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Post by berkley on Apr 21, 2023 14:48:31 GMT -5
I read comics for escapism and fun. The fact that they made movies about the comics is an added bonus and expansion of the medium that I like I watch sports (mainly hockey) for the competitive aspect and highs and lows of winning and losing with my favourite team. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine getting any of that from a comic that I would care about. Would it be retelling hockey history, if that is the sport I pick? For that, I would honestly rather read an autobiography or article. Or watch some old footage. I just cannot imagine taking a sport I love and making it the focus of the comic. And in terms of making it fantastical (a boy who could skate and shoot faster than anyone else), well that exists already and tends to happen every few decades...so again, not seeing how it would ever work to where I would be interested.
I agree that this is a problem which is why I think the few examples of sports-based fiction that have worked for me have used sports more as an interesting setting for a story and characters that catch the imagination in themselves rather than just because they happen to be sports-related. Mrp mentioned Essex County, which I think is a good example, and I can think of one novel off the top of my head, David Storey's This Sporting Life, that I found deeply involving even though I knew almost nothing about rugby at the time I read it in the mid-1980s. While both these books do contain depictions of fictional games and so on, and those scenes are some of the most enjoyable, the main source of suspense and drama in these stories isn't the sports competition itself. The tension doesn't come from wondering who's going to win the game, or whatever, it comes from the characters and their relationships and the circumstances they fnind themselves in, only part of which has to do with sports. So that's how I think a good sports comic might be able to avoid the pitfalls you mention.
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Post by arfetto on Apr 21, 2023 17:33:04 GMT -5
A good story is a good story regardless of genre. I would read a comic about fidget spinners in its entirety if it keeps me engaged.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 23, 2023 8:40:26 GMT -5
A good story is a good story regardless of genre. I would read a comic about fidget spinners in its entirety if it keeps me engaged. That's true, but when I read fiction, I want FICTION... things that can't happen in real like that make me think about what's possible, what society is doing right, or wrong, etc. I have no interest in what I refer to my wife to as 'Oprah books'... fictionalized stories about real life. If I want real life drama I can watch the news or talk to a friend or relative. Perhaps that's the disconnect. Pinkfloyd actually articulated things fantastically well.. there's just no tension (typically) in sports comics/movies. You know who you're supposed to root for and you know what's going to happen for the most part. Even if they surprise you, there's really no stake, no one is going down in history, or leaving, or staying for one more season, etc. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 23, 2023 11:39:53 GMT -5
Ok read #2 today...definitely better than the first one. Seems like a perfectly good high school manga if you're into that. The basketball bits felt alot better too.. clearly the author likes blocked shots alot and I'm not sure he knows about goal tending, but other wise it was decent. Even had a little history lesson in there which was nice. And I appreciate the captain is #33 and new new guy is #23 (Bird and Jordan).
Definitely gave me big time Grease vibes.
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Post by arfetto on Apr 23, 2023 12:00:07 GMT -5
Ok read #2 today...definitely better than the first one. Seems like a perfectly good high school manga if you're into that. The basketball bits felt alot better too.. clearly the author likes blocked shots alot and I'm not sure he knows about goal tending, but other wise it was decent. Even had a little history lesson in there which was nice. And I appreciate the captain is #33 and new new guy is #23 (Bird and Jordan). Definitely gave me big time Grease vibes. He knows about goal tending. |
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Post by commond on Apr 23, 2023 17:30:35 GMT -5
A good story is a good story regardless of genre. I would read a comic about fidget spinners in its entirety if it keeps me engaged. That's true, but when I read fiction, I want FICTION... things that can't happen in real like that make me think about what's possible, what society is doing right, or wrong, etc. I have no interest in what I refer to my wife to as 'Oprah books'... fictionalized stories about real life. If I want real life drama I can watch the news or talk to a friend or relative. Perhaps that's the disconnect. Pinkfloyd actually articulated things fantastically well.. there's just no tension (typically) in sports comics/movies. You know who you're supposed to root for and you know what's going to happen for the most part. Even if they surprise you, there's really no stake, no one is going down in history, or leaving, or staying for one more season, etc. Sports stories are about the characters and their journeys just like any other genre. They are pure fiction. I can understand people having different preferences, or saying they prefer to watch real sports, but to be dismissive about an entire genre because it doesn't sound like the type of thing you'd enjoy is part of the reason why the comic industry is lagging behind in the States. In order to thrive, it needs to produce books that we, the readers, might not necessarily enjoy, whether it's young adventure books, teen dramas, slice-of-life graphic novels, or, indeed, sports stories. It's essential to the comic industry's health that it appeals to a wider demographic. I was in the manga section of the bookstore yesterday looking for something for my daughter, and as ever, I was taken aback by the diversity of genres. Coincidentally, the Slam Dunk tankobans were at the counter, which is where they put the popular manga that they're worried will get nicked. I wasn't sure why Slam Dunk was trending so I looked it up and discovered there's a new movie written and directed by Takehiro Inoue that's done extremely well at the box office. I guess that's why those first graders I talked about are aware of Slam Dunk. I believe it's now the 13th highest grossing Japanese film of all-time (worldwide.) Not bad for a crappy sports comic. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 24, 2023 6:02:26 GMT -5
What I'm saying is I have no interest in fiction that resembles real life for the most part...historical fiction I'll read for the history content, but anything where the main thrust of the story is about some person, family, or group of people's lives holds no appeal for me at all.
I also have no interest in Ouran Host Club and such things.. this so far feels very much the same to me, only with Basketball as the club. The target audience there is definitely kids (junior high and high school) and I'm glad people write stuff for them, just not stuff I'm that interested in.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 25, 2023 9:06:28 GMT -5
read Vol. 3 today.. it was much more what I was expecting a manga sports themed comic to be like. Very slow pace, Training montage, etc. Its not terrible, but not really something that would ever be high on my list.
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Post by commond on Apr 26, 2023 19:20:16 GMT -5
The improvement in Inoue's art over the first four volumes is something to behold. The basketball scenes in Vol.4 are extremely well done, especially when you consider how difficult it is to convey movement in comics. This is what I was talking about when I mentioned how hard Inoue worked to convey what it feels like to be on the court playing the game. However, he also does an excellent job of splicing the on court action with the spectator's point of view. Really dynamic stuff. His growth as a cartoonist from Chapter 1-30 is astounding.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 26, 2023 20:08:56 GMT -5
I don't know when it is in relation to Slam Dunk time wise, but I definitely liked bits of Vagabond I've read... one of those series I mean to get back to some day.
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Post by commond on Apr 26, 2023 20:39:13 GMT -5
Inoue began working on Vagabond after he finished Slam Dunk, though he produced an online comic in between. Here’s hoping he makes good on his promise to finish vagabond, which has been on hiatus since 2015.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 27, 2023 6:17:15 GMT -5
Inoue began working on Vagabond after he finished Slam Dunk, though he produced an online comic in between. Here’s hoping he makes good on his promise to finish vagabond, which has been on hiatus since 2015. I'm not sure how much of it I read, I have the first couple I think, just remember it being good (was probably when it first came out). I didn't realize it was unfinished! |
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