I don't know whether I have just gotten old, or if years of hype have just made me jaded, but I am not impressed with DC and Marvel's big events this year. I liked Civil War, the various Crisis stories were ok and even enjoyed 52, Countdown... not so much, but Final Crisis & Secret Invasion are just boring me.
I picked up the first 3 issues of Secret Invasion and while I'm not saying that the story completely sucked, I just didn't "feel it". I didn't really care, which happens more and more with me and Marvel books these days. Granted I have always been more of a DC guy, but I still have my favorite Marvel characters and with those few exceptions I just couldn't care less about this event. As far as I'm concerned it isn't even happening.
Now as for DC, my comic book company of choice, I am waaaay underwhelmed with Final Crisis. The only joy I've gotten out of it so far is the fact that Martian Manhunter is finally out of the picture, at least for a while( I can't explain it, I just don't like the character). As a matter of fact I enjoyed the Sinestro Corps from last year a lot more. I'm especially looking forward to the Blackest/Darkest Night storyline coming next year. Maybe it is due to the fact I have never liked or cared about the New Gods, or the fact they are wearing out the Crisis theme, but Final Crisis isn't anymore interesting to me than what Marvel is doing this summer. Honestly, the biggest events that have been happening at either company have been in the individual books themselves.
The death and replacement of Captain America has been a great story line. The previously mentioned Sinsestro Corps was fantastic and the Hulk has been pretty good ever since the Planet Hulk story... well mostly anyway. As for the big events in Spiderman...as far as I'm concerned Spidey's books quit being published and he is now nothing more than a movie franchise to me(the books are dead to me, though Spidergirl & Ultimate Spidey are kind of fun). At least until they decide to re-reverse the mess they have made of that continuity/character. Don't even get me started on Batman. They should just kill him and get it over with, the movies are better than the series at this point anyway.
So maybe I am jaded and cynical after many, many years of reading comics. Maybe I've just seen the same stories done over and over enough times that I quit caring. In that time I've seen worlds destroyed and remade, characters marry, divorce, die and return from the dead. The sad part is that most of those stories involve the same few characters.
There has been debate for years over what "age" of comics we are in now... Bronze, Lead, Copper, Pewter.... actually I don't even care I just want to read good books, with good stories and it seems we are hitting a bit of slup once again. (Though I will give companies like Image and Dynamite cred for doing some really good stuff. )I think that instead of rehasing the same things over and over again with the same characters it might just be time to let the old guard step down. When the Silver Age hit it brought with it the next generation of characters and maybe that is what comic books need right now. Maybe it is time for the sidekicks and kids to step up, continue the legacy and take their place as the new generation of heroes. Or maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy.
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