Reading comics these days is very entertaining,much as they have been for years,but lately I've been wondering if comics have pushed the "reality envelope" too far.With the TPB explosion and a lot of older comics being reprinted in an economical format(i.e. Marvel's Essential & DC's Showcase line),you can readily see how comics have gone from simple escapism & fantasy to "relevant" storytelling.The way most heroes and villains "talk" in comics are no longer drawn out/big-word soliloquies,they say things that real people would say(or as real as people could be in comics).
Civil War & Secret War have really shown these things IMO.Watchmen showed it first I think,but even after that most mainstream comics didn't take themselves seriously.Oh sure there was more "grim & gritty" storytelling but there was still a sense of,I dunno......disbelief maybe.I guess sometimes I get a sense of comics not being much fun anymore.That these days it's about relevance to the real world & such.Politics & current world situations that go on are now the focus of storylines and how this hero would fight this hero over a law instead of fighting the bad guy or beating back a scum-sucking Badoon army out to overthrow the human race.
Villains are now "Heroes" and heroes are now "villains".Is it good stortelling? Yes,I think it is.I've been riveted by the Civil War(except Civil War #5 but I digress on that one).My only question now is "What's Next?".To me this is about as real as it could get in comics.Do they continue in that vein and keep going farther & farther away from Good Guy(s)/girl(s) vs. Bad Guy(s)/Girl(s) with a bit of characterization or do they pull back a bit?
I wouldn't say all comics are like this.Far from it.Most of DC's books are good vs. bad and such & not too far from what they've been for the past 30-40 years & I enjoy a lot of their titles.Marvel on the other hand have been moving this way for a number of years and while some books like the new Ant-Man or She-Hulk books are fun reads,most of Marvel's titles have gone to the "reality side".Does anyone else see this? Do you think it's good,bad or ugly?
Thoughts are most welcome.
