Ideas for the lantern corps in DCUC

[Cyber Bishop]

I have been thinking about this lately and I would love if they had one wave of DCUC devoted to the members of the different lantern corps

 

If I could choose it, this would be my lineup with the BAF

 

Red Lantern: Atrocitus

Green Lantern: Soranik Natu or Arisia Rrab

Blue Lantern: Saint Walker

Indigo Tribe: Indigo-1

Orange Lantern: Larfleeze

Star Sapphire: Carol Ferris

Black Lantern: Black Hand

 

BAF: Arkillo

[ARROW]

I just want to go on record as saying the whole concept of the multi-color Lantern Corps' is the stupidest thing ever dreamed up for a comic book.

 

But why?

If you have a green Lantern Corp, and can accept that inherently silly name, then why not other colours? After all, why is green such a preferential colour here? I think that tying in other colours of the spectrum to other emotional attributes is really clever, and the way they have gone about it even makes some sense. They have built and expanded a whole mythos out of something that started out quite cheezy.

[Wheeljack35]

I just want to go on record as saying the whole concept of the multi-color Lantern Corps' is the stupidest thing ever dreamed up for a comic book.

 

 

I don't,I think its a cool idea plus its been possibly been kicked around for a long time

[Opticon]

You're right! Forget Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, or Jon Stewart; it's time for a REAL hero! It's time for.....RAY PALMER, INDIGO LANTERN OF LOVE!!!!

Hey, its Compassion, not love. Get it right! @smilepunch@

[Cyber Bishop]

I just want to go on record as saying the whole concept of the multi-color Lantern Corps' is the stupidest thing ever dreamed up for a comic book.

 

And this is your opinion. Other opinions may and will vary.

 

Thanks.

[Xorr]

I don't care what color the Lanterns are, I'm just fed up with Green Lanterns and Batmans and Supermans. Give me the rest of the New Gods, Kobra, the rest of the JLA/JSA first! @grumpy@

[Superpowers1980]

I don't care what color the Lanterns are, I'm just fed up with Green Lanterns and Batmans and Supermans. Give me the rest of the New Gods, Kobra, the rest of the JLA/JSA first!

 

I agree, I want to see some New Gods myself.

 

I want Dr Bedlam, Glorious Godfrey and his sister and a High Father, Metron, and Takion.....and the all important YUGA KHAN

[Ganesha]

I have been thinking about this lately and I would love if they had one wave of DCUC devoted to the members of the different lantern corps

 

If I could choose it, this would be my lineup with the BAF

 

Red Lantern: Atrocitus

Green Lantern: Soranik Natu or Arisia Rrab

Blue Lantern: Saint Walker

Indigo Tribe: Indigo-1

Orange Lantern: Larfleeze

Star Sapphire: Carol Ferris

Black Lantern: Black Hand

 

BAF: Arkillo

 

Even if this wouldn't fly at retail; I would be game for a Matty Collector exclusive package like this. Would love a DCUC Atrocitus!

 

 

I just want to go on record as saying the whole concept of the multi-color Lantern Corps' is the stupidest thing ever dreamed up for a comic book.

 

Don't hate, taste the Lantern Corps rainbow!

 

DC really missed the mark in not getting some Blackest Night / Brightest Day Skittles marketing tie-ins.

 

Maybe for the movies.

[Xorr]

Superpowers1980 wrote:

 

I want Dr Bedlam, Glorious Godfrey and his sister and a High Father, Metron, and Takion.....and the all important YUGA KHAN

 

I'm most in want of Metron and Highfather, and then Black Racer, Infinity Man, Jezebel, Granny Goodness, Dr. Bedlam, Glorious Godfrey, and of course my favorite, Titan (perfect BAF). But Yuga Khan? I just see him as another of the uber-god, overpowered characters in DC's never-ending attempt at ultimate evil. Not a big fan of Takion either, or any of the more modern gods. I'd kill for Sargon though, and they could use his chair as the base for Metron's chair too!

[MasterJailer]

I just want to go on record as saying the whole concept of the multi-color Lantern Corps' is the stupidest thing ever dreamed up for a comic book.

 

 

I don't know if you're serious or just stirring things up, but I agree with this.

 

Not only does the concept of these multi-colored corps diminish the Green Lanterns, but they've been thrown at us at a ridiculous pace. The current Green Lantern title is somewhere around its fiftieth issue. The past twenty-five or so issues have ALL involved a corp of a certain color or another.

 

Initially, when the Sinestro Corps were introduced, I was very much on board. The Sinestro Corps were one of those ideas you wondered why no one had ever thought of before. The Sinestro Corp War was a little unweildy but it was much tighter than most of DC's overblown cross-overs. Unfortunately, the Sinestro Corp were followed up with the Alpha Lanterns, which were followed up by a SEVEN issue retelling of Hal's origin ( Somehow John Broome had managed to do it in SIX PAGES originally!) This overdone padding of the GL origin wasn't much of a break from variant Lanterns. It only set the stage for the Red Lantern story which immediately followed it. The Red Lanterns were followed by the Blue Lanterns, who were followed by that stupid Orange Lantern story (Man! Was THAT paper thin!) which led into this Black Lantern zombie mess.

 

Does this book not have an editor? Is there no one to say, "Hey! Y'know... why don't we do something different this issue? We've had Hal off on deserted planets fighting Lanterns of one color or another for TWENTY-plus issues, let's do a Doctor Polaris story or lets have him fight the Qwardians." We've had TWO years of monotony where one issue is barely distinguishable from the next.

 

Worst of all, these various lanterns are hopelessly redundant! Do we really need a corp for "hope" and one for "compassion?" Don't the Green Lanterns stand for those too? Do we really need separate corps for Greed and Rage? Shouldn't Sinestro cover those territories?

 

As someone who endured that decade of boredom known as the Kyle Rayner years, I'm grateful to have Hal back but I can't wait for this stupid Zombie war to be over and for the GL book to shift out of the neutral gear its been spinning its wheels in for the last two years!

[Ganesha]

Grumpy old comic fans, nobody's taking away your old comics.

 

You should be thankful DC is drumming up the most interest there's been for Green Lantern in ages and getting the name out there. Which ensures you get more comics, but you stated you hate the new stuff; so I guess your fandom begins and ends at the handful of issues you deem relevant.

 

Ah, if only we'd go back to the good old days of Hal trapping criminals in bubbles, boxes, or using a giant boxing glove to sock the baddies. @loll@

[MasterJailer]

 

You should be thankful DC is drumming up the most interest there's been for Green Lantern in ages and getting the name out there.

 

 

I'm more saddened that it took a mediocre zombie knock-off to do this and that the current comic reading generation is so bedazzled by it.

 

 

Ah, if only we'd go back to the good old days of Hal trapping criminals in bubbles, boxes, or using a giant boxing glove to sock the baddies.

 

It always has to be one or the other, eh?

 

I always run into this sort of limited retort when discussing how Batman has been reduced to a two-dimensional unlikable psychotic jerk. Contemporary Bat-fans usually counter with, "Oh! You just like the Adam West Batman!" They have no knowledge as to how well the character was handled during the seventies and very early eighties without being a childish parody or the unpleasant caricature he's become. Similarly, Green Lantern has a wide range in between the days he fought giant puppets and yellow monsters and the current trend of fighting the Crayola crayon box of lantern corps and of course, zombies.

[Ganesha]

I'm more saddened that it took a mediocre zombie knock-off to do this and that the current comic reading generation is so bedazzled by it.

 

That's the nutty thing about Blackest Night, everybody disregards it as a "zombie event"; but the Black Lanterns aren't here for brains.

 

I was enjoying Green Lantern Corps before this event kicked off, and honestly, it's a fun ride and I don't regret it like say - Civil War. Which was just a complete waste of both my time and money.

 

Funny how after the anti-event movement of the mid-90's early 2000's we're right back into crappy event comics to bolster sales every summer. Yet for my money BN is an event done right. A good writer and an amazing artist. Actually the creative teams on all the Lantern titles are pretty stellar. Mahnke / Gleason are both amazing.

 

It always has to be one or the other, eh?

 

This coming from the guy that posted:

As someone who endured that decade of boredom known as the Kyle Rayner years...

 

Yeah, Kyle wasn't your Green Lantern, but he is a GL to a generation of fans. I'm indifferent as I wasn't following GL at the time, but I knew of Kyle because of JLA and one thing creative teams did with Kyle is make him a fairly interesting character in terms of the scale of his abilities.

 

He actually used his ring to create neat and interesting constructs which is something that's always a little easy to jab at Hal Jordan and older GL titles for. Post Rayner the Lantern Corps power ring usage is a lot more impressive, so we need to give Rayner credit where it's due.

 

I always run into this sort of limited retort when discussing how Batman has been reduced to a two-dimensional unlikable psychotic jerk. Contemporary Bat-fans usually counter with, "Oh! You just like the Adam West Batman!" They have no knowledge as to how well the character was handled during the seventies and very early eighties without being a childish parody or the unpleasant caricature he's become.

 

Hey, I'm right there with you! Most every Batman story told these days is a bad love letter to Frank Miller's DKR. Especially that JLA "Tower of Babel" story which I know comic fans love, but really - pathologically antisocial Batman is just no fun.

 

Plus their argument of "he's just a man" flies right out the window the moment he has some cockamamie scheme to defeat every metahuman in the DCU. At that point, you alleged "Batfans" would be better off rooting for Wildcat.

 

He's just a guy, and he doesn't make a habit of going toe-to-toe with metahumans and beating them. That's just silly.

 

It was fun in DKR, because it was new. Now it's just bad fanfic.

 

Most of my favorite Bat stories were from the pages of World's Finest where they had the alternate (reverse color) Superman / Batman, Manbat, Superman, and Batman's sons and all sorts of craziness that was just a ton of fun to read. Probably a whole lot of stories kids today would find "stupid" or disposable, because now every comic has to be serialized literature that we read with extended pinkies and discuss at the hip place to hang out and drink overpriced coffees.

 

Similarly, Green Lantern has a wide range in between the days he fought giant puppets and yellow monsters and the current trend of fighting the Crayola crayon box of lantern corps and of course, zombies.

 

I'm open to suggestions.

 

As I've stated, I didn't really follow Green Lantern in my youth; but I do now thanks to the creative teams. If you want to suggest some story arcs / issues (preferably something that won't break the bank) I'm willing to be educated.

 

However I'm not going to poopoo what's going on currently as it's a ton of fun and part of the reason I read comics in my 30's. They're just going whole hog with crazy aliens, monsters, and super powers and it's fun to read.

[Xorr]

Ganesha wrote:

 

Grumpy old comic fans, nobody's taking away your old comics.

 

I'm a grumpy old comic fan. And proud of it!

 

You should be thankful DC is drumming up the most interest there's been for Green Lantern in ages and getting the name out there. Which ensures you get more comics, but you stated you hate the new stuff; so I guess your fandom begins and ends at the handful of issues you deem relevant.

 

Comics became irrelevant to me in about 1986, maybe a little earlier. The quality dropped out and never came back. And honestly, I couldn't care less if both major companies closed down tomorrow. They offer nothing I want anymore, anyway.

 

Ah, if only we'd go back to the good old days of Hal trapping criminals in bubbles, boxes, or using a giant boxing glove to sock the baddies.

 

Now that I could live with!

[Ganesha]

I'm a grumpy old comic fan. And proud of it!

 

Yeah, I noticed. You really couldn't make it anymore blatantly obvious.

 

Comics became irrelevant to me in about 1986, maybe a little earlier. The quality dropped out and never came back. And honestly, I couldn't care less if both major companies closed down tomorrow. They offer nothing I want anymore, anyway.

 

That's a shame. There's a lot of fun stuff out there, but like I said; nobody is going to take your comics away. Enjoy them.

 

Be thankful there's still a comic market given how neglected it is in the US. Hollywood strip mines it for movies. The video game industry strip mines it for characters and worlds. Yet the comic industry is still viewed as an entertainment ghetto primarily for children.

 

A comic fan will still catch flack for being a "nerd" despite The Dark Knight the third highest grossing movie of all time. Really America? Where do your priorities lay?

 

I dream of a day where comic books are a respected entertainment medium, like radio, television, movies, and fiction novels. Where creators are treated fairly, paid an honest wage, have benefits, and aren't outright stripped of their rights to ownership or a share of the profits from the characters they've created for these massive corporations. Where the guys who made the comics you loved so much don't need to fade into obscurity and poverty over the years and rely on charity groups like H.E.R.O. to assist them in their twilight years.

 

It's a damned shame. Comic books are so much older than video games, but in the thirty years games have been around; they've gone from a child's hobby to something young folks with lots of disposable income can get into; and are more socially acceptable and reaching a wider market than comics in America. Comic books = The Rodney Dangerfield of US entertainment mediums.

 

If you're not a fan anymore, then it's best you just go away. You've still got your fond memories and nobody can take them away.

 

The comic industry doesn't need folks that used to be in the pool bringing it down further. That's like picking on Terry Schiavo.

[Xorr]

Ganesha wrote:

 

Yeah, I noticed. You really couldn't make it anymore blatantly obvious.

 

You say that as if it's a bad thing.

 

That's a shame. There's a lot of fun stuff out there, but like I said; nobody is going to take your comics away. Enjoy them.

 

I do. It's just a shame that so many comic fans I know from my day have quit supporting modern comics due to all the crap they peddle.

 

Be thankful there's still a comic market given how neglected it is in the US. Hollywood strip mines it for movies. The video game industry strip mines it for characters and worlds. Yet the comic industry is still viewed as an entertainment ghetto primarily for children.

 

Again the comic market doesn't concern me. It's all garbage to me anyway.

 

I dream of a day where comic books are a respected entertainment medium, like radio, television, movies, and fiction novels. Where creators are treated fairly, paid an honest wage, have benefits, and aren't outright stripped of their rights to ownership or a share of the profits from the characters they've created for these massive corporations. Where the guys who made the comics you loved so much don't need to fade into obscurity and poverty over the years and rely on charity groups like H.E.R.O. to assist them in their twilight years.

 

Never gonna happen. Never. The glory days of comics are over. "Creators" these days (and I loathe calling them that because they're pathetic for the most part and doing nothing more than raping the creative genius of the real creators) are just mainly hacks for the most part. We have no more Kirbys or Lees or Adamses to look up to. The day of the professional in comics is over. Now it's all just drooling fanboys who can't write or draw their way out of a paper bag, doing the comics. The day of comics as an art form is over, now it's just marketing and stupidity.

 

It's a damned shame. Comic books are so much older than video games, but in the thirty years games have been around; they've gone from a child's hobby to something young folks with lots of disposable income can get into; and are more socially acceptable and reaching a wider market than comics in America. Comic books = The Rodney Dangerfield of US entertainment mediums.

 

Thirty years? Try about 100 years! The Platinum Age of comics started in 1897, and even the Golden Age (1939) is 70+ years old. Thirty years ago was the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Rust Age.

 

If you're not a fan anymore, then it's best you just go away. You've still got your fond memories and nobody can take them away.

 

Now that's just a silly thing to say. "Go away, you're not part of the modern club".

 

The comic industry doesn't need folks that used to be in the pool bringing it down further. That's like picking on Terry Schiavo.

 

It would be best to pull a Terry Schiavo on Marvel and DC. They've essentially destroyed themselves over the past 20 years or so.

[Ganesha]

I do. It's just a shame that so many comic fans I know from my day have quit supporting modern comics due to all the crap they peddle.

 

Yeah that is a shame.

 

I don't know, I have characters I enjoyed as a kid but have long since gone to pot. I just don't bother. Every time I try to go back, to say X-men, it's just a grim reminder that things aren't what they used to be. Though to his credit Joss Whedon gave it a good shot.

 

I just find it hard the believe you could look at everything available in Previews every month and not find one book that interests you.

 

Again the comic market doesn't concern me. It's all garbage to me anyway.

 

Doesn't change the fact it's an industry where people earn their living, and some folks aspire to work in some day. Yeah, let's just beats those schlubs down and make them get honest jobs at Wal-Mart.

 

Never gonna happen. Never. The glory days of comics are over. "Creators" these days (and I loathe calling them that because they're pathetic for the most part and doing nothing more than raping the creative genius of the real creators) are just mainly hacks for the most part. We have no more Kirbys or Lees or Adamses to look up to. The day of the professional in comics is over. Now it's all just drooling fanboys who can't write or draw their way out of a paper bag, doing the comics. The day of comics as an art form is over, now it's just marketing and stupidity.

 

I tend to agree, especially on the art end. A lot of hot shots get in tracing a popular style, but have zero storytelling chops. Can't draw anything that isn't a splash page. Or anything that's actually important to making a good readable comic book.

 

It's getting better, inch by inch. Maybe not as fast as I'd prefer; but change is happening. Independent guys are getting movies made, despite quality, and making some decent bank.

 

Thirty years? Try about 100 years! The Platinum Age of comics started in 1897, and even the Golden Age (1939) is 70+ years old. Thirty years ago was the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Rust Age.

 

I won't bust on your reading comprehension since you're an old fart (), but just to clarify what I originally typed:

 

It's a damned shame. Comic books are so much older than video games, but in the thirty years games have been around; they've gone from a child's hobby to something young folks with lots of disposable income can get into; and are more socially acceptable and reaching a wider market than comics in America. Comic books = The Rodney Dangerfield of US entertainment mediums.

 

Was saying "comics have been around much longer than video games, but in 30 years video games have reached a market comics failed to." I won't get all Scott McCloud here and point out hieroglyphs and other pictogram forms of prehistoric communication and art; even though they do technically count.

 

Now that's just a silly thing to say. "Go away, you're not part of the modern club".

 

No more silly than grousing about "the good old days" and then composing long winded messages about how Hollywood stinks because it can't cram several hundred issues worth of history into two hours.

 

It would be best to pull a Terry Schiavo on Marvel and DC. They've essentially destroyed themselves over the past 20 years or so.

 

[Xorr]

Ganesh wrote:

 

I don't know, I have characters I enjoyed as a kid but have long since gone to pot. I just don't bother. Every time I try to go back, to say X-men, it's just a grim reminder that things aren't what they used to be.

 

Yeah, there's no going back. After the Bronze Age (1970-1979), I've come up with my own categories for comic ages. 1980-1983 was the Rust Age. It's when comics began to tarnish badly. Most of the great runs were over (Perez/Engelhart/Shooter on Avengers, Byrne/Austin/Claremont on Xmen, etc). Very few great runs came out after this age, and many of them ended here. 1984-1985 I call the Doom Age because comics were doomed by those years. The company-wide crossover events such as Secret Wars and Crisis On Infinite Earths happened. Retcons were becoming the rage, and everything shifter from selling by quality to selling by marketing. These were the years that put the first bullet in comics. 1986-1989 I call the Last Gasp Age, because comics of quality were drawing their last breaths. I was hardly reading any Marvel or DC by this time. Scout by Eclipse, American Flagg, and Jon Sable Freelance were my main titles. Simonson's run on Thor ended here, and with that most of my interest in Marvel. I call 1990-1999 the Gimmick Age because we got slammed with stupid crap like issue #0, issue #1/2, issue #1,000,000 (on a new title yet!), foil covers, reboots, and all sorts of utterly idiotic crap that appealed only to the brain dead. The art reeked, we had 3 variants of the Infinity Gauntlet fiasco, etc. Major retcons destroyed characters forever. This was the death-knell of good comics. I call 2000-2010 the Sh!t Age because almost everything I see is good only as toilet paper (if highly overpriced toilet paper).

 

I just find it hard the believe you could look at everything available in Previews every month and not find one book that interests you.

 

Nothing of quality there. The art mainly sucks, the stories reek, the characters are warped. It's like reading a poorly designed remake of classics.

 

Doesn't change the fact it's an industry where people earn their living, and some folks aspire to work in some day. Yeah, let's just beats those schlubs down and make them get honest jobs at Wal-Mart.

 

I'm one of those schlubs who would have written for comics, but by the time I was old enough, comics were dying. Doesn't mean they need to work at Walmart. Find a good career like I did.

 

I tend to agree, especially on the art end. A lot of hot shots get in tracing a popular style, but have zero storytelling chops. Can't draw anything that isn't a splash page. Or anything that's actually important to making a good readable comic book.

 

Bingo. And that stupid anime style, or the computer-drawings. It all sucks. And no, they can't tell a story. It's just like their tv and advertising and general attention span. Quick, faux-dramatic sound bites and visual bites, saying nothing at all. And they think it's "cool". I think it's pathetic.

 

I won't bust on your reading comprehension since you're an old fart (), but just to clarify what I originally typed

 

 

It's not my reading comprehension, it's my eyes, I swear it is!

 

Was saying "comics have been around much longer than video games, but in 30 years video games have reached a market comics failed to." I won't get all Scott McCloud here and point out hieroglyphs and other pictogram forms of prehistoric communication and art; even though they do technically count.

 

Ah, I see. I wasn't sure about that, but now it makes sense. I only had 4 hours of sleep last night. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

 

No more silly than grousing about "the good old days" and then composing long winded messages about how Hollywood stinks because it can't cram several hundred issues worth of history into two hours.

 

Actually, my problem is that they try to cram too many issues into a movie, not too little. The Spiderman movie ruined the greatest Spiderman story ever told. They crammed in too much, too soon.

 

On a side note, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything since I lost my comic collection I had as a kid and I'm currently rebuilding it. But there are literally tens of thousands of Marvel, DC, Atlas, Dell, Charlton, Red Circle, Archie, Harvey, Disney, and other comics I need to re-build, not to mention the thousands and thousands I never had as a kid. I'll never finish in this lifetime, so I don't need modern comics for any reason.

[ARROW]

I'm one of those schlubs who would have written for comics, but by the time I was old enough, comics were dying. Doesn't mean they need to work at Walmart. Find a good career like I did.

 

I've dabbled working in comics over the years, had some work in self-published, small-press and mainstream books. I've spent the greater bulk of my career in the animation field, doing storyboards; comics' semi-distant cousins.

I have kept tabs on the industry and the product since the late 1970's.

The only thing I disagree with is that today's product is quite a bit better than the product of the past.

Production values are far better, writing is far better in almost all respects, and visual storytelling is as strong than its ever been. As a total package, there's more visually appealing comics on the stands these days than ever, and as much as I love and respect the old-guard.....some of these new kids can draw rings around them in appealing drawing.

 

You need to have more raw talent today, bring much more to your game to make it in comics, moreso that in years past. Its a tough, tough gig.

[Xorr]

Arrow wrote:

 

The only thing I disagree with is that today's product is quite a bit better than the product of the past.

 

You gotta be kidding me!

 

Production values are far better, writing is far better in almost all respects, and visual storytelling is as strong than its ever been.

 

I can agree with the first, in that we have better paper, better ink, better printing process. But better writing? In what universe? It's all derivative crap now, often with bizarre political/social slants of the weird and uninformed writers injected into the stories. Visual storytelling? Hell no! We have no Alex Toths or Gil Kanes or Jack Kirbys these days. There is very little storytelling these days. Most stuff I see is just visual sound bites saying nothing. Or on the other end of the spectrum, tediously slow storytelling where the artist has to beat you over the head with every tiny movement. No way.

 

As a total package, there's more visually appealing comics on the stands these days than ever, and as much as I love and respect the old-guard.....some of these new kids can draw rings around them in appealing drawing.

 

Ha! Not sure what universe your comics come from, but in this one there are no Jack Kirbys, Neal Adamses, Gil Kanes, or John Buscemas around these days. If there are any, it's a very tiny number and almost an aberration, not the norm. Most of these "new kids" can't even do proper anatomy, let alone come near the greats of the old days. And they all have a similar style, they tend to copy stuff. Few if any of them learned how to draw the proper way, the way the old pros did.

 

You need to have more raw talent today, bring much more to your game to make it in comics, moreso that in years past. Its a tough, tough gig.

 

Oh please, give me a break!

[Ganesha]

Nothing of quality there. The art mainly sucks, the stories reek, the characters are warped. It's like reading a poorly designed remake of classics.

 

Ehhhhh that's a tough call man. There's a ton of stuff coming out every month, or regularly enough. I think you're just playing the grumpy old man card here.

 

I'm one of those schlubs who would have written for comics, but by the time I was old enough, comics were dying. Doesn't mean they need to work at Walmart. Find a good career like I did.

 

You're never too old, although it helps to start young and build the aptitude and skills for it.

 

I've given up hope of making comics for a living, but crapping out something that would entertain me here and there wouldn't be so bad now that there's the Internet and affordable on demand printing.

 

Actually, my problem is that they try to cram too many issues into a movie, not too little. The Spiderman movie ruined the greatest Spiderman story ever told. They crammed in too much, too soon.

 

I was disappointed with Spiderman as a Sam Raimi movie. Then disappointed by the movie itself.

 

I'm tired of celebrities getting cast who don't want to play the character. Keep the mask on in the fight scenes for crying out loud. Not saying Peter or others didn't get the masks damaged in the comics; but it was rare and generally a pretty big deal.

 

It happens so much in the Tobey Maguire-Man movies it makes you question the point of a secret identity in the first place?

 

On a side note, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything since I lost my comic collection I had as a kid and I'm currently rebuilding it. But there are literally tens of thousands of Marvel, DC, Atlas, Dell, Charlton, Red Circle, Archie, Harvey, Disney, and other comics I need to re-build, not to mention the thousands and thousands I never had as a kid. I'll never finish in this lifetime, so I don't need modern comics for any reason.

 

How did you lose the collection? Flood, fire, or wrath of mom? To think of all the comics my mother threw out or made me throw out as a kid. . .

 

I've dabbled working in comics over the years, had some work in self-published, small-press and mainstream books. I've spent the greater bulk of my career in the animation field, doing storyboards; comics' semi-distant cousins.

I have kept tabs on the industry and the product since the late 1970's.

The only thing I disagree with is that today's product is quite a bit better than the product of the past.

Production values are far better, writing is far better in almost all respects, and visual storytelling is as strong than its ever been. As a total package, there's more visually appealing comics on the stands these days than ever, and as much as I love and respect the old-guard.....some of these new kids can draw rings around them in appealing drawing.

 

You need to have more raw talent today, bring much more to your game to make it in comics, moreso that in years past. Its a tough, tough gig.

 

To be fair, there's also a fair share of nepotism.

 

Some companies are just notorious for putting out poorly illustrated comics, but polishing these turds with a generous heaping of digital coloring / rendering. Computer coloring isn't a bad thing in itself, some is actually quite nice (Paul Mounts is amazing), but it's definitely the new bad inker in terms of ruining a book.

 

Garish or overzealous computer coloring is an easy way to completely ruin a page. Especially if you like a particular artists work, and some nutter goes in there and covers all the details and such with color holds or gross over rendering of color and whatnot. Another thing that gets on my last nerve is really DARK coloring. I know it's shooting for a cinematic mood; but when I can't clearly make out things on the page, could we please crank it up just a little please?

 

I suspect it's just tough to get in because the market is shrinking and there's already a surplus of talent. Then there are established guys who can produce great work Mark Texiera comes to mind, who can't land a solid gig anymore. I asked him if he was going to be working on anything in the future, and he just seemed annoyed at the run around he was getting by a certain company.

[MasterJailer]

I'm more saddened that it took a mediocre zombie knock-off to do this and that the current comic reading generation is so bedazzled by it.

 

That's the nutty thing about Blackest Night, everybody disregards it as a "zombie event"; but the Black Lanterns aren't here for brains.

 

 

 

The brain thing?! Are you serious with this? Does this really make a difference? Should this stupid brain factor make me go, "Aha! You're right! DC's monstrous rotted flesh versions of their super heroes are COMPLETELY different from Marvel's monstrous rotted flesh versions of their super heroes! It's a totally fresh idea!"

 

 

Funny how after the anti-event movement of the mid-90's early 2000's we're right back into crappy event comics to bolster sales every summer. Yet for my money BN is an event done right. A good writer and an amazing artist.

 

 

The anti-event movement never went away because the events never went away. Sadly, given the pitiful sales of most comics, these cheap stunts continue to pump up their pathetic numbers.

 

[

It always has to be one or the other, eh?

 

This coming from the guy that posted:

As someone who endured that decade of boredom known as the Kyle Rayner years...

 

 

Yes. I did post that and it has nothing to do with the point of my other comment

 

 

 

Similarly, Green Lantern has a wide range in between the days he fought giant puppets and yellow monsters and the current trend of fighting the Crayola crayon box of lantern corps and of course, zombies.

 

I'm open to suggestions.

 

As I've stated, I didn't really follow Green Lantern in my youth; but I do now thanks to the creative teams. If you want to suggest some story arcs / issues (preferably something that won't break the bank) I'm willing to be educated.

 

 

Read any Green Lantern from 1959 until 1986. It was all over after DC put a gun to their own head in '86. If that's too broad focus on the issues between ca. 130 and ca.175. Not only do you have some solid super-hero entertainment written back when writers could still write suer-heroes but you also get a bunch of beautiful covers by the great George Perez.

[MasterJailer]

 

Comics became irrelevant to me in about 1986, maybe a little earlier. The quality dropped out and never came back. And honestly, I couldn't care less if both major companies closed down tomorrow. They offer nothing I want anymore, anyway.

 

 

 

It's sad but true.

 

Most comics today read like poor, poor fan fiction scribbled out by bad wannabe writers who've missed the point of the characters they're writing. Even more dire though is the fact that editors have utterly abandoned their responsibilities and refuse to corral their talent and shoot down a bad idea.

[ARROW]

To be fair, there's also a fair share of nepotism.

 

Some companies are just notorious for putting out poorly illustrated comics, but polishing these turds with a generous heaping of digital coloring / rendering. Computer coloring isn't a bad thing in itself, some is actually quite nice (Paul Mounts is amazing), but it's definitely the new bad inker in terms of ruining a book.

 

Garish or overzealous computer coloring is an easy way to completely ruin a page. Especially if you like a particular artists work, and some nutter goes in there and covers all the details and such with color holds or gross over rendering of color and whatnot. Another thing that gets on my last nerve is really DARK coloring. I know it's shooting for a cinematic mood; but when I can't clearly make out things on the page, could we please crank it up just a little please?

 

No disagreement there. Nepotism has been a trait of western comics production for.....well, decades.

Computer colouring is an amazing tool, albeit when done right. One of the books I've looked at recently relates directly to this topic: Darkest Night.

WVery lacklustre colouring for such a high-profile book. To contrast; the three issues of SIEGE thus far have been clean, clear and very easy on the eyes. Could not be a starker contrast in production quality that these two titles.

 

I think comics have truly been weaned off the old 4-colour(64) process, in favour of the digital palettes, and have come off better for them. Its allowed artists to explore a more painterly approach, and it sometimes works--and sometimes not. I think when they take a cleaner spin on the colouring, it supplies excellent volume and depth, and really enhances the storytelling. Some of the panels in this week's issue of SIEGE ( hint, they involve the Sentry)have amazing mood to them--something that cannot be accomplished with older colouring methods.

 

But lately, they have been shoring up weaker art. Bryan Hitch is an excellent artist, but his recent Fantastic Four work was very rough. What saved it was the colouring--and that's as it should be, in such circumstances. Comics should, by and large, be a team effort production--each supporting the other, and the weaker links in the chain supported by the stronger work of the other talent.

Though he was my all-time favourite artist years ago, I can do see how much John Byrne was supported by the inks of Terry Austin on those old X-men jobs. The synergy was needed to make that work then, just as its needed ( and displayed) in so many books today.

[ARROW]

Most comics today read like poor, poor fan fiction scribbled out by bad wannabe writers who've missed the point of the characters they're writing. Even more dire though is the fact that editors have utterly abandoned their responsibilities and refuse to corral their talent and shoot down a bad idea.

 

Since when have comics ever been bereft of bad ideas?? Bad ideas are perhaps the only constant tradition of comics since their inception.