Someone Else’s Toys

Posted by johnamor | Filed under Rants

A fresh page scanned, a new podcast posted.  I am sitting here at my desk on a cold Thursday morning, staring at the teaser image for Johns’ and Lee’s new Justice League, which is to debut in three months.  The day was filled with the internet din of rumor mongering and shocking confirmations of DC resetting their entire universe and launching fifty-two first issues from September onward.

They’re starting from scratch.

Will this stick?  Or is this yet another Heroes Reborn event Jim Lee is involved with?  I don’t know.  But this all reminds me of something Skottie Young said on a podcast, during one of his more lucid moments:  “Ten years, pussies.  That’s it.  And you’re done.”  He was referring to the number of “good” years one comic fan can really call his own.  A decade.  After that, it becomes clear how cyclical the industry is, and how convoluted histories need to be reset in order for new readers to jump on board.  And then you make a subconscious choice between continuing or ending your fandom, knowing this nature of comics.

Having been exposed to comics by my older brother, I’ve been in love with the art form since I was four years old.  Comics taught me how to read.  Comics taught me how to draw.  And probably most importantly, comics taught me how to be passionate about telling stories.  And in spite of being held at the mercy of retcons and reboots for almost thirty years now, with Skottie’s logic in mind, I have enjoyed comics enough for three fans’ lives.

And here we are again.  Another jumping-on point for some, a potential jumping-off point for others.

But you know what?  Just because heroes and characters we’ve loved for so long need to start from scratch, doesn’t mean the adventures we enjoyed as children are undone.  No one’s taking them away.  What this means is that it’s time for new children to enjoy these stories, and for these characters to be someone else’s toys.  And if that means comics can be enjoyed for more decades to come, then I’m all for it.

Tags: , ,

Permalink | June 1st, 2011

4 Responses to “Someone Else’s Toys”

  1. Nick Santos Says:
    June 1st, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    Awww, I like that little touching moment about the children at the end. Get it? “Touching” “children” Lol, your gross. Great article though man. When you look at it that way I guess we were really lucky to grow up in the era of comics that we did.

  2. johnamor Says:
    June 1st, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    I completely agree.

    Except about the touching children part.

    Weirdo.

  3. Budjette Tan Says:
    June 2nd, 2011 at 4:13 am

    “ … I probably need to explain once again why I don’t stay long on company-owned works. It’s as simple as this — if I don’t own it, I’m not going to spend my life on it.

    “Or, if you like: you can only paint someone else’s house for so long before you start thinking that it might be nice to own your own house one day.

    “I’m okay with painting other people’s houses for short periods, because I’m good at it and it pays well and on nice days it’s fun. But I never ever confuse painting a house for owning that house. And if I spent every waking hour painting other people’s houses, I wouldn’t be able to build houses of my own.

    “The more creators who only took on housepainting as a part-time gig, the healthier this medium would be.” – warren ellis

  4. johnamor Says:
    June 2nd, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    That’s still easily my favorite and most inspiring bit of wisdom from him. Thanks Budj.

Leave a Reply