Unpopular Opinions You Hold About Comic Books

[Avaitor]

Unbroken would've been better if Dave wrote some of it.

Unless he dedicated any lyrics to how all African women should be circumcised. The guy's a nutjob.

[gunswordfist]

Dave Mustaine wrote a better Punisher story in two verses than Marvel has been able to in about 40 years.

My love of Ennis makes me want to punch you.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Dave Mustaine wrote a better Punisher story in two verses than Marvel has been able to in about 40 years.

My love of Ennis makes me want to punch you.

To be fair, there isn't a whole lot you can do with the Punisher. He's basically Death Wish in comic form, and how many Death Wish films were actually good?

Though to be fair I haven't read Ennis' run so I don't really know what went on there. The initial concept of the Punisher is pretty limited however.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Dave Mustaine wrote a better Punisher story in two verses than Marvel has been able to in about 40 years.

My love of Ennis makes me want to punch you.

To be fair, there isn't a whole lot you can do with the Punisher. He's basically Death Wish in comic form, and how many Death Wish films were actually good?

Vol. 01: In the Beginning
Vol. 02: Kitchen Irish
Vol. 03: Mother Russia
Vol. 04: Up Is Down and Black Is White
Vol. 05: The Slavers
Vol. 06: Barracuda
Vol. 07: Man of Stone
Vol. 08: Widowmaker
Vol. 09: Long Cold Dark
Vol. 10: Valley Forge, Valley Forge

Though to be fair I haven't read Ennis' run so I don't really know what went on there. The initial concept of the Punisher is pretty limited however.

The initial concept of every single character is limited if you have a bad writer in the helms. And even more so if we don't bother to be imaginative about them like good writers can be.

[gunswordfist]

I was joking for once. Have you read Welcome Back, Frank? In that he sums up how the Punisher should be viewed (and how I view him) in the introduction that's done by himself and the book comes off as a tiny bit deeper because of it. As for his Max run, he basically figures out how to make multiple action movie sequels that are actually good and interesting, which is amazing in and of itself. Except Kitchen Irish. That's shit

[gunswordfist]

I hate it when superheroes' civilian identities get found out by villains. I remember watching Superman TAS as a kid and having the first Parasite episode really irritate me. It seemed as invasive as if Parasite finding out Superman's secret identity happened irl or something

[gunswordfist]

If Saga had "Produced By MTV" on the front, I would believe it was based on its content. I have no clue why that comic is popular.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

-I prefer simpler but well-defined artwork of many older manga or comics to the overly-detailed looks of many series today. I don't really know much about American comics, but I do know that the simpler yet very fluid art of someone like Steve Ditko appeals to me more than anything I've seen in the a Ultimate Marvel comics. This just an example, but there is such a thing as too much detail to the point of just feeling cluttered. On the front of manga, I'll take art from Tezuka, Chiba, or Toriyama to the overly cluttered art from Gantz (which I haven't even bothered to read in ages because it's shit, but still had to mention it), HSDK, AoT, or the later parts of One Piece. There are of course exceptions: people like Urasawa or Takehiko can do more realistic art quite well, and I actually quite like the art-style of Watsuki, who's action scenes are admittedly cluttered and hard to follows at times, but admittedly is masterful when it comes to balancing character designs and backgrounds. The things I see in most modern manga, though, just distracts the hell out of me, personally.

-I love Togashi's work, but his manga are inferior to all of their respective anime adaptations, and I do mean all of them. I guess he just has such obvious flaws that most studios have competent enough people to copy what's good and improve on what's bad or missing by default.

-REAL is a much better manga than Slam Dunk (and I love both series, which are of course both by Takehiko), but I have a feeling that it wouldn't appeal to a lot of people. The current anime and manga fandom likes seemingly big epic stories like AoT or FMA, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, big epic stories told absurdly over-the-top style, like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Kill La Kill (which I know has a manga adaptation, or at least I think it does). And they totally should be that way. I get the appeal. Why not take advantage of the medium and go crazy with the ability to defy physicist and common logic in any way that you please? I even really like the latter 2 series that I just mentioned quite a lot, but there's also the part of me that really appreciates a well-done more realistic story as well, and in some ways those hold up a bit better for me than the stylish series, as great and re-readable as those are. On the anime front, it's the part of me that likes Kids on the Slope more than Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy. I can't effectively explain exactly why, but something about it and the way it's told just really sticks with me, even if I so think that the other series are great (well, SC not so much, but once again, I get the appeal). If you look at REAL, it doesn't really have much of a set story. It just follows the lives of 3 very dysfunctional characters and how they grow and develop. And....well, I love that about it. There's no formula or specific style to it. The characters just speak for themselves through excellent writing. It's a very relaxed series, yet oddly compelling, much like KOTS. And of course, I always have love for the epics, but to me these series could hold their own with them in terms if quality, and it's a shame to me that most people just don't see them that way.

[Spark Of Spirit]

You should totally watch BECK.

-I prefer simpler but well-defined artwork of many older manga or comics to the overly-detailed looks of many series today. I don't really know much about American comics, but I do know that the simpler yet very fluid art of someone like Steve Ditko appeals to me more than anything I've seen in the a Ultimate Marvel comics. This just an example, but there is such a thing as too much detail to the point of just feeling cluttered. On the front of manga, I'll take art from Tezuka, Chiba, or Toriyama to the overly cluttered art from Gantz (which I haven't even bothered to read in ages because it's shit, but still had to mention it), HSDK, AoT, or the later parts of One Piece. There are of course exceptions: people like Urasawa or Takehiko can do more realistic art quite well, and I actually quite like the art-style of Watsuki, who's action scenes are admittedly cluttered and hard to follows at times, but admittedly is masterful when it comes to balancing character designs and backgrounds. The things I see in most modern manga, though, just distracts the hell out of me, personally.

I agree with this. Part of the advantage of the comic medium is the simplicity of delivering the story, and it's something even people like Urasawa benefit from seeing how good he is at framing one page shots and reaction panels so fluidly. It's also why the best sports manga are so good since framing and simplicity are required to make the action play- too much detail takes away from the speed of the action.

I think one of the weaknesses in a lot of modern manga, and most modern comics, is the detail put more into the backgrounds than in focusing on character reactions and framing shots. They're more interested in it looking good than their story being told well. Not all of them, of course, but it definitely seems to be a trend that I don't think looks very appealing.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

There's also plenty of cases where they put too much detail into the characters to the point of pseudo-realism, which ironically doesn't look as interesting as intended (at least not to me). When it's too much detail in the backgrounds, it distracts from the characters and makes it feel like a chore to follow what they are doing. Someone like Tetsuya Chiba has artwork that's so simple yet so fluid that he can have entire pages literally speak for themselves with character actions and expressions alone, and not a single word of expository dialogue needs to be written. In fact, let me see if I can find an out of context example of what I mean to post here....

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Here, check these out. That's 4 straight pages of absolutely no dialogue, yet they display a single character and make it clear to show that he's feeling unsettled in some regard, which you can tell even if you view it out of context. It's something that flows along nicely and compels you to turn each page. You simply can't do that if the art is far too cluttered and had to rely on dialogue for proper story progression rather than on both dialogue and art.

http://www.mangahere.co/manga/ashita_no_joe/c074/32.html

http://www.mangahere.co/manga/ashita_no_joe/c074/33.html

http://www.mangahere.co/manga/ashita_no_joe/c074/34.html

http://www.mangahere.co/manga/ashita_no_joe/c074/35.html

[gunswordfist]

Green Lantern Vs. Green Arrow is my favorite hero vs. hero fight ever.