I mean, that would imply that I read the book, and I was so bored stiff by Justice League that I stopped reading at #3.

As for GL, he didn’t so much blow Roy’s code name as start to call him “Roy” in front of the bad guys and try to recover - perfectly belivavnle, IMHO.

Albert, you bring up an interesting point. We do tend to fall back on the comics we grew up on and as a late 30-something, Venom wasn’t even in the mind’s eye of his creators when I was reading comics.

I don’t mind “dark” or “moody” comics or somewhat intense storylines to a degree. We have read all the Potter books to our girl, even when she was 5 and 6. Well, not all of them. We stopped at the third because even they are getting a bit darker and intense than she is ready. As designed, of course, as Rowling is supposedly writing for the age of her characters, who are nearly adults by the last book.

And I also do agree that comics aren’t much different than mainstream television but I don’t let my daughter within 10 yards of mainstream television, as well as most mainstream comics. Which is too bad. I have to wonder if this effort to make comics more “adult” to appeal to their older audience isn’t hurting the up and coming readers. I know, it has been said before but it is sad when my daughter’s choices are a mere handful of comics and even then, I have a hard time taking her to the store for fear of having to explain what is on the covers of all the other comics. Ugh. Our shop is great and do a good job of keeping the young kid’s comics off to the side and they tend to have only the most tasteful and classic art on the walls (giant poster of New Frontier, those Alex Ross posters, t-shirts, Iron Man’s helmet, etc.) but still.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I will definitely give the Adventure line a look for her AND myself!

I would have to say yes comics are more fun, and more complex in the modern age. I do admit that some rare mainstream moments in comics have become too dark and gritty (Identity crisis, etc.), but for the most part comics retain a good deal of restraint, imagination, and realism that makes for exciting dramatic stories. The subject-matter is not more darker, sexual, or more violent than original fairy tales (Hansel and Gretel), children’s books (Goosebumps), television shows, animated movies, fantasy movie trilogies (lord of the rings, star wars) and most popularly the Harry Potter series.

I guess I can see how a comic reader can long for the simpler, brighter, and more optimistic eras in comic book history, especially if you have fond memories of those stories. But from my 20-something youth, I still remember intense, dark comic book stories from my youth that may be darker and more grittier than current titles, like the Venom arc, the Brood in X-men, X-force, Avengers, esp. Annual #10, Image books like Youngblood and Spawn, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Wolverine books with covers depicting heaps of dead bodies. This trend is nothing new in comic books. True, there are more tragic deaths now and moral instability in comic books, as meta-referenced in the recent Infinite Crisis series, but there is always a certain standard of heroism and moral rectitude that is maintained. You have to buck up though and not be so squeamish, because comics are just adapting to and reflecting the complicated culture of the 20th century modern world which we live in, with the War on Terror, popular shows like 24 and Grey’s Anatomy, barrages of information from Wikipedia, sensational human reality displayed on Youtube.com, and celebrity obsessions like Paris Hilton and Mel Gibson. Comics are not simple anymore, because we don’t live in simple times.

Probably won’t be in the Wednesday Number Ones, but remind us in the comments on the WNO thread and one of us can probably throw in an opinion on that.

Murphy wrote:
Randy - I’ve seen Queen & Country on the shelves, but never given it a look. What’s the hook on that one?

Basic premise: A female spy working for M.I.5 gets involved in various missions, and the pressure of “the life” leads her to a more and more self-destructive personal lifestyle. Very dark and realistic take on espionage, with a cast of rotating artists.

fil wrote:
I really misunderstood the Marvel Adventure line. I had thought it was new art and slightly updated storylines of the old Stan Lee runs of Spidey, Avengers and FF. Are they “new” stories, then? Are they truly all-ages?

Yes and yes. Marvel really botched their all-ages rollout with Marvel Age, and then didn’t distinguish clearly enough the difference with Marvel Adventures. I love them now, but it took me about a year to even notice them.

But at any rate, they’re truly all-ages, in the same vein as the Batman Animated series comics and that kind of thing. OK, maybe not *quite* as good as those, and they’re a little too single-issue focused to really keep a long-time readers’ attention, but they’re guaranteed to nab the attention of the 7-10 set, at least. And some of them, like the most recent Fantastic Four issues and the Parker-penned issues of Avengers, have been great reads.

These would *absolutely* be good for a 7-year-old girl who is expressing interest in comics. It kills me to hear that your 7-year-old expresses interest and you can’t show them to her, because it’s *exactly* what I fear every time I see another issue of the murderous, dark stuff that permeates big superhero projects like the new Justice League or Justice Society, Civil War and 52.

Heck, that should be a podcast…Are Comics Fun Anymore??

Don’t need a podcast for that one. Just one-line. Nope.

Well, OK, it’s not that bad. There are fun comics, they just don’t sell in the hundreds of thousands like the dark, angsty ones. And even the fun comics, like She-Hulk or Beyond or Superman Confidential, seem to have darker elements that creep in. But there are pure fun comics out there, like All-Star Superman, The Spirit and Godland, to name a few off the top of my head.

As far as Queen & Country goes, it’s definitely something you should check out. Here are a couple of Randy’s older reviews of it, before he got tired of reviewing it all the damn time:

http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/snapjudgments/092401/queenandcountry4.shtml

http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/snapjudgments/121701/queenandcountry5.shtml

Damn, that was a long sentence.

Anyway, Marvel Adventures = Good (and often better), Marvel Age = Not So Much.

Oh, and to echo an earlier poster, I also disagree with Nick’s take on Stormwatch PHD. The team is coming together, they plan a takedown of a villain which *almost* works, and Fahrenheit’s story is keeping me interested. It wasn’t the best issue ever, but it was far from bad. I must admit I’m not Doug Mahnke’s biggest fan, though.

Would this Marvel Adventure Line do for her? Or is it still geared to a bit older, like 10 or 12 (at which point, I have to wonder if she will still be interested in comics at all)? It seems I might enjoy them based on these reviews. Hell, I seriously have missed fun ol’ timey superhero books. You know, the ones with superheroes doing super deeds to save the world and stuff. Civil War has dragged the entire Marvel Line through the mud and has no sense of fun or adventure. Crisis did the same for DC. Only the Annihiliation storyline, even with its overall dread, had fun and superheroic moments that made for cool comics.

Heck, that should be a podcast…Are Comics Fun Anymore??

That said, any other hints about the Marvel Adventure Line would be great.

And I’d love to check out some of Oni’s one shot horror novels.

I think that sentence can pretty much sum up Meltzer’s comics career, actually.

Ebrahim Aldosary said:
I took your advice and got Marvel Adventures Avengers #1 when it first came out, and I’m still reading that series. I guess I’ll have to give MAFF a try.

I should say that I’ve only read issues #18 and #19 of MAFF, and it does have regularly changing creative teams. So you might flip through a digest before picking it up. But from casual glances at past issues, I know the art has been good pretty much throughout.

Michael said:
Let’s start a petition drive to kill “Reddy” once and for all.

The nickname, or the character? I’m onboard the former, but I think the character is a good one. Actually, while I’m generally unimpressed with Meltzer’s Justice League thus far (I stopped reading as of issue #3), I will say that the one thing I do like is some of the more unusual choices for the roster. Vixen, Black Lightning, Red Tornado… I like seeing these guys on the team. I’m not buying the Arsenal instead of Green Arrow substitution (reads too much like the author’s hand, as opposed to a choice the characters would make), and not thrilled that he’s taken Black Canary away from Birds of Prey, for all intents and purposes… but I like Vixen, BL and Tornado on the team.

Murphy said:
I’m really impressed with ‘the Damned’. I thought the idea was somewhat contrived at first, reminding me of ‘Cast a Deadly Spell’ (HBO original movie combining Lovecraft with the hard-boiled), but this is far superior and achieves more than it’s ‘high-concept’ underpinnings usually allow.

Between this and ‘Wasteland’, Oni has my full attention right now.

Remind me, have you ever read Queen & Country? If not, you should definitely give those trades a look, it’s another great series from Oni. Oni also has a lot of cool horror one-off graphic novels… maybe I ought to loan you a few of those, see if any of them catch your interest.

Between this and ‘Wasteland’, Oni has my full attention right now.

The whole Green Lantern bungling Arsenal’s name just doesn’t wash. How can a guy who has to think fast to survive, not be able to recall a colleague’s codename?

Let’s start a petition drive to kill “Reddy” once and for all.