Is there a cut-off period where you're no longer interested in DC Comics

[iron chimp]

Mine might sound a bit random but adverts always end up driving me away for a while. Im paying a premium to read the story in singles but you insist on interrupting my enjoyment every 4 pages to tell me about a statue or a tv show or something. It makes the books feel cheap and i feel like a mug when i could just read the trade uninterrupted for less money.

Put the adverts in the back with some sketches or a letters page - its not hard.

[DrNewGod]

Mine might sound a bit random but adverts always end up driving me away for a while. Im paying a premium to read the story in singles but you insist on interrupting my enjoyment every 4 pages to tell me about a statue or a tv show or something. It makes the books feel cheap and i feel like a mug when i could just read the trade uninterrupted for less money.

Put the adverts in the back with some sketches or a letters page - its not hard.

I get what you're saying. Nonetheless, that is guaranteed recipe for making advertisers (who are actually the profit-generating component of any media firm) drop you like a blind date that mentions they have syphilis.

[ducklord]

The New 52 was an amazingly convenient jumping off point.

I had newborn kids, and really couldn't justify either the space or the money of regularly picking up comics any more. Combined with an editorial vision that seemed tailor-made to drive me away (which, in an effort to keep things from going hyper-negative, I won't relitigate here), it was a perfect time for me to simply walk away from my hobby of 35 years.

I have since come back in drips and drabs. A Multiversity here, a Jimmy Olsen there. The mainline continuity of DC, even as it inches back towards familiar territory, still feels like a hollowed-out shell to me most of the time. And so many of the stories are just plain horrible. Maybe they always were, and I was too deep into my fandom to care. But the New 52 kicked me out of the house, and I'll likely never be any more than a visitor again.

[Stanlos]

I realize this is a very negative thread subject, but is there an event, character death, crisis, reboot, or just a plain storyline ending where you said 'that's it, I'm done!!!!' in DC Comics history?

For me, Flashpoint onward has been an Absolute No Zone.

[DragonPiece]

These types or threads really do need to stop.

If you arent reading dc, or think the last 10 years of comics have sucked... then you really do need to find a new hobby and a new place to hang, rather then just constantly moaning about how bad modern dc comics are...

Like what are you all gaining by constantly making these depressing threads about how all things dc sucks?

Focus on what you do like and maybe post more about that...

Critizism can exist but if it's all cristism all the time in all these threads its pretty annoying...

I mean if you were a huge twilight fan, and suddenly people essentially trolled the twilight forums, isnt that kinda lame. Let the teenie boppers enjoy twilight, and let the droves of fans excited about modern dc books enjoy dc...

Go find something fun to do and stop hanging around here just to bring everyone down.

To a lesser extent, I'm going to cosign this. Didn't there used to be a general DC negativity thread for people to vent and it could be contained to one thread? All this does it make actual readers of these books unmotivated to keep coming here to see people trashing books they read.

[Dr. Skeleton]

Between Batman "dying" twice during Final Crisis and the New 52.

[Menacer]

To a lesser extent, I'm going to cosign this. Didn't there used to be a general DC negativity thread for people to vent and it could be contained to one thread? All this does it make actual readers of these books unmotivated to keep coming here to see people trashing books they read.

Yah exactly...people arent really keying into how this weekly or monthly behavior comes off as mild trolling.

Picture this.

Its 1990, Im 5 and Im watching all of the saturday morning cartoons... by 1999 im 14 and Ive spent a decade watching saturday morning cartoons...

Batman tas, spiderman, xmen, pinky and the brain, animaniacs, freakaziod, looney toons, bobbies world, louis world, so on and so on...

So eventually I stopped watching cartoons and the new stuff just all seems to pale in comparison to the "good ol days"

Teletoon, ytv, fox kids, etc etc.. if i look up modern cartoons the vast majority I cant engage with... I gave up on kids cartoons...


Dont you think it would come off as a bit dickish of me to roam cartoon forums and post about how the new shows just suck and it was the good ol days back in the 90s when shows were of quality.

And to repost. And post again and again... and again..


Im sorry... 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago... you need to let go. Get a new interest and drop the constant need to post that flashpoint ruined dc, new 52 sucked, blah blah blah..


Your a vocal minority... but this this group needs there own section or forum or thread if they wanna rehash the same old same old...


I think the moderators really need to created a dedicated area so weekly threads stop popping up and threads do NOT get hijacked by the same old. New52 to sucks or 30 years ago was when comics were good...

[BohemiaDrinker]

Yah exactly...people arent really keying into how this weekly or monthly behavior comes off as mild trolling.

Okay, I'm gonna have to chime in on this (but I'm really busy of late) so that's my contribution to this point, and hopefully it can be used to whoever on either camp to assess their behaviours, but probably won't be back here soon.

I don't think anyone needs to "find a new hobby". People relate differently to their hobbies, their level of investment varies and their interests do as well. Some people want closed off stories and some want a cohesive continuity (like myself). Some people are attached t characters and some are not. Some care about the history of the medium, some couldn't give a rat's ass. Some are really deep in the back office politics (again, guilty as charged), some couldn't name an editor with a gun to their heads. Some (not many for all accounts) love the current stuff, some hate it, some are indifferent to it.

Now, I've been in these boards for over ten years now (I think) and have been to many other places (that mostly imploded) before that. I was all for the New 52 when it was announced (I believed a reboot was a good thing, as I do again now) and yet hated it when it coalesced int what it was. I complained a lot here, and I do mean A LOT during certain periods, as I have been open and maybe even hopeful in others (as I am now... future has potential).

BUT, I have been told all this in many forms before, some more polite than others: "Get a new hobby", "get a life", "you just like being negative", "DC knows best", "I hope your fanboy head explodes", and it never mattered if what I was bringing to the table were facts, if my predictions were proven right (most of them were, ask some good timers with a good memory) and what not. What I can say is that these posts always, no exceptions, tend to hijack threads, make people feel antagonized and turn discussions into finger-pointing. They end up as more light-trolling than what they're trying to prevent (when it's the case, like it seems to be here. Some people are just uncool, though.) Just look at this very thread: mostly polite and elaborate responses to the topic at hand.

At the end of the day, someone who follows a character for some 20 or 30 or 50 years has all the right to complain about it when he is shelved or misused, as much as the one who likes that shelving has the right to celebrate it. (God knows I didn't miss Jordan in the 90s. But his fans do have a point). No fan is superior, and no POV more valid than others. Trying to dictate how discussions should be held, specially around a hobby that people do care so passionately about is just not cool man, and say this with no ill will towards you. Some times things do get out of hand, yes. But mods here are reasonable and efficient; other than that, we should just let people have their takes if they are not breaking any rules.

Hope it's some food for thought, signing out.

[brandnewfan]

These types or threads really do need to stop.

If you arent reading dc, or think the last 10 years of comics have sucked... then you really do need to find a new hobby and a new place to hang, rather then just constantly moaning about how bad modern dc comics are...

Like what are you all gaining by constantly making these depressing threads about how all things dc sucks?

Focus on what you do like and maybe post more about that...

Critizism can exist but if it's all cristism all the time in all these threads its pretty annoying...

I mean if you were a huge twilight fan, and suddenly people essentially trolled the twilight forums, isnt that kinda lame. Let the teenie boppers enjoy twilight, and let the droves of fans excited about modern dc books enjoy dc...

Go find something fun to do and stop hanging around here just to bring everyone down.

Nah.

One can be interested in the subject matter yet quit reading it for a multitude of reasons. In my case, that reason is dissatisfaction with the direction DC is moving their books and characters. Yet I am still interested in the characters.

[The Darknight Detective]

To a lesser extent, I'm going to cosign this. Didn't there used to be a general DC negativity thread for people to vent and it could be contained to one thread? All this does it make actual readers of these books unmotivated to keep coming here to see people trashing books they read.

There is and I was going to merge this one with that one yesterday, but this thread isn't solely post-DCU bashing. Therefore, I'm going to leave it for now.

[DanMad1977]

I gave up caring about continuity long ago.

But when there is a cool book, I read it. I just don't care about continuity anymore.

[JLH]

I started reading comics in 1974 and by 1981 was really bored with what was going on. I "quit" just a month shy of the New Teen Titans' debut but put my foot back in the water when I saw Firestorm had his own series again, and then was interested in the JSA so picked up Infinity, Inc., and then saw how amazing the Legion was during that period so started it...and then the Crisis on Infinite Earths hit and I found myself picking up practically everything! Dropped some stuff after it ended but I've been reading ever since and don't see myself stopping. Shortly after the New 52 started, I dropped a lot of titles I'd followed since I was basically a kid but after 45+ years of comic reading, I've pretty much stopped wondering if I'll ever lose interest.

[iron chimp]

I get what you're saying. Nonetheless, that is guaranteed recipe for making advertisers (who are actually the profit-generating component of any media firm) drop you like a blind date that mentions they have syphilis.

Well 99% of the advertisers in the books are DC themselves these days. If its an outside advertiser give them the back cover and package all the dc company adverts up with a letters page and some artists pencils of a cool splash page in the book and you have a nice mini Previews for me to read and look at when im done reading the story. If im enjoying yr book then of course i want to know what else is going on - just not in the middle of the story because then im going to resent it!

Image and DCs own black label just feel like smarter presentation. Regular DC just feel cheap in comparison. When books were $1 or less who cares if there are adverts. When they are premium price it totally breaks flow of story.

But that might just be me

[Jim Kelly]

Very interesting.

American comics were, as I understand it, designed around the 3-5 panel pace of daily newspaper publication. Then it went to 5-10ish pages of self-contained monthly anthology features. Next was 20-odd pages of self-contained story. Then 20ish pages designed around a hook for the next monthly issue. Now we're in a space where comics from The Big Two are designed aroud novellas, broken into monthly segments.

No surprise that folks wait on the collection.

What are the odds that comics go back to quarterly or even non-regular scheduling, more like movies, as whole story-lines are dumped all at once?

Yes, I often think of this, that comics have gone full circle, as the early comic books were the equivalent of a trade paperback. I think those will become the norm and the monthlies less so.

On the matter of growing out of the hobby--that was the expectation when I was a kid. You were supposed to grow out of comics. My parents kept telling me that it was about time I gave them up. And when I was eleven I thought I was done with comic books and ready to move on with other things in my life. Then, when I was twelve, I regressed.

Comic book publishers factored this into their decisions. They knew that kids were growing out of comics and new ones coming in, so the comics were geared to always be inviting in the new young readers. They weren't chasing after the same, now-grown, readership.

I think it's natural to get tired of certain things in life, while still getting joy out of others. Just which things you stick with and which things you give up is what makes you unique.

[Jackalope89]

Bendis taking over Superman, i was loving the whole family dinamic going with Clark, Jon and Lois and then Bendis came along and ruined it for me.

This, along with a lot of the other sudden tonal shifts throughout most of the comics has largely turned me off from most series at this point. Now most of what I read are basically Elseworld, like DCeased, Titans Together, Batman the Adventure Continues, and Batman Beyond (which kind of is its own continuity).

The first part of Rebirth, barring Justice League, I was enjoying most of the series being published. But then part way through, there was a tonal shift that, despite most still being called "Rebirth", it felt like some other event. A big part came from Heroes in Crisis, Bendis taking over the Super titles, and so on during that time. Which, perhaps not so coincidentally, was about the time Geoff Johns was pushed out from the higher up section of DC Comics.