldn't possibly have an issue of Captain America featuring introspection that is interrupted by him hearing reports of a cat burglar a few blocks away. No, it's gotta be the big events. Or the issue of talking heads. I'm done! |
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Jan 2, 2020 11:52:32 GMT -5
Welcome to the club! I stopped following new individual issues serially back in 1986. There will still be some good new Marvel books sometimes (I liked King’s “The Vision”) but waiting to let history sort them out, then buying the compendium, makes a whole lot more sense.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 13:12:23 GMT -5
I don't want to sound like the equivalent of the colleague who keeps threatening to quit (I have witnessed that back when I worked in an office!). Nor is it an egotistical topic. Call it therapy. I am done with current Marvel Comics. I'll always pick up back issues, reprints of classic volumes, etc. But, and this is a decision I made over Christmas, I am done with Marvel Comics. I'm done with them dragging out stories. A recent Captain America comic had no action in it, just talking heads. For nearly four bloody quid! This is what happens when your motivation is to drag something out for six issues so that you can release a six-issue volume. How on Earth did the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby manage to do done-in-one stories with plenty of action and exposition? I'm done with them ignoring the fact that their readers don't possess bottomless wallets. My goodness, the 60s Galactus story was told over three issues (a wise choice). Today it'd require 12 issues, a prelude issue, an epilogue issue and it'd tie in to every comic from Deadpool and Spidey to Nova. I'm done with the constant event fatigue. One six-issue or twelve-issue arc after another. And the tie-in issues. In my youth, big events were rare (e.g. Secret Wars). Now, you get the big events AND the tie-in issues. And it is a cash cow thing. We can't simply have the occasional five-issue Avengers tale. No, we have to have a six-issue Avengers arc and it tying into almost every title. Hell, let's sell even more Deadpool copies and confuse readers who only buy Deadpool by having his latest issue tied into the big event. I'm done with them renumbering constantly. Thor #1 is out this week. And Star Wars #1. Why even have numbers now? It makes searching for such issues impossible on comiXology. Try searching for Wolverine #1. One could easily find Batman #400 via a mail order catalogue or website, but good luck finding the exact Star Wars #1 you need. It's nothing more than a gimmick - and a pathetic one, given they reverted to old numbering not that long ago. If you're gonna constantly renumber, and destroy any sense of history, I'm not hanging around. A sense of history is nice - and something like Incredible Hulk should be past 700 issues by now. Just get rid of the damn numbers and have a month/year on the cover. Now, if mrp reads this topic, he knows I love him. He knows I have nothing but respect for his views which he articulates in a readable and logical fashion. And I know, if he reads this, he could come up with business reasons why Marvel is doing it, he could tell me about the realities of profit, etc. All that does make for good reading. If I was doing a "Business of Marvel Comics" topic, mrp would be an asset to the topic. But this is a personal topic. It's about me and me alone. It's about fatigue. And I am not fatigued with comics in general. I'm currently reading back issues of the Legion of Super-Heroes. I'm enjoying each volume of Judge Dredd's "Case Files". I enjoyed Doomsday Clock. For now, I will stick with DC (even though some of the above could apply to them, too). The comic industry is as fascinating to me now as it always was. It's just a very personal decision based on Marvel fatigue. But it's modern Marvel fatigue. The decision has been long in comic, but I think the camel that broke the straw's back was the recent Cap comic with 20+ pages of talking heads. I was left thinking, WHY? Thank you for allowing me this "therapy session". I am not going to dispute your feelings, or give you business reasons, but think about someone who discovered comics in the 30s reacting to the comics of the 70s and 80s you love having a similar rant. Why does it take them an entire issue to tell one story, my guys could tell it in 8 pages and for a dime I got 10-11 stories, you want how much for 1 story. I am tired of stories that continue from one issue to another. I am tired of shred universes, I should be able to read a story and have everything in that story I need right there. I am tired of not getting variety when I buy a comic, getting all the same thing in the issue is so lame... etc. It's all a matter of perspective and and preference when you came in. Comics change. They always have, they always will. You can't take a snapshot of comics when you came in and expect time to freeze and for them to always be like that. It doesn't work that way. What you find comfortable, readers of previous era find strange and unacceptable and readers of later eras will too. The only constant is change. -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 14:21:49 GMT -5
That is true. And I could apply that logic to the James Bond movies, US wrestling, soap operas, etc.
But while that is a valid statement, it has become rather unwieldy. A person born in, say, 1900 might not appreciate having to follow the Galactus tale over 3 issues, when he was raised on a diet of 1 book with several stories, but although that would be his perspective in 1966, I don't really feel he could describe a 3-issue arc as unwieldy in the same way I could describe "War of the Realms" as being unwieldy, given its 1,907 tie-in issues.
I know I can't even use the money argument because that is relative. As a kid, £1 got me a comic and a chocolate bar. £1 wouldn't even begin to cover the cost of just one comic now. But anyone born over the last 20 years will have been conditioned in a world where three or four quid for a comic is normal. They wouldn't care about my anecdotes pertaining to 80 pence comics from 1987.
But from my historical perspective - and almost everything rises in price - it is an expensive bloody game today. I don't mind something costing whatever. Hell, I paid over twenty quid recently for the "Anaconda Quadrilogy" boxset. Someone next door might be horrified to think I paid that much for four films about a killer snake. But it's hard for me to think of modern comics as being value for money. Not in the same way as anything else.
My Netflix subscription costs £8.99 a month. For that, well my current list includes Scream, Lost in Space, Jessica Jones and lots of movies. I'd say that's good value.
The £22.99 I spent on the "Anaconda Quadrilogy" involves the Blu-ray versions of the films, numerous extras and a comprehensive booklet. Of course, it'll cost me extra electricity to keep the lights on because sleeping after watching a film about snakes is gonna be hard!
I don't buy many magazines now, but they tend to be £4. Some have a lot of content for £4. Subscriptions will be cheaper. That's value for money.
Captain America in "The Adventures of Talking Heads" (CAPTAIN AMERICA #6, God knows which volume!) for four quid is not good value for money. Such an uneventful issue. No doubt building to a murder mystery or Cap framed for murder. Who knows? Who cares? Not a single eventful moment. So that's one of many things that led me to my decision over Christmas. I could buy two 80s or 90s Cap issues for four quid in a bargain box - and there'd at least be some action, possibly complete tales - and they'd take half an hour to read, not five minutes.
It's the value for money that is one of many issues I have which led me to post this topic.
|
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 2, 2020 15:04:46 GMT -5
It's the evolution of the form. You don't have to like it but you're not going to stop it.
I think it analogizes very well to the evolution of prose reading over the last 100 years particularly in genre writing.
The early days of comics corresponded with the Golden age of pulp magazines. While there were certainly novels and even some novel length pulps (Doc Savage) the masses were reading anthologies of short stories.
As prose reading moved to paperback originals comics slowly began to move to book-length one-and-done stories.
In a day and age with never-ending multi-volume sagas (Game of Thrones, etc.) you're seeing long drawn out storylines in comics.
Comic publishers keep trying anthology books and they don't sell. Prose authors who want to work in shorter forms frequently have to publish limited edition books through boutique publishers to make it viable (Joe R. Lansdale comes to mind).
You are going to get what the public is willing to buy.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 15:15:04 GMT -5
That is true. And I could apply that logic to the James Bond movies, US wrestling, soap operas, etc. But while that is a valid statement, it has become rather unwieldy. A person born in, say, 1900 might not appreciate having to follow the Galactus tale over 3 issues, when he was raised on a diet of 1 book with several stories, but although that would be his perspective in 1966, I don't really feel he could describe a 3-issue arc as unwieldy in the same way I could describe "War of the Realms" as being unwieldy, given its 1,907 tie-in issues. I know I can't even use the money argument because that is relative. As a kid, £1 got me a comic and a chocolate bar. £1 wouldn't even begin to cover the cost of just one comic now. But anyone born over the last 20 years will have been conditioned in a world where three or four quid for a comic is normal. They wouldn't care about my anecdotes pertaining to 80 pence comics from 1987. But from my historical perspective - and almost everything rises in price - it is an expensive bloody game today. I don't mind something costing whatever. Hell, I paid over twenty quid recently for the "Anaconda Quadrilogy" boxset. Someone next door might be horrified to think I paid that much for four films about a killer snake. But it's hard for me to think of modern comics as being value for money. Not in the same way as anything else. My Netflix subscription costs £8.99 a month. For that, well my current list includes Scream, Lost in Space, Jessica Jones and lots of movies. I'd say that's good value. The £22.99 I spent on the "Anaconda Quadrilogy" involves the Blu-ray versions of the films, numerous extras and a comprehensive booklet. Of course, it'll cost me extra electricity to keep the lights on because sleeping after watching a film about snakes is gonna be hard! I don't buy many magazines now, but they tend to be £4. Some have a lot of content for £4. Subscriptions will be cheaper. That's value for money. Captain America in "The Adventures of Talking Heads" (CAPTAIN AMERICA #6, God knows which volume!) for four quid is not good value for money. Such an uneventful issue. No doubt building to a murder mystery or Cap framed for murder. Who knows? Who cares? Not a single eventful moment. So that's one of many things that led me to my decision over Christmas. I could buy two 80s or 90s Cap issues for four quid in a bargain box - and there'd at least be some action, possibly complete tales - and they'd take half an hour to read, not five minutes. It's the value for money that is one of many issues I have which led me to post this topic. That's what happens when what you are buying passes form a mainstream commodity to a hobby niche though. Look at what happened to war games in the late 80s to the early 90s. Games that cost about $20 and could be bought at any toy or hobby shop stopped being a in the general market (publishers stopped making them available in the mainstream and published targeting the hardcore hobby for a number of years until the mainstream outlets disappeared, and suddenly started costing about $100 for the same game, often with less accessories or art included to keep costs done. Products in the niche cost more than mainstream products, and monthly print periodicals are no longer a mainstream product, but a niche product available only through special order by specialty shops, so their prices are going to skyrocket at a much higher rate than inflation would call for, because they stopped being mass market products and economy of scale now works against instead of for them. So no, they are not value for their money, niche hobby products never are. It's a product that if you want it, you know you are going to have to pay higher than the market rate for a mass market product of the same ilk. That's the very nature of a hobby niche product and a hobby consumer. And its the byproduct of going exclusive to the direct market by the industry 30 years ago. I got a lot of comic readers don't want to pay hobby prices for comics, but the reality it, that is what they are now. If you want them, you are going to have to pay hobby prices for them. They are a luxury item too, so getting them is a choice. If you don't want to pay those prices, that's fine, and understandable, I am reluctant to do so too and have become much more picky about what I buy as singles. But there is a more affordable way to read all the Marvel Comics you want-subscribe to Marvel Unlimited for about $20 a month and you can read every new release 6 months after it comes out. But if you want to participate in the hobby market of individual single issues, then you have to pay to play in that market. Comics are no longer an impulse mass market item available everywhere. They haven't been for over 25 years in the US. They are a niche specialty product and are priced accordingly. Comparing their vale to cost with a mass market entertainment option is comparing apples to oranges. Comics books themselves are not a mass market entertainment form any longer (which is ironic considering how big a mass market entertainment form super-hero stories are right now). But that's the reality of it and the consequences of the choices made by the industry to cater to the hardcore fan and leave the mass market audience behind. Again, comics change. -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 15:41:24 GMT -5
Every word of that is valid. And you know that I respect your view. Sure wish I had Doctor Doom's time machine so I could go back in time and warn them not to turn it into a niche hobby.
So given the cold, hard facts you have shared, and I appreciate your input, isn't this the time for comics to return to standalone tales? Or at least fewer multi-issue arcs?
I actually wouldn't mind paying nearly four quid for a Cap comic that is wordy, has some action in, maybe a modern-day equivalent to the Bullpen Bulletins, and a letters page. Since they are going to cost what they cost, for all the pragmatic reasons you describe, could they not soften the blow a little and do away with this five-issue and six-issue BS? (I get that the argument, which you could articulate better than I could, would be about them not wanting to eradicate the trade paperback market). I mean, when even life-long fans like myself are turned off by a four-quid issue of "Captain America: The Talking Heads", shouldn't that be a wake-up call to the industry?
I mean, it's not even about the four quid. I think I'd pay six quid for a 70s comic (they tend to be about six quid in the bargain bins here) if it was something by a legendary artist. I'm not the most devout follower of Chris Claremont's X-Men, but when I did buy the pocketbooks a few years ago (I can't recall which issues were reprinted), it at least took me a long time to read it. It's never totally about the money. But I don't expect talking heads for four quid. Not that that is the only reason for me to give up Marvel comics.
They clearly are turning off and pissing off long-time readers like myself. I consciously have avoided "War of the Realms" because it seems impenetrable. But big events aside, I don't want the big events "infecting" other books. When I picked up a Spidey book a few years ago, I had zero interest in "Secret Empire tie-in" emblazoned somewhere on the cover. I don't care. It means nothing to me.
I think these big events and all this decompression is negatively affecting the industry in ways we don't always discuss. One I mentioned a while back was "cross-pollination" of villains. It was bloody awesome back in the day to see a villain show up in a book belonging to a hero he didn't usually fight, whether it was Red Skull showing up in a Spidey comic or Juggernaut appearing in a Thor issue. Not that it should ever be overdone, but when was the last time we had any sort of surprise guest villain? There may be all sorts of reasons why it doesn't happen, but I can't help thinking that decompression and big events are a barrier to it. Why would a Cap comic have Electro or Green Goblin show up when they are tied into six months' worth of "Multiverse Spider-War Armageddon End of the World Spider-Verse"? What chance is there of Dr. Octopus showing up in an X-Men comic when the X-Men are "locked down" for 6-12 months with an "X-Virus Apocalypse Multiverse Armageddon Death of Xavier" story?
It seems decompression and the big events are not good on many levels. And none of them feel special. When "The Lazarus Affair" (Batman #332-335) was reprinted in a UK Batman comic during the late 80s, it sure felt special. Prior to that, they'd reprinted standalone tales. After reprinting "The Lazarus Affair", they reverted to standalone tales. That made "The Lazarus Affair" akin to Christmas. It was special because it wasn't happening a lot. But how can one be interested in "War Of The Multiverse Spider-Verse" for 12 issues when you're just done reading "Spider-Man: Armageddon In The Multiverse's Realms" or whatever the hell event they have going on?
I think, and you would definitely contribute some thoughts on it, that if this forum came up with a Top Ten list of how the direct market/decompression/event fatigue has resulted in a diminishing readership, well we'd not run out of words!
|
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Jan 2, 2020 15:47:27 GMT -5
The core fans buy more ongoing and crossover event books, so that is what gets made. If pirate books or college romance books or anthologies of three panel humor strips were what sold best, we would see them dominate the market instead.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 15:53:25 GMT -5
Then the core fans, who are often the most vocal, need to do what I am doing now. I worry that my topic title is just an idiot letting off steam, but it's a genuine decision thought about over Christmas. For all the reasons one describes.
I'm not going to judge individuals. But I have known folk say things like, "What, another X-Men event?" And if I know them well, they tend to be the ones buying the variants and lapping it all up. Quite frankly, I find it depressing that despite the vocal behaviour of readers online, it still seems yet another "X-Men #1" or "Age of Apocalypse: The Return" dominates the sales charts (I realise Mr Vocal Comic Guy online might not be the same person actually buying the books).
Didn't Jim Shooter, about 3 years ago, in a blog entry, advocate Marvel returning to standalone tales?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 15:56:22 GMT -5
I think the monthly serialized comic is a dinosaur and changing the content/structure of it won't move sales one iota. No one is going to come back to that format that has left, and no one is going to start buying that format that hasn't been buying it since it was a growing concern decades ago. It's time for that format to be left behind. Where growth and potential sales are for comics right now is the standalone OGN in the YA market. DC has already moved into that format, not with their main line, but with a series of releases done by YA authors with comics artists targeted for that market to get a foothold there and it has been doing extremely well for them saleswise (again those books don't do that well in the direct hobby market, but do extremely well in the book trade outside of Diamond Distribution (These were the formerly labeled Ink/Zoom books now just called DC YA books).
This is the market where comics are seeing a lot of growth, to the point where more traditional book publishers have been starting or expanding their comics publishing divisions to bring OGNs to the book market. However, nobody from that sector is trying to get in on the periodical comic market because, well, its in the throes of entropy and is a dinosaur product nobody wants to carry to try to sell. Marvel however, has largely ignored this market, doubled down on the direct market and is doing everything it can to remain the biggest fish an a steadily shrinking small pond.
I've said this before and I will keep saying it. Make all the changes you want to periodical comics-change content, get rid of decompression, stop variant covers, stop events, stop #1s etc. whatever you want to do. It's all rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The periodical format is a dinosaur. It's time in the market is done. None of those changes will bring new readers to the table, none of it will bring back enough lapsed readers to make up for those you will lose because of those changes too (the people who like events, #1, variant covers, decompressed stories written for the trade or what have you). None of them will increase the revenue stream to make that format a growth market. Comics have to evolve with the market, that includes packaging and format. Until they do, they will remain a shrinking niche hobby product a few hundred thousand people buy.
-M
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jan 2, 2020 17:23:46 GMT -5
I pretty much stopped getting monthly Marvel series back with X-Men #175. After that, Classic-X-Men was the only book that I bought for more than a few issues (or was canceled quickly), apart from some mini's and one-shots. It was an easier way to get those great older (read: "good") stories, without skyrocketing collector prices. My buying was sporadic, in the 70s, but picked up in the early 80s, with more regular access and spending money (from various short-term jobs). However, I was more and more bored with most of both companies' lines, apart from specific books. Then, I started to see what the indies had to offer, which sustained me until Crisis helped launch a full on DC revival.
Marvel just lost me as the Shooter regime continued and into DeFalco. From there, it was sporadic. I picked up some things in trades (some of the Captain America stuff, for example) or for short periods. I got into the Waid & Garney Cap, then they pulled the rug out to hand it to Liefeld. I read the Busiek Perez Avengers, for about 6 months or so and it was fine; but, I was pretty well bored with standard superhero stuff, no matter how well done. By that point, I was mostly getting stuff with more unique hooks, like Starman. In between, it would be stuff like Marvels. After, it was mostly trades, though Marvel's trade book program has always sucked, with short print runs, inconsistent distribution and marketing, and shoddy binding (Marvel went through a period where their trades were notorious for loose covers).
Infinite Crisis was pretty well my dead end for much at DC, apart from the odd series or short-term project. It got to be easier to buy trades through work than follow monthlies in the LCS. I was getting so little I was going in about once a month. There were some months I was getting more nostalgia fanzines than I was new comics.
After a while, it was indies in book formats and collections of old material.
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Jan 2, 2020 22:56:58 GMT -5
I'm much the same: stopped being a regular Marvel reader sometime in the early 80s, so while I comment now and then on stuff I see or hear about online, I'm not really part of their audience and don't feel much connection with the current versions of their long-time ongoing characters.
For many years - most of the 80s and all of the 90s into the early 2000s - I pretty much forgot all about them as far whatever their current product happened to be at the time. But when I started getting into online comic book websites, so much of the conversation was centred around Marvel/DC that I started looking at online previews and skimming the odd comic at the LCS.
In a way, I almost wish I hadn't done that, because it led me into a lot of time-wasting arguments about stuff that, as I say, isn't aimed at me and doesn't really concern me when you get right down to it. But I think that's starting to fade away too, as I find myself less and less inclined to talk or even think about Marvel's latest version of, I dunno, Doctor Strange or whatever old favourite you care to mention.
Also, though online relationships or friendships are a funny thing, I still value having met a lot of interesting people over the last 15 years or more through such websites, so on the whole I'm glad I "went there", as they say.
|
|
