The Times they are a Changing.......and so am I.

[Emerald Archer]

So a lot of you are wondering, who the heck is this guy. Some of you are probably saying, "Yes, he's back!", and a few are groaning and hoping this is all a bad dream.

My name is Emerald Archer, and I use to be a rabid comic book collector. I also use to be a Mod here at the CBC forum.

6 years ago I left. The reasons are unimportant. I went on to help found a new comic book website, spent time at Newsarama and Comic Book Resources, got to know some of the people in the industry, and collected almost $250,000 dollars worth of comics in ten years.

I guess my major online claim to infamy were my huge, exhaustive, really really long, comic book reviews. Those reviews all took place here at Toonzone. After I left my intent had always been to start doing them again, and I got emails all the time asking me to do so, but I had to many things going on in my life. Not that I ever stopped reading comics, but I read more and wrote less. That doesn't mean that I didn't form some opinions about the industry, to wit:

1) Marvel really is a hopeless mish mass. The Ultimates line was suppose to be continuity lite, so fans didn't need to have 50 years of back story to get what was going on. But Marvel even managed to screw that up.

2) While Millers Dark Knight gave the industry a great rebirth, it forever changed it in some ways that made things worse. The dark and gritty shroud that currently envelops all of comicdom has gotten to the point that titles have reached the point of being capable of sending people into boughts of depression.

3) DC knows how to do animation. Marvel can't get it right. Even the DC direct to DVD releases are light years ahead of Marvels attempts. Any one watch Spider-Woman? Really????

4) For the most part Marvel knows how to do Movies right. With the exception of the Bale Batman movies, DC manages to get it wrong about 90% of the time with it's major hero movies. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, and Captain America have all made a very successful transition to the big screen. DC seems to want to shoot it's self in the foot. Superman Returns, Constatine and even Green Lantern are prime examples of close, but yet so far. Best DC movie out in the last year? RED.

5) The industry is over dosing on "Events". Be it the Death of Captain America or The Blackest Night saga, enough is enough. How about some self contained, one issue, good stories?

6) The revolving door of eternity over at DC is still doing great. Marvel is trying to catch up.

7) The fact that both of the major houses are reorganized under huge multi nationals is not great news. Give Disney credit, they know how to market, Warner has no clue.

Their are more, but these are some of the more fundamental observations.

So heres the stunner, 2 years ago I walked away from collecting. Done. The price per issue was to hight and the enjoyment factor, the dark angst ridden self destructive hero, no longer existed. I walked away. Did I miss it, yes. Did I regret it, no. But something else changed as well. 3 years ago I got married, and it was time to spend time with my wife, and not with Bruce and Clark and Diana.

But now something has transpired, DC is going to finally pull the trigger on a full reboot. Good, bad or indifferent the times they are a changing. And because of this, starting this fall I am going to give DC 3 months to pull me in again. Never again will I spend $1200 a month on books, but maybe DC will get me for $150. Also my wife, while not doing jumping jacks over the whole idea, is being supportive.

So the bottom line, Emerald Archer is back, and yes, the reviews are comic back as well. Probably not as long and involved as the originals, but you can't tell. Also by wonderful wife Clarissa is going to help with the reviews, helping my get them written up and then posted here at Toonzone.

For all my old friends, it will be good to be back amongest you. For all my new friends, I look forward to meeting you. And for all that disagree with what I post, I look forward to an energetic, but polite, debate.

Good to be home.
EA

 

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

Hello, EA, and welcome back. I've only been a member since the end of 2008, so we've never interacted, but I look forward to your future posts.

I, myself, stopped buying monthly issues about two years ago, but I still pick up the occasional collected edition here and there, and always keep up with the news on what's going on in the industry and its releases. I'm going to be making a comeback to buying monthlies with DC's relaunch as well, but I'm strictly limiting myself to only three titles for now (Justice League, Action Comics, and Batman). I just want solid stories in solid runs with solid creative teams. Hopefully, they won't disappoint and will avoid any crossovers or epic events that drove me away from collecting in the first place.

 

[suss2it]

1) Marvel really is a hopeless mish mass. The Ultimates line was suppose to be continuity lite, so fans didn't need to have 50 years of back story to get what was going on. But Marvel even managed to screw that up.

Aside from Loeb's time in the Ultimate Universe, I think the UU is doing fine.

2) While Millers Dark Knight gave the industry a great rebirth, it forever changed it in some ways that made things worse. The dark and gritty shroud that currently envelops all of comicdom has gotten to the point that titles have reached the point of being capable of sending people into boughts of depression.

While that is often true, there are some more lighthearted series out there if you look for them, such as Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl run.

3) DC knows how to do animation. Marvel can't get it right. Even the DC direct to DVD releases are light years ahead of Marvels attempts. Any one watch Spider-Woman? Really????

The Spider-Woman thing was just a motion comic, I don't think that really constitutes as animation. Marvel has been doing good things with animation with Wolverine and the X-Men, which was good but not great and Spectacular Spider-Man, although Sony was the one who made that one. The problem though is that both were canceled before they could reach their primes. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is also really good, and that has a guaranteed 52 episodes. I do agree that the DTVs from Marvel have mostly been inferior to DC, though Planet Hulk is astounding. And even though I bought Thor: Tales of Asgard a month ago I've still yet to watch it, so I have no idea how good it may be.

5) The industry is over dosing on "Events". Be it the Death of Captain America or The Blackest Night saga, enough is enough. How about some self contained, one issue, good stories?

I don't really mind events, but I wish they could just be kept in the main mini, one-shots and spin-off mini-series, instead of spilling over into other ongoing books. I feel as though that often brings the ongoing plots to a screeching halt.

Glad to have you back (though I don't know who you are lol), I look forward to your future opinions and reviews.

 

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

I don't really mind events, but I wish they could just be kept in the main mini, one-shots and spin-off mini-series, instead of spilling over into other ongoing books. I feel as though that often brings the ongoing plots to a screeching halt.

This is true. An "event" doesn't necessarily have to mean a huge money-sucking multi-series crossover with inconsistent writing and art, like we normally get. It could just mean a big "eventful" story or project with epic proportions, much like DC's upcoming relaunch. In a way, the relaunch is an event, and I'm sure people will spend plenty of money on it, but at least [for now] all the series are pretty self-contained.

 

[Manga4life]

I gotta agree with you on the Ultimate Universe, for something that was supposed to be a nice jumping on point for new readers who wanted to avoid the 50+ year history of the "616" they sure messed up the Ultimate line pretty fast, it's a shame too because it had so much potential at the beginning and just couldn't hold up it's end of the bargain. Oh well, that's comics these days for the most part I suppose.

Welcome back to the forums, I wasn't around when you were an active poster but from your in depth post at the beginning of the thread I can see that I'm going to enjoy reading posts of yours.

 

[ryandcow]

On the events I enjoy them. I don't read many regular issues besides Booster Gold, and more recently Action comics, so the events are how I catch up to everything continuity-wise. It also gives the writers the opportunity to use basically any characters they want. But it's a matter if preference so whatever.

Welcome back to the forums man, I was not here when you were but welcome back regardless.

 

[wonderfly]

Welcome back, Emerald Archer! I'm perhaps one of the few here that does remember your reviews from years back. They were a fixture of these forums for a while.

I can relate to slowing getting less and less comics due to rising prices in comics, though I don't know if I can relate to becoming resentful of the darkening storylines (I just stick to reading storylines which appeal to me).

I never went completely cold-turkey on my collecting, but I was down to only collecting a handful of titles myself (leaving aside cuts in my Marvel and DC superhero purchases, there are smaller titles that I'll always try to support). But in the last few months, my work for Marvel has increased as I reported here, I now get EVERY Marvel title. So yeah, I have plenty of options to choose from now...though not always time to read all of the good ones.

As far as some of your other sentiments, I have to agree: Marvel makes better movies, DC has ALWAYS made betters animated shows. And I don't mind "Mega-Events" as long as they're well told. Which can be hit or miss.

But anyway, I welcome you back into the world of comic book reading! It's an exciting time for DC Comics, and even though I work for the competition, I hope this new line of comics reinvigorates DC's status!