What I Really, Really Want

I've been writing a lot more about what I don't like in comics and TV, and pop-culture in general, lately. Part of it may be the holidays - I have no one to spend them with and can't even put up the tree this year because the kitten is just going to tear it apart - but this is when I finally get the chance to catch-up on everything, so a lot of it boils down to the fact that I simply haven't had a lot of time to read comics and watch TV until now. Either way, I hate just bellyaching; I want to say, unequivocally, "This is what I want; this is what I'm looking for. Give me more of that."

But I'll admit I'm confused.

After all, I loved Green Arrow: Year One but I haven't enjoyed any of the ongoing titles half as much. I liked the first one okay, but it had its ups and downs. I was happy to go along with it because I was so impressed with the mini-series; I wanted to like Green Arrow, so I was willing to put up with a lot of so-so content to get to the good parts. This is true of all the titles to which I subscribe, and is true with serialized fiction in general - you have to take the good with the bad because there is so much of it that there's always going to be at least a few storylines or ideas you don't care for.

I also realize that a lot of the talent that would have been in cartooning has gone to higher-paying, more prestigious jobs in Hollywood and for video games, et. al. I certainly don't think of the working cartoonists as anything less than stellar - those in comics are there because they want to be, not because they have to be - but I understand that there are writers, artists, and other workers who have a lot to bring to the medium but are more interested in paying their rent.

I also understand that comic books is an industry - and this goes for TV and movies, too - music, video games, they're all entertainment and they're all involved in that industry. There are certain things that would work perfectly in one medium or form or another, but probably will never happen because they simply wouldn't bring in the money something more mundane would.

I know one thing: I really don't want something repackaged; I really don't want an endless stream of things I've seen before. Green Arrow: Year One was obviously an updated retelling of Oliver Queen's origin story. I loved it. However, I didn't love it so much that I want to read yet another version of it. That being said, whatever was going on in any of the ongoing titles, it was completely removed from Queen's origin. I didn't like that so much, either.

Everyone is complaining about Whitney, the new sit-com they apparently rammed down L.A.'s collective throat with billboards and advertising, but I don't mind it. There's absolutely nothing original about it whatsoever, but there's something comforting in that: I know what to expect and it delivers. I don't laugh out loud while watching Whitney, but I don't hate it. Still, if I had my druthers, I would watch probably whatever else is on when Whitney is playing.

So there's something to be said for wanting Repackaged Same, and maybe viewership and sales prove to bean-counters that this is what people want, but I insist it's only because they don't know what they want until they get it. I'm much the same: I can tell you things I want to see, but not necessarily how I want to see them or where.

I want something that's serious but doesn't take itself seriously - something that tackles dramatic issues with a sense of playfulness. Spider-Man used to do this, but only because he'd quip his way through every encounter. A much better example would be Elektra: Assassin, which was deadly serious but understood its place in the larger pastiche of entertainment. Assassin had no troubles bending reality and dropping in some quips here and there, because it knew it had the reader by the balls with the story and characters. It manages to capture a few chuckles without upsetting its own sense of the dramatic. There haven't been too many recent offerings that hold-up to that, but I'd like to see more of it.

I'd like more focus on the characters and character development. For too long, the only changes to the characters have been MAJOR EVENTS spanning several titles and even more months. Those only last for a short while, anyway. I want some character growth and change - something that makes me want to read every issue every month - I want to see them develop and follow along.

Artists who can draw fight scenes. I have an entire post waiting for this one. What happened here, anyway? I know comics are mostly talking heads, but pretty much every, single one has an obligatory fight scene. If you're going to draw comic books, you should know how to draw fight scenes.

More character and titles independence. Look, I collect Uncanny X-Men (not anymore, but this is just an example); I don't much care what happens in X-Force, X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, New Mutants, or the other two dozen X-titles. I'm not pressured to buy more of these comics when a story spans all of them, I'm forced to - if I want to read the story. That's tantamount to ripping me off; I pay for Uncanny X-Men and I expect a story. If it's continued to the next issue(s), I'm fine with that - I expect that, too - but if it's continued through several titles and issues, a single story about characters in which I'm interested becomes a $20.00 saga I don't give a damn about.

There's more but this post is long enough. I just wanted to make sure that it was known that I don't want the same thing over and over and I do have some idea as to what it is I would like to see. I'm not naive enough to think that anyone in the industry will read this and suddenly change the way things are done, but I do hope that enough fans read this who agree with me that they start writing more posts like this one. Maybe then the publishers will take notice and make some positive changes.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011