Love Is in the Air
Recently, there have been some articles on various comic news sites about comics from the 80s: specifically, Strikeforce: Morituri and Spider-Ham. It wasn't really surprising to me that the comment sections after both articles featured scores of people proclaiming how great these were, how much they missed them, how much they'd love to see something new. The crazy thing is (well, it's not so crazy) is that these series sold terribly. As I mentioned before, I worked in a comic shop during the time these were published, and they were always at or near the worst sellers Marvel had.
I honestly don't remember either series' storyline, although I think I read both. They were not, to me, memorable in the least.
Now I'm not saying that they weren't good, but neither really made me think twice when they were cancelled.
But people are going crazy about them. (One person said he can now die happy that they had a Spider-Ham cover. Do I sound that silly when talking about my own hobby?) I wonder where were these people when it was being published 20 years ago? Were they collecting comics? And, if so, were they buying the series? Because not many people were.
I mention this because I wonder if there was any outrage when DC stopped publishing their romance books in the late 70s. Were there letters to the editor? Were there young girls weeping at the newsstand when the next Young Love failed to arrive? Even the most popular comics of the 60s and 70s only got around 50 letters to the editor each month; I can only imagine if, by the time the romance comics began to die, anyone even cared.
I think the one thing that I (and possibly you, the reader) take for granted, however, is that we've all been reading comics for a long time. In my case, more than 20 years.
Nobody who wrote, drew, or published comics in the 40s-60s ever thought that they were doing so for people who had been reading them for two decades. They didn't think they needed much continuity in their stories; they didn't think that a hero's origin or powers or sidekick need be there every month, because you probably weren't reading the title 5 years ago when these things were introduced in the first place.
Yes, there were numbers on the comics, and they certainly made it seem like they had been around for a while, but very few readers actually cared what happened before. And most didn't read them long enough for it to matter if stories were retold or reprinted. People didn't know the difference.
How times have changed. (I sound like an old man, don't I?)
If I write an article for Newsarama about romance comics, how many people do you think will write, "Oh man, romance comics! They were awesome! If they start publishing them again, I could die happy!"
I honestly don't remember either series' storyline, although I think I read both. They were not, to me, memorable in the least.
Now I'm not saying that they weren't good, but neither really made me think twice when they were cancelled.
But people are going crazy about them. (One person said he can now die happy that they had a Spider-Ham cover. Do I sound that silly when talking about my own hobby?) I wonder where were these people when it was being published 20 years ago? Were they collecting comics? And, if so, were they buying the series? Because not many people were.
I mention this because I wonder if there was any outrage when DC stopped publishing their romance books in the late 70s. Were there letters to the editor? Were there young girls weeping at the newsstand when the next Young Love failed to arrive? Even the most popular comics of the 60s and 70s only got around 50 letters to the editor each month; I can only imagine if, by the time the romance comics began to die, anyone even cared.
I think the one thing that I (and possibly you, the reader) take for granted, however, is that we've all been reading comics for a long time. In my case, more than 20 years.
Nobody who wrote, drew, or published comics in the 40s-60s ever thought that they were doing so for people who had been reading them for two decades. They didn't think they needed much continuity in their stories; they didn't think that a hero's origin or powers or sidekick need be there every month, because you probably weren't reading the title 5 years ago when these things were introduced in the first place.
Yes, there were numbers on the comics, and they certainly made it seem like they had been around for a while, but very few readers actually cared what happened before. And most didn't read them long enough for it to matter if stories were retold or reprinted. People didn't know the difference.
How times have changed. (I sound like an old man, don't I?)
If I write an article for Newsarama about romance comics, how many people do you think will write, "Oh man, romance comics! They were awesome! If they start publishing them again, I could die happy!"
posted by Raphe at Thursday, December 29, 2005
5 Comments:
True, a lot of people sound silly proclaiming love for books that one wonders if they even read.
I did read Strikeforce:Morituri, however, and loved it. To give some of these people credit, however, this was still a time that comics arrived a the grocery story spinner rack. Some issues might not ever make it - and if a series was cancelled, you didn't know it unless the book told you. As for any kind of fan power like you see today - who knew? I certainly had no concept that mere readers could resurrect a killed series at that point. Heck, if I didn't see it any more, I was more likely to think they just stopped delivering that series to my store/area (or as the 80's went on, it went direct market - did S:M do that?)
I would compare it to a movie that finds life in the DVD Market. Like Mallrats for example, it tanked in the box office, but does fine on DVD. The same thing seems to happen in back issue bins and quarter bins. Every once in a while you find a comic which you wouldn't have given a second look at on the shelf, but you buy it from the bin and enjoy it.
I think you're both right, but I wonder how far we can go with it. I guess the thing is, when Strikeforce: Morituri came out in the 80s, it was selling around 50k a month, terrible for the time. If Marvel could start that up again and find even half of that readership (whether through new people looking at it or from those fans who loved it in the past), it would be a sucess.
I don't remember the 80s, but SpiderHam sounds stupid. And they do have romance comics now. They may be called 'manga' or sometimes 'indie comics' but they are there :D
This whole thing reminds me of the hype surrounding the recent Moon Knight relaunch at Marvel. Everyone is so psyched to see the return of Moon Knight, but when did anyone ever actually like Moon Knight to begin with? Its like they wait just long enough for everyone to forget that they never cared in the first place.
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