Thinking About Writing In-Depth Comic Reviews

[Katatonia]

I've noticed online, and written that no one really reviews anything. I know there's a lot of guys who ask for money to make reviews as well. And, that's perfectly fine. If you put in the work, you deserve to be compensated for that said work. People like Riley has always done a great job, but Riley's no where to be seen. He comes and goes, but then again Riley's a busy man. There's other people like Peter Marinari I will say this straight, something about him feels more like he's trying too hard to make money on a dead platform than anything. As far as his reviews go, they're awfully inaccurate and lackluster and don't give you what you need. Making an hour long video just to describe something is time wasted. I'm sorry to say that. But I feel like I'm wasting my time looking at his videos. Just because someone reads a ton of comics, doesn't mean you know how to review them properly and accurately. Hardcover Comic Reviews, he does a good job, and I've always appreciated his work, Omnidog as well, I've enjoyed him for a super long time. Plus he's got a nice personality. Then we got Gem, Gem is a lot like me personality wise, I'd say we compliment each other extremely closely. However, Gem is a different breed of reviewer and such all together. Though, he's not much of a comic reviewer. He's more for entertainment. That's just being honest with everyone. But no one I know, just flat-out reviews anything as such. I'd compare reviewing comics, to actually translating a manga script, or even writing a comic script. It has to be spot-on, show every aspect of what's going on within said book, and convince people to actually wanna read it. Since no one has taken the initiative to actually do that, and go full length, and actually review a book for what it really is, other than something it's not. Also, Linkara doesn't count, cause he smashes on books more than anything. I get his gimmick, and how he is. But he's more like a comedy show than anything.

With all that said, I'm going to start doing full in-depth reviews in between translating manga volumes. I will say I love comics as much as I love manga, and I am a manga translator. As well as translated a multitude of French and Italian comics. I've also written many comics myself along with a few friends. That's on top of also proofreading comics for good friends of mine as well. So I would say I have a huge knowledge of comics/manga/international works. Of course, I would go into stuff no one's even dared to look at, or things that are pretty underground that you'd have to be reading for at least a decade to even know about. One thing I've always wanted to do was go into series and exploit them for all their worth, from writing to artwork and completely deconstruct how a person writes a story and see how well something like that can hold up today, being if it's from the Golden or Bronze Ages of comics. As well as international comics, I don't want to be held down by one style, I want to explore and widen the spectrum, since no one has done that. I'm going to see that I do. Also, it's not about suggesting comics to people. It's not about what's the newest thing on the shelf. It's about what's got staying power. What's written so brilliantly that it lasts decades and is super memorable. I'll say this right off the bat, I'm going to go after the most unheard of things and the most popular things. I'm going to dissect them both, I'm going to make comparisons and I'm going to give solid points as to why someone should check out that series, or if someone should literally stay away from that series.

In this time now, I've noticed not many people like comics, I've noticed a lot of things. I worked with a bunch of teenagers and dudes in their early 20's that didn't even know what a comic was, on top of watching a movie. Some kids used to tell me comics are for older people. Actually, no, comics are for everyone. People just got an awful misconception about them, cause the market's so saturated with godawful titles, that finding a good brick a mortar shop that actually has titles worth buying is impossible. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. I've seen kids buy comics just to see what they were. Some of them buy them for the art alone and don't actually read the dialogue. I've read comics, manga, and such my entire life. It's a big part of what I do today. When times were rough, comics always helped make things better. I will say, some comics are great to the point that they get cancelled before they can even have potential. And some of them are so awful, you wonder how something like that is still on the shelf of the local comic shop. Of course, I never buy anything in shop, unless it's OOP and they actually have what I'm looking for which is super rare. In these days now, you get everything online since that's the way of the future. But finding something good, is really hard. Cause there's cases where something so good sometimes ends up getting cancelled. But I will cover all of this and more, I've been looking to do this for a long time. And now's the time.

I'm going to start by doing text-reviews, I believe by doing text, people read it, understand it, and appreciate it more, than just showing off a massive collection of HC's in the background. A lot of people, always ask me to write reviews, I literally get spammed with people always telling me I should be a reviewer, based on my hardcore balls to the wall style of mentioning how I feel a certain series is. I guess I got so much inspiration from so many people, that I'm actually going to start doing that now. I used to be a huge contributor to Comic-Vine, I've written a lot of neat things and columns about certain series. A lot of the authors had gotten back to me, and told me they liked what I wrote. So like, I'm going to actually go full-steam into reviews, I'm also going to start writing a new comic series as well sometime down the road. I've always had an idea for something super crazy. I'm going to start from here, see how it goes and then, build it up and see where it takes me. I kinda feel like I should've started this when I was younger. But like, YouTube is a pretty dead community now. A lot of people are abandoning it cause it's fallen apart. And as cool as it is to see new reviews, they're overshadowed by copyright claims and all kinds of garbage that YouTube has on it. I don't understand how some kid buying a new car gets a million something views while the person who shows appreciation to something he loves and wants to share gets not even 100 views, that's lame.

I'll also take suggestions on what I should review. If it sparks my interest, I'll check it out. If it doesn't, I'll check it out and review it as I would anything else. Sometimes the most unattractive series is most likely one of the best series. Some writers are able to make comic gold, while others who try to capture what they did in the old days falter behind. Reading comics and finding a good comic is like finding a needle in a haystack. Some writers and artists work great together, while others don't. Some artists actually carry the writers works so although the writings lacking, the art makes up for it and vice-versa. Comics are a mixed bag of trying to find a balance between something great, and superior. Me personally, I love Alan Moore's works a lot. I consider him one of the greatest writers of all time. But I feel his element is deconstructing and making superhero's a lot different than what they are. That's literally his charm. Although, I appreciate his works now. They're nothing in comparison to what he used to do. I always wondered what would've happened if he wrote an entire Batman run, or even Captain America or even X-Men run. Those would have probably been some of the greatest runs in history. But all we could do is wonder, really. Frank Miller is good, but when he's in his element. Same thing with Grant Morrison. I won't say I like everything they've written cause they're a hit or a miss with me. But I'll cover all of this and more in the coming weeks.

[lvizzz]

YT is dying platform?! Okeyyyyyy, goodbyeeeeeee

[Dick Grayson]

Your posts are extremely difficult to read due to their lack of focus and rambling nature. If your planned reviews are anything like your board posts, you might consider working on that. I’m not sure if you’ve ever worked with an editor, but I would recommend maybe having some writer friends critique your work and help focus it. Just because you write a lot doesn’t mean that it is good, nor is every thought you have at any random moment worth putting into a piece of writing. It is better to express a thought well in 50 words than to use 5000 to say the same thing.

Just some thoughts from a former newspaper editor and freelance writer. I’m sure you have some good thoughts, I just wish I didn’t have to wade through a bunch of stray observations and tangents to find them.

[Katatonia]

Dick Grayson:

On a public forum, I like to speak my mind out, I mean I can lessen it entirely and get to the point. That's easy, but I like open my head up and let it all come out. Though, I'll lessen my posts going forward. With a review, it would be way different and more focused. I'd hit nothing but points and the pro's and con's of everything I'd review. I'd say medium to long reviews. Cause it's about breaking it all apart, from the reader, as well as the creators. My prospective will be from every angle. As far as working with an editor. I've worked with many from all over the world. I've translated a bunch of manga, and international comics 17 years and running. As well as do my own comic work with them. But I always go by the KISS rule when it comes to work (Keep it Simple Stupid).


Ivizzz:

I'm sure you know who PewDiePie is, and how he destroyed it for everyone with all that Antisemitism garbage. To begin with, YouTube has always been an avenue for people to make money if they got quality content. There's a lot of great dudes on there. And there's a lot of garbage on there as well. Jim Lee is a genius, but VZA is a complete duke ripping him off. YouTube is all about ripping people off, and making money off of their own stuff nowadays. Hence why Lee's on Twitch making money off of his hard work. But also posting the videos on YouTube to bring people on his live Twitch streams. Which is all YouTube is worth nowadays. Also, the Fair-Use Act is a complete joke. That means nothing, any company can still pull a copyright claim on you over anything. Including videogames and comics published by them. Just because you buy it and own it, doesn't mean you own the copyrights. The company who created it does, or the direct creator. I thought you knew this, it's common-sense.

[lvizzz]

I've never mentioned copyright claims, monetisation issues or celebrities. I said you are completely wrong saying YT is dying. It's pretty much television for people today, it has lots of problems but it doesn't mean it's less popular.

[GhostPirate]

Honestly... I agree with your synopsis but nothing else.

Comics are a dying form in no small part because of Watchmen. It opened up the potential of "mature" storytelling... which resulted in comics retreating from a medium based on escapism to one intent on gratifying an increasingly small subset of continuity obsessed fanboys. I mean, to be blunt, too many people hang onto the "realism" of Watchmen, which pretty much focuses on a giant naked blue god-like being. Yes, tres "realistic".

The problem, as I see it, is three-fold:

1) Watchmen, and to a lesser extent stories like DKR (not to mention a few other prominent stories), Swamp Thing, Sandman, etc, work because they exist outside the mainstream "reality" of their greater comic universes. Because...

2) The problem is that their "reality", within the context of the greater comic continuity, DOESN'T. WORK. In a Watchmen world, Batman should die every day. But yeah, they same people jizzing themselves over Watchmen would also loose their so called minds if "reality" meant the actual, permanent, death of a character like Batman.

3) As such, we have "reality" without the consequences of that reality (ironically, these are the same people that whine loudest about things like the MCU, but would whine louder still if their beloved characters were the ones to actual feel the consequences), and reboots to placate the fanboys when the writers do something they don't approve of.

As far as Moore:

1) I don't blame him/he has the right. Sorry, I'm in the "just because it's legal doesn't make it right/ see Stan Lee and Marvel v. Ditko/Kirby" camp. At some point it's up to companies to do the right thing and reward great creative minds, not hide behind lawyers and let the untalented reap the profits.

2) Moore is pretty much a genius, Miracleman >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >> the dumpster fire of clichéd, sadly overly popularized garbage known as the Killing Joke. Miracleman is Superman taken to the logical extreme, Killing Joke is the stripping of everything that made the Joker mysterious and unique into another boring "one bad day" trope. But hey! It's Batman and Joker, involves abuse of women and graphic content, so, ergo, it must be "great".

And finally... I can't stand Johns. As much as I want to support a fellow Detroiter/Michigander, he is the worst kind of fanboy-influenced retcon artist I've ever seen. The true strength of DC, prior to his influence, was their development of legacy over Marvel's choice of ever-sliding timeline. He, almost single-handedly, erased that, with stories almost Killing Joke-ian in their cliché-edness. The lengths and depths to which I despise what he has done to the origin of Barry Allen can't be measured, and riding the seeds planted by the aforementioned Moore's greatness to try to revive a perpetually bland and boring character made seemingly popular by grit and hefty doses of nostalgia (I mean, damn, I grew up on Hal Jordan stories, and the guy wouldn't be in my top 20 GLs, even in my tween years in the 80's) is just beyond disappointing, especially given what I felt was a solid overall run on JSA..

[Katatonia]

I will say, that Alan Moore's Watchmen, isn't the greatest series ever made. It's possibly the most played out. At the time, I get it did a lot of things comics would never do and it was daring. I would say, I actually enjoyed the movie over the comic, cause the movie made more sense of the comic. And both endings from the comic going into an alien invasion, was too outdated. Using a bomb, felt more natural. I still love the comic itself, it's a classic. But the movie was miles ahead. Same thing with V for Vendetta, the comic's final battle was awful. He gets capped and it's over, the way it was done in the movie made a lot more sense. I literally prefer the movie over the comic any day. The comics ending was so mediocre, how does V get taken out with a single bullet. I don't get that, if he's crazy and a good fighter, a single bullet wouldn't have taken him out. The fact that it was turned into a bloodbath in the movie was way better. The original work will always be a classic, but the movies made those 2 series a hell of a lot better.

When I read Captain Britain from Alan Moore, then Jamie Delano, I enjoyed it a lot. Captain Britain from start to finish was a marvelous series. Everything about it was just perfect. In many ways, it feels like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, due to how bizarre and strange the series really is. It had this really awesome twist to it, and exploited as much as it possibly could wizards and sorcery. I own the Omnibus of it sealed, but my friend let me check his out, I kinda feel Captain Britain would be a lot better in black and white, since that's how I originally read it out of the floppies. Seeing it in color, takes away that majestic dark feel of it. Cause if you wanna know dark, man, that series is extremely dark. Plus it was awesome Miracleman made an appearance. I thought that was the icing on the cake.

Miracleman is basically Superman on steroids. Alan Moore put a lot into it. And in my eyes, that's still one of my all time favorite series. I could read it over and over and never get sick of it. However, once Neil Gaiman took over, it started to suck badly. Moore should've done another Arc or two before he left it. Gaiman's version to me is pure artistic garbage. I don't care what kinda take he has on it. It sucks and it's downright trash. And the fact he made Miracleman gay, that was just like disgusting. He basically took what Alan Moore did and made a mockery of it. His only accomplishment is Sandman, everything else he's ever done is awfully bad. I love Sandman, but can't stomach anything else he's done. It's just not worth anyone's time. If you like it, cool, I'm happy for you.

Then there's good ol' Swamp Thing. If you really broke down everything Alan Moore did in his entire career, the pinnacle to everything he's ever done to this date would have to be Swamp Thing. Nothing he's done, before, or after that series, can capture how powerful it really was. Everything from the writing to the artwork, to how he broke down and deconstructed Alec Holland can't be duplicated. I would say that's better than the original Swamp thing. It's just too damn good, it's memorable and it makes you feel everything he wrote. I remember I seen an old interview when he said he would get into the character, and like be him when he was writing him. Alan Moore is one of the best writers in the world, quite possibly the best of the best. But his most treasured work amongst fans and everyone else, will always be his Swamp Thing.

As a kid, my favorite hero was Swamp Thing, I had the Glow in the Dark toy, I used to watch the live action show on USA Network and then the cartoon, growing up. I had the original game on NES and all of the comic's and I still have them all to this day. Swamp Thing, I could say was the first real hero, or whatever he was that I loved as a kid. Robocop, too. I had those metallic toys with the caps you put in the back and pulled the trigger so it looked like he was shooting his gun. I had a ton of those X-Factor toys, with the voice backpacks in the back. Cyclops, Magneto, etc. But I always liked Swamp Thing more, and I always thought he was a great character. Mark Millar's version, I totally didn't like at all. Brian K. Vaughn's I didn't like either. But I did like Scott Snyder's version, and respected that him and Jeff Lemire, did the whole Green and Red thing and paid a homage to both Alan Moore and Grant Morrison's takes on Animalman and Swamp Thing, which was amazing. Jeff Lemire's Animalman needs to be Omnibused, that series was perfect.