What put you off the Big Two?

[DrNewGod]

Every now and then, I'll buy a current DC or Marvel comic. But not often, and I haven't been a consistent buyer since the 1990s. Astro City was the last title I was following regularly, right up until it's demise last year.

I have both DC Universe and Marvel Unlimited apps, but I mainly use them for the back issues. I've been reading a select collection from each company from 1961 forward, month by month (I read all the titles I'm following on each app from the month of January in a given year, then cycle through February and so forth). I just entered the 1990s, which I suppose is why I'm thinking about this topic.

Even in spite of some of their more problematic shortcomings, I prefer the older stuff. For those of you that dropped The Big Two somewhere along the way, and especially those of you that still read other comics, what was it that made you give them up?

[Kirby101]

Easy answer for me. The endless Big Events that cut into every story in every book, with the obligatory "important death".

There is also a longer answer about the heroes from the silver and bronze age that I grew up reading and made me a collector no longer sinked with the ones in modern books.

FF Annual 1999 was a big moment for me.

[Otto Gruenwald]

Just nothing really interesting to read. It feels like all the criticisms Morrison made in Multiversity and Darkstars ring true. Under the Eisner formula, superhero comics are action+mystery+adventure. Big 2 comics have a lot of action (usually in the form of death and destruction) but rarely any mystery or adventure. The heroes fight against giant cosmic gods and the best they can hope for is survival, nothing more.

Think of it this way. DC has an entire multiverse to explore. So do what do they do with it? Have Perpetua murder a chunk of it. And then write a Dark Multiverse miniseries and DCCeased, and Injustice season 101, and Heroes in Crisis, and now the Batman who ROFLs is turning people into juggalos--because apparently the imagination of writers begins and ends with "horrible things happen to superheroes."

Multiversity was heartbreaking because so little has been done with it besides cameos.

[DrNewGod]

Easy answer for me. The endless Big Events that cut into every story in every book, with the obligatory "important death".

There is also a longer answer about the heroes from the silver and bronze age that I grew up reading and made me a collector no longer sinked with the ones in modern books.

FF Annual 1999 was a big moment for me.

Both of the Big Two making everything about The Next Event were my issue. You could see it surfacing as early as 1987. CoIEs was like the first hit of crack, but Legends at DC and Secret Wars at Marvel are where the addiction really took hold.

I suppose this is one of the reasons I found Astro City so refreshing. It was free of all that, and looked both back and forward on the comics I had loved, if thru other characters.

[chongjasmine]

I quite like reading comics from the big 2, actually.
But I dislike the endless events that occur in them.

[Zauriel]

A 80-year old continuity that was mismanaged, rebooted, revamped and retconned several times.

Today's characters are not the ones I grew up reading and loved years ago. Unworthy Thor? Hydra Cap? Comatose Iron Man? Hank Ultron Pym? Millionaire Peter Parker? Iceman out of the closet? A Schizophrenic Scarlet Witch? No-kill Hawkeye becoming the Punisher?

[babyblob]

All of those "Everything is going to change" events. And Dc rebooting their universe every few years it seems. I still read the big two but man is it hard at times.

[DanMad1977]

All of those "Everything is going to change" events. And Dc rebooting their universe every few years it seems. I still read the big two but man is it hard at times.

I still read the big two, but just 20% compared to what I did 10 years ago.

What put me off?:

Killing the collector in me with renumbering. It wasn't the same again looking for Fantastic Four vol. 3 issue 4 then it was looking for just issue 354 (or something)

Killing characters and bringing them back. There is no drama anymore when you know the villain doesn't stay dead for long.

Oversaturating characters: I was once the biggest Wolvie and Deadpool fan, until they got shoved in my mouth and went unkillable and whatnot. I became fed up, bored and canceled every title of these two. Then it happened with Avengers, X-Men and so on...

I love event books, but not tie ins into the other titles, that distracts the writer too much and the quality lowers dramatically.

Realizing there is no drama or shock value when characters have to live forever

[GOLGO 13]

1. Prices. Product not worth the asking price.

2. Woke-ness. Go peddle your propaganda all you want, I'm not having NONE of it. Get Woke - Go Broke.

3. Garbage art. That alone makes the product not worth it at any price.

[DrNewGod]

... Garbage art. That alone makes the product not worth it at any price.

Perhaps I lack aesthetic, but I also find most of the work by today's big time illustrators to be less interesting, less dynamic, and just less visually-appealing than even the middle-tier creators of 30 years ago and their predecessors.

[Scott Taylor]

What put me off Marvel was OMD. What put me off DC was ... nothing! They are perfect!

[trooper_thorn]

The constant resetting of the various characters and status quos.

Why follow a character if everything they do won't matter in about two years when there's another universal reboot? Why care about something when there will be no growth?

[GOLGO 13]

Perhaps I lack aesthetic, but I also find most of the work by today's big time illustrators to be less interesting, less dynamic, and just less visually-appealing than even the middle-tier creators of 30 years ago and their predecessors.

What puts me off is how much they've embraced this hyper simplistic manga-copy style that they think will lure younger readers in. Hard nope.

[BeastieRunner]

Event burn out.

[skyvolt2000]

1. Prices. Product not worth the asking price.

2. Woke-ness. Go peddle your propaganda all you want, I'm not having NONE of it. Get Woke - Go Broke.

3. Garbage art. That alone makes the product not worth it at any price.

Would this be books you read and not what certain factions would LIKE folks to believe?
And some of the book accused of that-when you read them none of what was claimed was there.
For some it seemed a book NOT starring a certain demo was propaganda. Funny many of those books had no issue selling as trades outside of comic book stores.
Just saying


1) Too many events

2) FLOODING the market with certain folks and using the excuse that they sell. Yet when certain OTHERS have sold-every excuse is made to NOT do more. 15 X-Men books starring the same 5 folks is not good business nor is 10 Batman books.

3) Writers-is it THAT hard to find a writer for guys like John Stewart, Booster Gold and others?

4) Too many failures to build up POC beyond Miles Morales, Panther & a few others. Especially under the X-Men banner that seem hostile to black males. If you are the Big Two-folks shouldn't haven't to other companies or read elseworld books to see better written POC.

5) Too many employees with agendas-why is a writer who does not care for Black Panther doing his book? Don't get me started on what was done to Wally West among others. Tim Drake does not make Batman look old-Batman having a TEEN son does.