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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2022 10:21:49 GMT -5
Sometimes in life, when something happens once - and only once - it is special. More special than it would have been had it been done more than once. That can apply to fiction, too.
Now, it’s great to see some things occur more than once. Had Amazing Fantasy #15 been the *only* Spider-Man story we were ever gonna get, well nice, but imagine what we’d have missed out on. At the same time, there are some things that are better when they only happen once.
In 2012, WWE presented WrestleMania XXVIII. It featured a match between John Cena and The Rock. The hype began a year prior - and the poster for that PPV presented it as a “once in a lifetime” match. And it was once in a lifetime - until the following year’s WrestleMania, where Cena and The Rock wrestled again. Fine, but it goes to show that no entertainment company - whether it be a publisher or wrestling promotion - can ever resist a cash cow. Money talks, I guess - even when creativity is a poor second. Cena/Rock should have remained that “once in a lifetime” match that it was originally presented as.
Comics are no different. I quite liked DC’s Metal storyline, but I had *zero* interest in seeing it revisited. It worked for me - once. Months, if not years, after that storyline, I got bored seeing ads for tie-ins, sequels, whatever they are called.
I like Watchmen, but I believe that it needed no further tales or exploration. Other people’s mileage varies, of course. But for me, that original comic was enough. I am not interested in sequels, prequels, tie-ins, etc. Others might. I don’t.
So, to the topic at hand: is there a comic story/series/character/concept that you wish could have remained “once in a lifetime”? Over to you.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2022 10:59:58 GMT -5
Many of those so-called "death of" issues.....too many of them keep coming back, except poor Uncle Ben.
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 18, 2022 11:00:18 GMT -5
Driver, what do you like more, wrestling or comics ?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2022 11:02:50 GMT -5
Driver, what do you like more, wrestling or comics ? I know it might sound like a cop-out, but I honestly could not choose between either, they’ve both given me 30+ years of enjoyment and entertainment. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 18, 2022 11:23:05 GMT -5
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 18, 2022 11:23:28 GMT -5
I am a big fan of Age of Apocalypse. I would venture to say it as at least my favorite X-Men story ever. I read the 10 year follow up that "carried over" from the final issue of the original AoA and "explained" (not that it needed to be explained) what happened after the final panel. Now the whole story ended well. There was nothing else to be said, as it well plotted. But being I enjoyed the original AoA, I was excited to see a follow up. I was largely disappointed and have only read it once more since it's original release. Since then there have been many revisits to that timeline that I have no interest in reading despite my liking of many of the characters redesign both in character and costume.
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Post by tarkintino on Nov 18, 2022 11:57:10 GMT -5
Many of those so-called "death of" issues.....too many of them keep coming back, except poor Uncle Ben. Wholeheartedly agree. No clones, alternate universe revivals or secret survival hidden from the hero.
At the top of that list is Bucky Barnes. His retconned death elevated him to the tragic young hero with all of the references, flashbacks and Captain America's neverending, deep angst over Bucky's death, but Marvel (and certain"writers") could not leave a great, running storyline alone. The Winter Soldier as an inspiration made one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's handful of good films, but that's where the Winter Soldier should have existed--anywhere other than the comics.
Norman Osborn also needed to remain dead as his gruesome comeuppance & the brutal conclusion to the Gwen Stacy murder. Instead, he was turned into Marvel's version of Lex Luthor, which was absurd.
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 18, 2022 12:32:10 GMT -5
I'm not a huge fan of the original Galactus story but he is definitely a character who was revisited waaay too often. And Thanos should never have reappeared after Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2.
Cei-U!
I summon the overexposure!
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 18, 2022 13:31:10 GMT -5
I'm not a huge fan of the original Galactus story but he is definitely a character who as revisiyed waaay too often. And Thanos should never have reappeared afte Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. Cei-U! I summon the overexposure! Thanos has been overused, but Galactus has been used sparingly over the years. |
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Post by tarkintino on Nov 18, 2022 13:52:41 GMT -5
I'm not a huge fan of the original Galactus story but he is definitely a character who as revisiyed waaay too often. And Thanos should never have reappeared afte Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. Cei-U! I summon the overexposure! Thanos has been overused, but Galactus has been used sparingly over the years. Thanos, the knock-off Darkseid. |
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Post by commond on Nov 18, 2022 20:09:26 GMT -5
I prefer to take a big picture approach. I'm a big fan of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, but there were people who didn't like what he did to Wein and Wrightson's creation. I like the Winter Soldier storyline a lot, and I think Thanos Quest is one of the best Marvel comics of the early 90s. On the other hand, I don't like Norman Osborn being alive, or Elektra, or Jean Grey, but I don't read a lot of those books. I'm sure there's a segment of the fanbase that is happy with those stories, and it's not like I'm going to go walking around shaking a fist at the sky because Norm Osborn's still alive. He was dead when I stopped reading Spider-Man, and he may as well still be dead for all I care.
You've got to try new things. However, trying new things can be hit or miss. Resurrecting older characters can be poorly done, but does that mean you shouldn't try it? I don't think it's realistic to expect writers, especially the ones who were fanboys, to leave the past alone. I mean, if you were to leave the past untouched, then Captain America shouldn't have returned in the Silver Age, and so on and so on. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some people will like it, others won't. I don't have a strong desire to read prequels or sequels to seminal work like The Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns, but if that work was brilliant then that would be a whole different story. We'd be singing it's praises like it was The Godfather II. More often than not, sequels are disappointing, but creators shouldn't be afraid to try.
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Post by badwolf on Nov 18, 2022 21:38:25 GMT -5
I didn't mind Frank Miller resurrecting Elektra, but I think she should have disappeared after that and not been seen again.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2022 8:18:53 GMT -5
I suppose I’d add Secret Wars to the list. I was the right age to enjoy it, and I did like the toys, but can’t say Secret Wars II made me enthusiastic - then or now.
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Post by tarkintino on Nov 19, 2022 11:27:57 GMT -5
I mean, if you were to leave the past untouched, then Captain America shouldn't have returned in the Silver Age, and so on and so on. The difference there is that unlike Osborn, the Golden Age Cap never had any sort of undeniably final ending--the comics were cancelled, Cap faded into obscurity with a whimper and Atlas continued on with their other titles. Osborn dying was the emotionally "satisfying", perfect end to one of comics' greatest arcs, and hero/villain storylines. Bringing him back trashed that all-important arc / character development for no justifiable reason at all, and again, he was turned into 5th rate Luthor, further downgrading a character who once had his own, unique identity. They should not be afraid to create new things, instead of trying to milk great stories and characters to bolster titles or a company. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 19, 2022 13:17:11 GMT -5
I don’t like Norman Osborne’s resurrection at all.
And they just make it worse. They were using him all across the Marvel Universe. Years ago, I was thinking about reading The Avengers again after a very long hiatus, so I was flipping through the latest issue at the comic shop ... and there was Norman Osborne! No thanks. His appearance in Agents of Atlas turned me off that title.
For a while, picking up any Marvel title was like Russian Roulette.
And to make matters even worse yet, they turned him into Marvel’s Lex Luthor, and used John Byrne’s boring businessman Lex as their model. Ugh!
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