The old ones are definitely more expressive. I have nothing at hand to show for comparison, but the replies above already illustrate the same point. The same can be said about cartoons.
The old ones are definitely more expressive. I have nothing at hand to show for comparison, but the replies above already illustrate the same point. The same can be said about cartoons.
Maybe we aren't a majority, but I doubt we're just a few. As I mentioned in the Miracleman Omnibus thread, I prefer the 80's coloring to the new one, for example.
Digital coloring is OK if the artist knows from the beginning that it's going to be used, but applying that palette to comics drawn with the four color process in mind... it's tricky. The only case when I went for it is the Walt Simonson Thor Omnibus. I still have both that and the floppies and like them equally. I can't decide which version to keep.
In general, I prefer when they reprint with the old colors, even if using new printers and paper will render a different result, like the Epic collection and most omnibi.
The problem with this new coloring is that the colorist doesn’t mean to know when to stop… and doesn’t have a global vision… More you color and more you change what is already there and has already been done. All these details created fragmented surfaces and the eye of the watcher is a bit lost…
Is this a problem of tool? Or expertise? Both probably… When the process is slow, you have time to think and have reflexion on what you do. I reread at the moment old comics and I’m surprised to see half-way colored panels: the colorist has apparently considered that it was better this way… that it functions better with the other panels.
“Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.” Goethe
It is tough when comics in general do not have the "heat" they once did. Back in the 80's and 90's the comics had a wild variety and they captured something of the spirit of the readership. Then a kind of nostalgia set in on one side and a false "progressive edge" on the other. No matter how technically good the art becomes, it rarely speaks to the hearts of the readers in the same way.
Eventually that will turn around - comics always go through cycles, but like mentioned above, that will be difficult when it costs $6.00 to buy one issue.