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Sometimes I feel sorry for comic books
Nov. 13th, 2007 12:09 pmThere are some comic books I hate so much that I feel annoyed and sometimes angry at the time I've just wasted reading then. I wonder how anyone involved with said comic ever got hired in the first place or who would ever ok the printing of such a piece of crap. Sort of like really bad movies.
But then there are the comics that really are very badly written -- horrible dialogue like when the baddie declares just how bad he is while shaking his fist dramatically in the air, characters reviewing the plot so far even though it occurred just five pages earlier, superheroes relating how their powers work as they perform the power that everyone already knows they have (like the Atom mentioning it's a good thing he can shrink down to molecular size as he shrinks down to molecular size). These comics are just awful but for some reason, instead of getting getting angry or annoyed or even just putting them down mid-story and forgetting I ever read them, I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for the artists and the writers and the characters in the comic books. I think I even feel sorry for the actual paper these comics are printed on. I even feel guilty for saying anything bad about them. When I come across them, I read them diligently, cringing with embarrassment for the creators as I come across the really bad parts. When I used to collect and had my comics shop save issues for me I'd feel so bad for these comics that I'd put them on my hold list just so there would be someone who bought them (which is part of the reason I had to stop collecting).
I really don't know why I feel this way. Maybe it's because they don't suck out of arrogance or trying to be cool or because the writer thinks he's the next Alan Moore or Grant Morrison but he really isn't. These are comics written by the dork in seventh grade who just tries so hard to get people to like him but he fails miserably. These are comics written by the kid who, along with his friends, makes painfully accurate Dr. Who episodes of his own in his basement (complete with styrofoam set design). They're written by that 10th grade classmate who's every creative writing assignment was a story about his D&D character. You didn't hate those kids in school. You felt sorry for them because you knew they weren't going to grow up to be the next Bill Gates or Peter Jackson or Stephen King. They were going to grow up to work in a data entry job or collect every episode of Stargate: Atlantis or write really bad comic books.
Of course, the kicker is, they're actually writing comic books and I'm just sitting at home complaining about them. But I still can't help but feel sorry for them.
But then there are the comics that really are very badly written -- horrible dialogue like when the baddie declares just how bad he is while shaking his fist dramatically in the air, characters reviewing the plot so far even though it occurred just five pages earlier, superheroes relating how their powers work as they perform the power that everyone already knows they have (like the Atom mentioning it's a good thing he can shrink down to molecular size as he shrinks down to molecular size). These comics are just awful but for some reason, instead of getting getting angry or annoyed or even just putting them down mid-story and forgetting I ever read them, I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for the artists and the writers and the characters in the comic books. I think I even feel sorry for the actual paper these comics are printed on. I even feel guilty for saying anything bad about them. When I come across them, I read them diligently, cringing with embarrassment for the creators as I come across the really bad parts. When I used to collect and had my comics shop save issues for me I'd feel so bad for these comics that I'd put them on my hold list just so there would be someone who bought them (which is part of the reason I had to stop collecting).
I really don't know why I feel this way. Maybe it's because they don't suck out of arrogance or trying to be cool or because the writer thinks he's the next Alan Moore or Grant Morrison but he really isn't. These are comics written by the dork in seventh grade who just tries so hard to get people to like him but he fails miserably. These are comics written by the kid who, along with his friends, makes painfully accurate Dr. Who episodes of his own in his basement (complete with styrofoam set design). They're written by that 10th grade classmate who's every creative writing assignment was a story about his D&D character. You didn't hate those kids in school. You felt sorry for them because you knew they weren't going to grow up to be the next Bill Gates or Peter Jackson or Stephen King. They were going to grow up to work in a data entry job or collect every episode of Stargate: Atlantis or write really bad comic books.
Of course, the kicker is, they're actually writing comic books and I'm just sitting at home complaining about them. But I still can't help but feel sorry for them.
