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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2020 7:42:52 GMT -5
I remember when PP:TSSM hit the news stands. It was a pretty big deal. At that time Spidey had ASM & MTU (Marvel Tales was a reprint title). Outside of Superman, Batman, Archie and Richie Rich most characters really didn't star in multiple titles until the direct market started. News stand space was limited and comics had to compete with other magazines. In comic shops the only competition was with other with other comic book publishers. So it became common place to flood the shelves with your best selling characters. This led to several Green Lantern titles, 3 Punisher titles and a dozen X-Men titles...
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 11, 2020 10:02:43 GMT -5
Please correct any mistakes I may make, but didn’t John Byrne’s reboot follow a similar approach? If I remember correctly, Action Comics was the team-up book that was sort of a replacement for DC Comics Presents, The Adventures of Superman focused on Clark and his supporting cast while Superman was, erm, well just an action-packed Superman book. It is good when multiple titles have their own “flavour”. You are correct. Man I REALLY miss team up titles! Anyway I know many liked the triangle era of Superman (which led to Batman and Spider-Man doing the same thing). That took away the uniqueness of each title and made the 3-4 titles essentially a weekly. There were advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. The thematic approach allowed you to pick whichever books appealed, without feeling like you had to get everything. The Triangle Era continuation of the story across titles allowed for longer stories, in s shorter span of publishing time. You could get a 6-issue epic in a month and a half, instead of 6 months. Something to be said for both approaches. However, if the storyline wasn't compelling, then you felt like you were wasting money on substandard books, if you were subscribing (directly or at your LCS). The thematic approach often meant only one or two Superman titles might appeal to a reader. I read Superman, but only sporadically picked up Adventures of and Action. Action was especially a prisoner of the guest star. I started picking up Adventures when there was a compelling storyline. They tested the Triangle idea, early on, during Legends, when the Superman titles all revolved around Superman on Apokalips, under the spell of Amazing Grace. Then, they started to interact more with the batman crossover, the eradicator storyline, and Superman sleepwalking as Gangbuster. People responded, so they went whole hog, after adding a monthly Man of Steel.
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Post by The Cheat on Jul 11, 2020 13:46:10 GMT -5
Even after 20 years of reading American comics, the monthly frequency still feels weird and unnatural to me. Smaller weekly chunks are far more likely to keep me interested.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2020 13:57:36 GMT -5
Even after 20 years of reading American comics, the monthly frequency still feels weird and unnatural to me. Smaller weekly chunks are far more likely to keep me interested. I'm the opposite, longer intervals between but complete storylines all in one chunk would be my preference. Even stuff I buy monthly stays unread until I have a large chunk of it to read more often than not. Smaller weekly chunks would almost guarantee I trade wait for collections rather than purchase installments, if I read it at all. -M
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Post by donaldg on Jul 11, 2020 20:56:02 GMT -5
The thought of taking high-grade comics and trimming them for binding purposes crawls my blood....and yet these are original comics all the same....would be hard-pressed to leave the finished product behind....
For a Golden, Silver, or very early Bronze Age comic, or a Near Mint one, I wouldn't do it. For mid-grade Bronze or newer, especially those in the VG to Fine range that after 35 to 45 years still guide for the approximate cost of a new modern comic fresh off the stands, I have done it for binding purposes and will do it again.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2020 9:24:40 GMT -5
In an early first season episode of SMALLVILLE, Clark Kent temporarily loses his powers. This makes him immune to Kryptonite. In the episode, Clark is on a field trip with his geology class.. The students are collecting rocks. One student, Eric, finds a meteor rock. Later on, a bolt of lightning hits Clark and Eric while Eric is holding meteor rock. This strips Clark of his powers and transfers them to Eric.
So while Clark becomes immune to Kryptonite, it becomes a weakness to Eric.
I don’t get that.
Kryptonite’s effect on Clark is about Clark’s Kryptonian physiology. Stripped of his powers, the Kryptonite should still be lethal to him, surely? Being stripped of your powers is one thing, but you don’t suddenly gain human physiology. Clark is still an alien. On the other side of the coin, while Eric gained Clark’s powers, he remained human - with human physiology. The Kryptonite rocks should not affect him.
Oh well. It served a storyline purpose, I guess. Doesn’t make much sense, though.
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Post by rberman on Jul 12, 2020 9:50:38 GMT -5
In an early first season episode of SMALLVILLE, Clark Kent temporarily loses his powers. This makes him immune to Kryptonite. In the episode, Clark is on a field trip with his geology class.. The students are collecting rocks. One student, Eric, finds a meteor rock. Later on, a bolt of lightning hits Clark and Eric while Eric is holding meteor rock. This strips Clark of his powers and transfers them to Eric. So while Clark becomes immune to Kryptonite, it becomes a weakness to Eric. I don’t get that. Kryptonite’s effect on Clark is about Clark’s Kryptonian physiology. Stripped of his powers, the Kryptonite should still be lethal to him, surely? Being stripped of your powers is one thing, but you don’t suddenly gain human physiology. Clark is still an alien. On the other side of the coin, while Eric gained Clark’s powers, he remained human - with human physiology. The Kryptonite rocks should not affect him. Oh well. It served a storyline purpose, I guess. Doesn’t make much sense, though. Sounds like something that would happen in the Silver Age, or even the early Bronze.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 12, 2020 11:06:27 GMT -5
In an early first season episode of SMALLVILLE, Clark Kent temporarily loses his powers. This makes him immune to Kryptonite. In the episode, Clark is on a field trip with his geology class.. The students are collecting rocks. One student, Eric, finds a meteor rock. Later on, a bolt of lightning hits Clark and Eric while Eric is holding meteor rock. This strips Clark of his powers and transfers them to Eric. So while Clark becomes immune to Kryptonite, it becomes a weakness to Eric. I don’t get that. Kryptonite’s effect on Clark is about Clark’s Kryptonian physiology. Stripped of his powers, the Kryptonite should still be lethal to him, surely? Being stripped of your powers is one thing, but you don’t suddenly gain human physiology. Clark is still an alien. On the other side of the coin, while Eric gained Clark’s powers, he remained human - with human physiology. The Kryptonite rocks should not affect him. Oh well. It served a storyline purpose, I guess. Doesn’t make much sense, though. There were a lot of this that didn't make sense on that show, especially the first season. They did take a slightly different track with many things; so, you can't apply the comic history to it. For instance, that season's big theme was the :"freak of the week," as the meteors that came down with Clark caused mutations and were the source for superpowers. Thankfully, they mostly dropped that by the second season. Too bad they didn't fix Lana's 2 and only 2 expressions. Erica Durance was a breath of fresh air when she turned up.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 12, 2020 13:08:00 GMT -5
I loved Smallville. I thought the Lana Lang years were great. I dropped it the last 3 years.
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Post by The Cheat on Jul 12, 2020 13:43:14 GMT -5
Even after 20 years of reading American comics, the monthly frequency still feels weird and unnatural to me. Smaller weekly chunks are far more likely to keep me interested. I'm the opposite, longer intervals between but complete storylines all in one chunk would be my preference. Even stuff I buy monthly stays unread until I have a large chunk of it to read more often than not. Smaller weekly chunks would almost guarantee I trade wait for collections rather than purchase installments, if I read it at all. -M Finite series (even stuff like Fables at 150 issues) I prefer to read in one go all the way through. More soap opera type stuff I prefer weekly. Monthly for me is the worst of all worlds.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 12, 2020 13:51:29 GMT -5
I loved Smallville. I thought the Lana Lang years were great. I dropped it the last 3 years. I was surprised that it ran as long as it did. Same with Heroes, who might as well have dropped off the face of the map during Season 2
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 12, 2020 13:54:14 GMT -5
Many shows stay too long. I have the first 3 seasons in Dvd. I enjoyed that he put the S on in the last episode.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2020 14:11:09 GMT -5
In my opinion, SMALLVILLE should have been told within five seasons. No more. As time went on, it felt like they contrived reasons to keep Clark from realising his destiny/moving on/moving from Smallville. You can only drag something out so long before everything becomes contrived.
I can’t compare BABYLON 5 with SMALLVILLE as it’s the whole apples/oranges thing. But JMS had a story to tell within five seasons for B5 - and it worked. Had he dragged it out for 10 or more seasons, the storyline, and sub-plots, would have been contrived. Less is more at times.
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Post by rberman on Jul 12, 2020 14:18:58 GMT -5
In my opinion, SMALLVILLE should have been told within five seasons. No more. As time went on, it felt like they contrived reasons to keep Clark from realising his destiny/moving on/moving from Smallville. You can only drag something out so long before everything becomes contrived. I can’t compare BABYLON 5 with SMALLVILLE as it’s the whole apples/oranges thing. But JMS had a story to tell within five seasons for B5 - and it worked. Had he dragged it out for 10 or more seasons, the storyline, and sub-plots, would have been contrived. Less is more at times. Indeed, even Season 5 of B5 was tacked on later (after most of the original Seasons 4-5 were compessed into Season 4), and felt like it. There were scattered good moments in Season 5 wrapping up the Londo/G'Kar story, but the Garibaldi elements replayed a story already told about him in Season 1. That said, the finales of both Season 4 and Season 5 were terrific, so I'm glad we got both of them.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2020 14:22:29 GMT -5
I know it’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback, and people who produce TV have far more talent than I ever could have, but I think five seasons of SMALLVILLE would have been ideal. There was a lot of great development in the first season even though I got a bit bored of “meteor freak of the week” episodes. By season 3 we could have had Lex and Clark’s friendship deteriorate. And season 5 could have been about Clark leaving Smallville and taking up his destiny as Lex takes over at Luthorcorp.
Past season 5 or whatever, I didn’t care as much.
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