Re: Liefield. I looked through that. And then realized: I have a shitload of those covers…

now go look at some liefeld.

“…there are illustrated novels or whatever you’d like to call them that reach beyond the age and into deeper subjects…”

And, yes, lots of what you mention, I’m all over. But in the same way that in TV, every once in a while you get BtVS’s “The Body” or “Hush,” so must you have an innordinately higher proportion of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Fear Factor.” BTW, I SO think they should make a comic book version of Joe Rogan, but that’s neither here nor there…

a lot of the mainstream superhero comics are, i will grant you, ‘widescreen’ — essentially jerry brockheimer episodes.

however, there are quite a number of exceptions, even within the superhero genre, even within the confines of marvel and dc. alan moore, grant morrison, brian k vaughn, ed brubaker spring immediately to mind as people who have crafted superhero tales that break out of the molds you are thinking of. (this also sidesteps non-superhero comics, as well as the art/indie movement which is flourishing beyond belief these days. and even all that avoids manga…so yeah, there is a lot of variety out there. and a lot of differing qualities. but tons of it is actually really really good.)

i can give you a list if you like (and perhaps even things to sample should you enjoy reading on a computer). the ‘reading comics’ book i spoke of above also goes into some of this, as does how to read superhero comics and why.

ill wax nostalgia about comics and the 90s, but i wont let you slander the entire medium.

But then I could also see why the 90s would be looked down upon: see, now we’ve got a lot of fat gen Xers writing about our joys from childhood, and there’s that awkward cusp as we tripped from children into ‘adults’. Of course we were disatisfied with that era, there wasn’t anything there to guide us through it. Secondly, I find the vast majority of comics to be for our inner, ever-present 12-year-old, no matter how old we become. Sure there are illustrated novels or whatever you’d like to call them that reach beyond the age and into deeper subjects, but stuff like civil war and such is little more than a child’s play. Sound and fury… signifying nothing.

and image comics?
well, mike sterling, comics should be good, and savage critic are the first that sprang to mind…sterling esp, as he often speaks about the 90s comic bubble (and the death of superman stuff)

also, wolk, from savage critic just released a book called ‘reading comics’ that i picked up this week…there’s not a ton of image stuff in it but the few sentences are more than unkind.

and there’s more out there if you dig. but yeah, generally the 90s is not looked back upon favorably.

and, for a trip down memory lane, how about a vote on the best x-men eras?

And, yes: Girls = death of comics. For me at least. And I’m frankly not sad at all about that.

So what was written about Image? I’m not up on my history. All I know is that “Deathblow” well, blew, Union was pretty but basically a big puss, WildCATS seemed to be penned by someone with ADD. I hung on with Spawn for a while but then that, too, got repetitive. Beautifully drawn, though. I’m still faintly interested in whatever happened to Angelina… I think she got her own miniseries?

its unfortunate — the business side is floundering (shrinking readership, unwillingness to explore true online offerings, etc), while the actual content is some of the most diverse ever.

and yes, web of spider-man #13 is what really kicked me into comic mode, #17 was the first one i bought with the intent to be a regular reader.