Comic book Clichés that annoy you.

[poroto678]

Hey guys.

We all love comics. Some more than others, but we all do. Good stories make or lives better, happier.

Most of these stories we read have, at some point or another, a little cliché. I mean, they wouldn't be superhero comics if they didn't have a couple. Some of them bother you a little, but won't stop you from enjoying those stories. Sometimes they annoy that f**k outta you and won't let you keep reading. It's a narrative resource, almost unavoidable. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

For me, i'm usually annoyed by:

- Dad/mom have a secret that affects me very badly today: It seems that those characters with mythological origins (Aquaman and Diana, specially) have that going on a lot. I'm getting a little tired of that one.
- Dad/Mom was alive in secret for many years: Lemire did that in GA and Parker did it in Aquaman. Also, E2 Batman. I wanna be clear that "alive in secret" means more like "dad who died in an accident but not really, traveling as a space pirate in a extremely stupid costume" and not "retired CIA" (like Kyle Rayner's absent daddy). The latter sounds a lot more decent that then former. I really wanna punch Scott Summer's dad in the face haha

What clichés annoy you? (Dead mommy? Traveling back in time to prevent dystopic future? haha)

[CRaymond]

Assassin training.

[Rakzo]

Themes over characterization and story.

Mind you, that's more of a writing style but it has been so dominant lately that it basically has become a cliche at this point.

[RobinFan4880]

Death is meaningless.

But I understand why it has to be that way.

[Slaughter]

Timeline/Multiverse differences that do not account for the butterfly effect.

[Trey Strain]

Death is a temporary inconvenience, like having a cold.

[Trey Strain]

The villains can't be eliminated and will always come back. Like herpes.

[Outside_85]

That there is always a weakness for Batman to exploit.

[Caivu]

Villains having plans for every single contingency. Except for the end of the story, when they don't.

Any kind of jobbing that's only for story-related purposes (that is to say, without a rock-solid reason for it).

[Trey Strain]

Of the many comics characters who have returned from the dead it can be said, "He was dead but he got better."

[Atlanta96]

The big stupid event storyline that offers no decent storytelling and only exists to make some money. Worst cases are the ones with decent premises like Convergence that feel like wastes of potential. If you're going to write a crappy event comic make it crappy in all regards.

[Tetragrammar]

The villains can't be eliminated and will always come back. Like herpes.

This. For me something like villain murders many people, villain is spared/saved/captured because hero takes higher path, villain escapes, murders many people, villain spared so more can be killed because hero takes higher path and spares villain so they can escape and murder many people and...you get the idea...

[Lee Stone]

Comic book cliches?
Or superhero comic book cliches?

[Flash Gordon]

The Earth being central to the universe or multiverse.

[Jim Kelly]

The idea that the universe has a centre (and that it's either Earth or Oa) is one of those comiic book lapses. According to the standard model, everywhere you are in the universe is the centre.

I can put up with comics distorting science and inventing science that doesn't actually exist--but this kind of lazy use of science annoys me, because they're trying to make a big show out of being scientific and getting it all wrong.

If everyone is born out of tragedy and nobody has a happy family life, then how are any of them different? Wouldn't the kid who had two parents and grew up in a safe environment be the unusual one.

And if the parents are alive--especially the biological parents--they turn out to be interfering, domineering jerks who don't respect their children.

Fights get started because characters don't bother to communicate. Most problems would never arise, if the characters involved just talked to each other.