I am not sure where to start, but we need to have a talk. It's mostly me. It's mostly cathartic, but I'm wondering if I'm not alone. I have been talking with Michael for quite some time about contributing to this blog and I have definitely not fulfilled my promises. That might require some explanation. Michael and I came to an understanding based on my enthusiasm for comics and the stories contained therein. His rabid enthusiasm and eternally optimistic attitude were what drew me to him and this site. I saw it as a counter to my dry realism and pessimistic outlook. A perfect balance. However, I could not foresee how bad things would get in the comic book industry.
I have engaged, as you may have, in a year's long war to justify giving DC, Marvel, Oni and the like my cash for stories and...I just can't. I can't anymore. And I can't review comics I read via scanlation/bootleg. It's WRONG. I can't abide by not giving the artist their paid dues EVEN IF I DISAGREE WITH THE CONTENT. As much as I want to tell you how I feel I can't without paying for a comic. I can't do it. Maybe its because I owned my own business. Maybe its cause I'm a 30-year-old boomer. Whatever the reason I can't review a book I didn't pay for. And I can't justify paying for these books anymore.
Marvel is inarguable in the shitter, it's not debatable. If you want to fight me, search me out on twitter @autoatauntaun1. I would love to have you prove me wrong. DC has just announced they are letting staff go. How did this happen? Well, it's no surprise to me, to Michael, really to anyone. American books have taken a turn and to explain it would take many more blogs. That brings me to this discussion.
I can not write about American books any longer. I can't because I have nothing positive say.
I have watched the heroes I grew up with destroyed by the very people I idolized writing them. Brian Michael Bendis has ruined Superman, Dan Slott let me down with Superior Spiderman, Nick Spencer destroyed my expectations with Captain America. And let me tell you, I embraced all these stories, I wanted them to work. I loved Superior spiderman...TILL THE END. I championed turning Captain America to a Hydra agent as an interesting and fresh take on his origin in a new age.
It was reading BMB's re-imagining of Superman and his retaliation against Lois and their son that broke me.
Really it was my debates with Michael in person, I find them refreshing and so rejuvenating. He is the driving force of this site and having to kill his hopes and dreams was too much. I don't want to spend all my time being negative and pissing on the dreams of others. Having to constantly say,
"your wrong" and " you believe in a false god", it suits no one because I want to have his faith, I want to feel like he does. I want the optimism of a kid buying The Carnage Saga, Infinity War, and Crisis on Infinite Earths. I want to feel the hope and excitement of a boy buying punisher war journal,not the letdown of watching punisher on Netflix. I want the surprise of the Jim Shooter and Defalco Era story arc like Who is the Hobgoblin... I want my personal views and opinions challenged by the X men of Jim Lee but, to be honest, I have to admit to you I don't think I can ever have that again.
Comics have always stood as a medium to challenge the standing norms of society. They have ceased this function. They serve as a regurgitation machine of the consensus of society. The X men were an argument against the red purges of the 1950s and the anti-miscegenation laws. Spiderman was a rebellion against the concept of the Übermench and a proclamation that the everyman, with all his faults, could be powerful. And his vulnerability was a strength, not a weakness. The Punisher was a morality play to show us that our justified rage at the justice system unleashed was not just imperfect but exactly why our justice system existed, despite our power fantasy. These concepts are non-existent in our modern American books.....and so they are dead to me.
I cannot honestly review comic books any longer. Anything I tell you would be tainted, and filled with bias, malice, and animosity. I predicted the Netflix Marvel shows would all fail and be canceled cause they stopped challenging our understanding. If you want, check out my review of why Iron Fist was canceled. I'm not linking to it cause honestly, it's common sense. From here on out I will be writing exclusively about Manga and anime. Aside from the fact that I adore them personally, the numbers don't lie. Anime and Manga have overtaken American media by 25% + in many markets, and Marvel and DC have just announced layoffs in the realms of 13 %. This is the end of an era. It's time to send off comic books.
They are dead and my eulogy is way overdue.
With that being said, please look for my impending reviews of:
My hero academia
Heroes of the Galactic Empire
Inuyasha
One punch man
Mob psycho 100
Gundam Thunderbolt
and many others.
I hope we can find a middle ground. As I don't plan to release my synopsis of any of the other Netflix series as my prediction they would all be canceled came true nullifying any further discussion. I spent many hours on them, however, it would all be perceived as negativity and I want to move forward discussing things I love, rather than things I hate and proclaiming how I know they will fail. I hope you can understand this moving forward. And that when I DO post a negative argument it's only cause I want the subject of what I'm discussing to improve cause I care about it. Most who criticize are just hoping you get better.
Here is to the future and hoping American books take a page from Manga and institute fan polls like they did in the past so my kids can have heroes who challenge them and that they can have an input on.
I hope you have enjoyed and again I look forward to talking more about Manga and Anime with you!
-Automatauntaun
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