Meaningless things in comics that kind of bug you.

[babyblob]

So we all have our issues at times with comics. Artists, storylines, or whatever. But I wanted to know what are some meaningless things in commics that big you. Things that are very goofy to be bothered by yet you can not get over.

I have one. In Amazing Spiderman 1. When spider-man was breaking into the Baxter building. Sue asks why he didn't make an appointment. The Thing answers it is because he is a cornball teenage showoff. How in the world would The Thing know that Spiderman is a teenager? Just always irked me.

So what are yours?

[Kirby101]

In Captain America Civil War, everybody kind of knew Spidey was really young, so...

[TriggerWarning]

Powers getting nerfed all the time in order for drama or splash pages. Realistic fights using many powers would be boring or over instantly so the powers get nerfed. For instance, any fight where one party has telekinesis. The TK character always gets nerfed and ends up fighting by throwing objects with TK at the person they are fighting. This makes a cool splash page or panel and allows the other character to dodge and close distance. Here is how a real fight should go down if TK wasn't nerfed: 1) if the opponent has no long distance power then just lift them off the ground, the fight is over. You can shred them at leisure or just deposit them on top of a nearby building etc, 2) if the opponent has a long distance power but needs to see you aka Cylcops or any projectile type attack then lift them and turn them around, now go back to #1, 3) if #1 and #2 won't work because they have a long distance attack and don't have to see you to use it aka telepathy, magic, etc simply use TK to stop their heart briefly or temporarily cut off blood flow to the brain - Jean Grey has used this once or twice to instantly knock someone out. Any TK character would win a majority of fights almost instantly this way but that would lead to boring fights and claims of them being overpowered so they get nerfed.

Interestingly I've seen some novelized superhero stuff, like Worm, actually address this issue by introducing some sort of weird quirk of superpowers where a person cannot directly affect the mass of another, aka they are nerfing TK's and people with similar powers for the very reasons I mention. But at least they address it unlike comics.

[DrNewGod]

Powers getting nerfed all the time in order for drama or splash pages. Realistic fights using many powers would be boring or over instantly so the powers get nerfed. For instance, any fight where one party has telekinesis. The TK character always gets nerfed and ends up fighting by throwing objects with TK at the person they are fighting. This makes a cool splash page or panel and allows the other character to dodge and close distance. Here is how a real fight should go down if TK wasn't nerfed: 1) if the opponent has no long distance power then just lift them off the ground, the fight is over. You can shred them at leisure or just deposit them on top of a nearby building etc, 2) if the opponent has a long distance power but needs to see you aka Cylcops or any projectile type attack then lift them and turn them around, now go back to #1, 3) if #1 and #2 won't work because they have a long distance attack and don't have to see you to use it aka telepathy, magic, etc simply use TK to stop their heart briefly or temporarily cut off blood flow to the brain - Jean Grey has used this once or twice to instantly knock someone out. Any TK character would win a majority of fights almost instantly this way but that would lead to boring fights and claims of them being overpowered so they get nerfed.

Interestingly I've seen some novelized superhero stuff, like Worm, actually address this issue by introducing some sort of weird quirk of superpowers where a person cannot directly affect the mass of another, aka they are nerfing TK's and people with similar powers for the very reasons I mention. But at least they address it unlike comics.

If you want to humiliate the opponent, have the Teke force their lips and nostrils shut.

[mathew101281]

Superspeed: everything about it.

Telepathy: real thoughts are often nonsensical. Very rarely are theY 100% coherent.

Physical appearance: why does every look like a model?

[MyriVerse]

The biggest thing is powers not being used well/logically which leads to characters jobbing. I really don't care if powers would ruin a story. I'd rather the story not be told than to see established powers squandered.

Also, destruction happens too easily and too often. Instead of characters being thrown through walls and stuff, I'd rather they hit the wall, stop, and slide down it without much damage to the wall. One of the most irksome things I've seen was a Wolverine-Domino love scene where he was knocking her into walls, causing them to crack. Poor Dom. She doesn't have any sort of superhuman durability. I never, EVER want to see Cap's shield damaged unless its a major plot point of a story. I don't want a cracked shield used to sell a story that isn't about Cap's shield being destroyed. And I don't really want anything bigger than a building destroyed (no cities, planets, galaxies, universes).

On the other hand, when a character like Superman holds up an airplane or ship (or something else like that), I'd prefer to see the object break in half or a hole get formed than the plane magically being able to support its own weight while being held like that.

[emoelmo]

So we all have our issues at times with comics. Artists, storylines, or whatever. But I wanted to know what are some meaningless things in commics that big you. Things that are very goofy to be bothered by yet you can not get over.

I have one. In Amazing Spiderman 1. When spider-man was breaking into the Baxter building. Sue asks why he didn't make an appointment. The Thing answers it is because he is a cornball teenage showoff. How in the world would The Thing know that Spiderman is a teenager? Just always irked me.

So what are yours?

Early Marvel comics were pretty wink and nod about their fictional meta-awareness. Doctor Doom literally met Stan and Jack too.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Captain America not knowing about Myspace being something that made him out of touch.

[MyriVerse]

Captain America not knowing about Myspace being something that made him out of touch.

Yeah. The idea of Cap being a "man out of time" and uncomfortable in the present pisses me off.

[batnbreakfast]

Yeah. The idea of Cap being a "man out of time" and uncomfortable in the present pisses me off.

Why? It adds to his humanity. Makes him not all inspiring and perfect and I like him even more for it.

[babyblob]

Yeah. The idea of Cap being a "man out of time" and uncomfortable in the present pisses me off.

I like Captain America. One of my favorite heroes. But this whole man out of time thing got old. I got it in the 60s like in the Tales Of Suspense Issues, or even in his early solo. But man still bitching about it 200 issues in. Man shut up. He is suposed to have this great will power and is a soldier who can think of intense battle plans, has been on the same team as Mutants, Gods, and being made of pure energy. Has fought aliens, and a warlord from the furture, yet he falls to pieces at the idea of flat screen tvs, rap music, and the internet.

[babyblob]

One thing that gets on my nerves as I read some of these comics. How is every scientist a master at judo or other hand to hand fighting forms? In an issue of Fantastic Four Sue says she was taught judo by Reed Richards who is a master. In the golden age of DC Hourman, Star man, both talk about learning fighting skills before they became heroes. When kind of flies in the face of the fact that they were meek and in Star man's case ill all the time. Sandman a rich playboy is well skilled. Hank Pym in his first appearance of Tales To Astonish uses Judo skills to fight off an ant.
Yet every bad scientist the ones who want to take over the world the ones who need to know how to fight have glass jaws and are knocked out in one punch.

[Zauriel]

I like Captain America. One of my favorite heroes. But this whole man out of time thing got old. I got it in the 60s like in the Tales Of Suspense Issues, or even in his early solo. But man still bitching about it 200 issues in. Man shut up. He is suposed to have this great will power and is a soldier who can think of intense battle plans, has been on the same team as Mutants, Gods, and being made of pure energy. Has fought aliens, and a warlord from the furture, yet he falls to pieces at the idea of flat screen tvs, rap music, and the internet.

I thought Captain America would have adapted to the 21st century society, attitudes and technology. Will Cap eat raw fish sushi and gluten-free vegan wraps? Will he get used to reading news about 12th graders shooting and killing people with guns? Will he be surprised to learn that it takes 20 years to execute a convicted serial murderer? Abortion, illegal immigration and civil injustice were not a big deal in the 1940's.

[Mace Dolex]

Captain America not knowing about Myspace being something that made him out of touch.

I mean in real time Cap got thawed out in the 60's, right? how much time has passed in the Marvel Universe, who can say but this is why I've never found Captain America anything interesting in the slight. People complain that Superman is hard to relate to because he's the ultimate boy scout but at least he's up to date on current events as Clark Kent obviously working for a newspaper.

To me Cap as just dull as bricks, seriously even the current MCU movies can't make him interesting.

[Powerboy]

I don't consider it meaningless but, along with a lot of other people, powers being ignored to force a story in the direction the writer wants instead of the story flowing with the abilities of the characters.

I thought Spider-Man versus Wolverine was going great until Wolverine suddenly was on a speed level to even be remotely close to Spider-Man despite all previous showings being that he wasn't. Even that would have been okay if they kept Wolverine on that level but he went right back to being ploddingly slow compared to Spider-Man in all stories for years after. It wasn't necessary for Wolverine to be a match for Spider-Man in a fight and it took me right out of an otherwise great story.

I know such things are common but it's annoying every time especially when easily correctible but writer ego gets in the way and he's got to tell exactly what he wants to tell instead of a story that could still be told with a little adjustment.

One common thread of most stories, especially action stories, is the character that instantly or almost instantly masters a skill that he has never tried before. People becoming masters in a fight in a week or a month or even a few months is annoying. I guess it's supposed to be a vicarious fantasy to put yourself in the character's place but when you know how long such things really take, it's just annoying and you try to ignore it to enjoy the rest of the story.