This is a long-delayed review. I had purchased a couple of pdf’s from Twomorrows in May. (I’ve reviewed some issues of their Backissue magazine previously over several posts.) The impetus for this purchase was a book about the history of First Comics. Being a Nexus fan and interested in some of their other titles, I got that and picked up another pdf about the so-called “Dark Age” of comics.
What went wrong was that the First Comics Companion offered was a preorder . . . for November of this year! It was in the text of the ad, so that’s on me, though they could have made that line bigger and emphasized it. (Or, not offered it until it was closer to being ready.) I received and read the Dark Age pdf and bided my time . . .
Until they released a new catalogue in October, which did not offer the First Comics Companion. It was not listed on their website either. I wrote in, likely to the wrong person, to enquire about my preorder. Within a couple of days, I got a reply that it had been delayed for legal reasons. They also used to offer Superman and Batman Companion books that were also taken down, so I can believe that.
This was followed by another e-mail, which might have been sent to everyone who had made the order, which offered a refund or a substitute. I’m glad I said something. I think they’d forgotten about it. I picked a substitute and I just finished reading it.
Dark Age: Grim, Great, and Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics
I sort of forgot about this after I read it. (That’s the one-sentence review.) I was waiting for the other book to come in to review it. That didn’t happen. I then waited until I finished the replacement book, which took awhile. This is much shorter book at 174 pages.
This is a commentary of mostly 90’s comics, but also some events in the 80’s, like Crisis on Infinite Earths. I thought this was going to be more of an homage to the time, but it’s more of a criticism. It’s also not a coherent narrative. Two of the people who started this project died before it was finished. I don’t know if that had something to do with it. (Also, it’s obviously cursed.) It’s a series of articles on various topics and interviews with creators of the time. The book is mostly black and white with just a few color pages. That’s disappointing, since you subconsciously associate the era with flashy colors.
This isn’t to say it isn’t informative. There’s a history of comics section of the comics that led up to the Dark Age. There are detailed articles on Crisis (1985), The Dark Knight Returns (1986), and The Watchmen (1986). There’s also an article on the The Nam, a Vietnam War comic from the 80’s. (That’s another definite motif of the 80’s.)
There’s some reverence for that material, but then events become questionable with the advent of a second Bat-mania. There’s an interview with Denny O’Neil about the death of the Jason Todd Robin and Bane breaking Batman’s back, along with the 1989 Batman movie and a flood of interesting Batman comics. There’s good stuff in there, but it’s tinged with overwhelming commercialism.
The Dark Age seems more about sales and marketing than being grim and gritty. There’s article about Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1. Nobody ever talks about the quality of the comic book, only about how much it sold. Likewise from the article, I assume McFarlane’s Spawn is good, since it’s been around so long, but the artwork is what sells it. There’s an interview with Jim Lee about X-Men #1, another big seller, and his other works. At least those could sell with great artwork. Then there’s the Death of Superman event, which may have been the pinnacle of Dark Age marketing.
Image Comics, along with and Valiant and Defiant, are covered with interviews with some Indy creators. Some of their titles have some value, others are there for shock value. Some comics are ruined by reputation just for the marketing (Plasm #0). On the other side of the coin, there’s the more scholarly works, such as Maus and Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. Alex Ross’ paintings elevated comics to fine art.
The book goes over the clichés of the era: Big guns, Cheesecake (I will always maintain that the Jim Balent Catwoman was the best and will never apologize for it), Revamps, Enhancements, Polybags, Deaths, First Issues and Zero Issues.
At the end, there’s two lists. One has the Most Important comics of the era and the other has the Most Ludicrous (with Death of Superman appearing on both). That dichotomy seems to exemplify the era.
So, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times?” The 90’s were not the most popular era of comics, but it was when they likely got the most publicity and had the most perceived monetary value. They were hot and finally broke out their “just for kids” stigma. You could see the “Dark Ages” setting up the triumph of the MCU later.
Of course, this was when I tapped out of comics for the most part. Sandman was about the only thing that got me to the comic book store (and that title is covered briefly in the book). Most of the marketing clichés were unappealing to me, even when I purchased them as “collectors’ items.” The deaths, big guns, and violence motifs didn’t do much for me either. (Cheesecake, on the other hand . . . ) I usually look at the 80’s as My Era, where it was just fun without much in the way of trying to collect as an investment. If the 90’s were Your Era, you might get more out of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment