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by beau Smith
Tube socks, leisure suits, and platform shoes. All these items are dated. along with fashion, pop culture is the other area that is quickest to become dated. music and novels stand the test of time a little better than films, television, and comic books. You also have to be able to separate nostalgia and sentiment from the product. Nostalgia can skew your view a bit.
The fantastic four by Jack Kirby
Comic books in general don’t age well. A decade passes and the next generation is quick to point out, and normally poke fun at, the slang, the pop culture references, and clothing that the characters in the comics use. As a child of the 1960s ,I can remember me and my comic book reading friends lovingly making fun of the way Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby drew the cast of Spider-Man and The fantastic four with their 1940s fashions and lingo. even though the adventures of these characters were happening in the present, Jack and Steve still drew them as they remembered things when they were young, that being the 1940s and 50s. even the cars and weapons were dated. I can remember wondering why Peter Parker (Spider-Man) dressed and talked like my grandfather and why all the men still wore fedoras. (That’s a hat, you snot nosed punks out there.)
In the late 1960s and 70s as the first generation of fans became the new writers and artists, I remembering seeing all of that change. Suddenly, the characters had longer hair, were talking about music, and referring to things that were current in the world like student protests and the war in Vietnam. I felt my favorite characters were becoming closer to me and I could relate to them a little better. Don’t get me wrong, the world of comic books was never really “at the moment cutting edge”, but being a few steps behind was better than being decades behind.
Luke Cage, Hero For Hire
As the 1980s and 90s came along, being “now” became a lot more crucial to the creators and publishers. In a lot of cases we began to see it become too much of a mission and we started to lose the compelling stories that had come before, even if they did dress and talk like a James Cagney movie. With cases like Luke Cage, Hero For Hire, the attempt to be ultra modern became comical. With his catch phrase of “Sweet Christmas!” and his metal headband, Luke Cage was like an exploitation motion picture taking itself too serious. It was a real tight wire act for publishers and creators to walk. I found this out after I broke into comics as a writer.
As a reader, you tend to forget that comic books are monthly and have deadlines. You forget that as a publisher, once the current issue is put to bed, you have to start on the next one. other than a reprint annual or trade paperback, there isn’t much financial value to last month’s issue to you as a publisher. You have to think in the now and not in the past when it pertains to advancing the stories and characters. You have to realize that what you wrote last year where you made reference to a One hit wonder song or current event is now history and may not have the impact that it once had. That’s the nature of the business. On the business/creative side, you have to deal with it and step on. If not, you lose sight of the goal to entertain NOW!
Here’s Ace!
I look back at some of the characters who appeared in the 1980s and see the Michael Jackson-like character, Ace, that editor Jim Owlsley/Priest/whatever name he goes by now, created. how dated is that? In the 1980s, you had all of these “gritty” anti-heroes wearing their standard leather duster coat, every female character had huge, jersey girl hair, and even Superman had a mullet. What I’m saying is that every decade of comics is going to seem a little funny once time passes. depend on me, today’s current relevant writers like mark Millar, Ed Brubaker, and Brian Bendis, ten years from now their stories are going to be dated and you’ll look at them with a shake of your head, a smile of nostalgia, and maybe even a “What were they thinking” expression on your face. Today’s Carlos Pacheco could be tomorrow’s Rob Liefeld. (Doubtful, but you know what I mean) If you aren’t feeling that, then the kid that’s ten years younger than you will. It happens.
As readers, we have to learn to accept this and learn to grow with our comics. look back at past issues the same way you look at your old family photos, with love. That way you will always be able to take pleasure in comics as a whole no matter what age you are. Unless you are doing a period piece, things change. We and our comics grow old. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Strange Tales #130
I thought about this recently when going through some of my childhood comics from the 1960s and found my copy of odd Tales #130 where the Human Torch and The thing from The fantastic four “Meet The Beatles.” The year was 1965 and this was as current as it got. This was a case where, as a kid, I thought this was so cool. As an adult checking out I still do, only now for a different reason. It reminds me of my youth and the passion I felt knowing that the folks at marvel Comics were “with it” because they knew what was happening ideal then and I related to that as a fourth grader. So for the length of time that it took me to reread that issue, I was once again a fourth grader with all that passion. That’s not a bad thing.
So when you’re at the comic shop, convention, or flipping through the Westfield Catalog and looking over all the current comic books that are so hip, keep in mind that as you and your comics grow older, you’ll continue to be hip as time passes. So hip it hurts. and yes, I’m talking about your hip that will need to be replaced.
Read comics and grow old with me!
Your amigo,
Beau Smith
The flying Fist Ranch
www.flyingfistranch.com