Superhero comics

[kieran]

Any fans here? I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard follower of the genre, but I dip in and out. I prefer superheroes with a lot of powers and a positive outlook so probably unsurprisingly my favourite superhero is Superman though I tend to enjoy DC in general. I like the X-Men a lot, but otherwise not much of a Marvel fan. Marvel heroes always seem a bit... lacking to me and I find it hard to put my finger on why.

[roidhun]

Aug 18, 2023 14:54:07 GMT kieran said:

Any fans here? I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard follower of the genre, but I dip in and out. I prefer superheroes with a lot of powers and a positive outlook so probably unsurprisingly my favourite superhero is Superman though I tend to enjoy DC in general. I like the X-Men a lot, but otherwise not much of a Marvel fan. Marvel heroes always seem a bit... lacking to me and I find it hard to put my finger on why.

Up until about 15 years ago I GMed part-time for a group who split our time roughly equally between playing BattleTech/MechWarrior and playing DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes.

If you're interested, you can find some stuff I wrote for the latter by going to 

www.writeups.org/

and searching for the keyword Hominid71.

[CharlesX]

Used to be casually into them growing up, if not an enthusiast. I got more into graphic novels later on. If anything the massive over-saturation when superheroes became big in pop culture lessened my liking; I think if I couldn't just watch yet another superhero film on streaming or disk I might well be buying those magazines today, except that they're primarily aimed at younger kids. 
   Re: roidhun above - a superhero RPG sounds great (although I wouldn't join one at the moment).

[roidhun]

Aug 18, 2023 14:54:07 GMT kieran said:

Marvel heroes always seem a bit... lacking to me and I find it hard to put my finger on why.

My best guess - and of course it's no more than that - would have to be that it's simply the fact that Marvel historically avoided depicting even their most powerful characters, like the Silver Surfer, the Hulk, Thor, Hercules or the Thing as being so powerful as to come even remotely close to the (excessively) near-omnipotent power levels of the Silver Age/Bronze Age versions of Superman and the original Captain Marvel (AKA Shazam). You're subconsciously picking up on that, and therefore also subconsciously coming to find the likes of Thor woefully lacking compared to the likes of Superman.

Or maybe my little bit of amateur psychoanalysis on you is just so totally a case of me talking out of my arse that you should therefore ignore every single word I've just said!

[a moderator]

I own a reasonable selection of comics and graphic novels, but for the most part I've been following authors rather than characters. A few times I stuck with a title for a while after somebody new took over the writing, but more often than not I soon came to regret it.

[roidhun]

Aug 19, 2023 1:44:30 GMT a moderator said:

I own a reasonable selection of comics and graphic novels, but for the most part I've been following authors rather than characters. A few times I stuck with a title for a while after somebody new took over the writing, but more often than not I soon came to regret it.

Know the feeling all too well.

[kieran]

Aug 19, 2023 0:52:46 GMT roidhun said:

My best guess - and of course it's no more than that - would have to be that it's simply the fact that Marvel historically avoided depicting even their most powerful characters, like the Silver Surfer, the Hulk, Thor, Hercules or the Thing as being so powerful as to come even remotely close to the (excessively) near-omnipotent power levels of the Silver Age/Bronze Age versions of Superman and the original Captain Marvel (AKA Shazam). You're subconsciously picking up on that, and therefore also subconsciously coming to find the likes of Thor woefully lacking compared to the likes of Superman.

Could be true to an extent but then I'd rather read Batman or Black Canary than Hulk or Thor despite the former two being less powerful. The DC heroes just seem more vivid for want of a better word. It's pretty likely this is just a weird quirk of mine that defies any logical analysis.

[kieran]

Aug 19, 2023 1:44:30 GMT a moderator said:

I own a reasonable selection of comics and graphic novels, but for the most part I've been following authors rather than characters. A few times I stuck with a title for a while after somebody new took over the writing, but more often than not I soon came to regret it.

Which writers would you be a fan of?

[a moderator]

Mainly Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Peter Milligan.

[bloodbeasthandler]

Aug 19, 2023 13:19:13 GMT a moderator said:

Mainly Alan Moore....

Alan Moore, that grumpy old wizard. I think he lives under a bridge in Northampton. 


Funnily enough I've been getting into graphic novels and comics more recently too, a lot of them written by him. Read the Watchmen earlier this year for the first time, V for Vendetta, some of Swamp Thing. 

[pip]

I'm generally not a fan of the superhero genre, but I did read and enjoy "Watchmen" a lot, and would recommend it. It is a great read, whether you're into the genre or not (case in point).

I did not care at all for the movie adaptation, which notably IMO: 1) tried way too hard to mimic the comic, even going as far as using the same images, same camera angles... what works with one medium won't necessarily work with another, they should have reimagined it instead of trying to basically film someone browsing through the comic; and 2) made it really obvious who the villain was early on... In the comic, you know there's a traitor among the Watchmen early on, but you don't know who it is until much later on, creating suspense; in the movie, the actor portraying the traitor plays it like "bwahahaha! I'm the villain!" the very first time he appears on screen (I blame the director for allowing him/telling him to play it like this, not the actor).

Ok, so I've spent more time writing about the movie adaptation I don't like vs the comic I do like, but I do recommend the comic.

[bloodbeasthandler]

He's not strictly speaking a superhero but I'm reading 2000AD's Judge Dredd, on and off.
I'm finding the older stories from the 80's very enjoyable - a mixture of dark humour, satire and graphic violence.