I have no power within the comic industry to enact any change whatsoever. But if the people in charge of the companies answered to me, this is what I’d tell them I want to see this year.
More All-Ages Books: I’m not just buying comics for me, I’m buying them for several nephews aged 5 to 12. They like comic books, but they don’t quite love them yet (one of them is veering awfully close to that point, however). I think the only barrier to a lifelong relationship between each of them and comics is that there are limited choices for them. The DC Kids line has a lot going for it, but it can’t carry the whole load. Marvel has spun off a few A-rated titles from their mainstream books (Iron Man, Thor — no wait, that’s cancelled — Avengers) and Amazing Spider-Man is always All Ages, Dark Horse has those Star Wars/Clone Wars collected issues every few months, and Mouse Guard comes out a couple times a year. That’s a good start, but when I was their age everything DC and Marvel put out was suitable for children. I’m not suggesting everything needs to be rated A, but if another ten titles were available, it would help me out.
And no, Fraggle Rock doesn’t count. My boys don’t know what that is and they don’t care; they want action-oriented superhero stuff, not cutesy and quirky. That’ll interest them when they get to high school.
Think Long and Hard Before Dragging Yet Another Title Into Your Big Crossover Event: I am resigned to the fact that the Crises and Sieges and Eclipsos and Brightest Days are going to happen, despite my hatred of them. I can’t stop it at this point, but I also don’t have to buy it. However, if you could maybe not drag every title you publish into the storyline “just for an issue or two,” that would be great. I’m speaking of developments like the current Green Arrow book, which I picked up because I’m OK with Ollie. But when I discovered every issue was going to be a re-hash of something that happened to the guest star three months ago in Blackest Night, I feel like you’re ripping me off. I didn’t buy that crap because I don’t care, so don’t bleed it into the other books. The current “Batman Inc.” load of hogwash is the same thing — 18 Batbooks each month, and the only one I pick up at this point is Batman/Superman, because it’s exempt from that continuity-fest garbage.
Take It Easy On the Computer-Generated Effects: It is an amazing technological development that allows artists to add realistic blur effects to speeding objects, and the “shakey-cam” tool is great for adding some drama to a heavyweight fistfight between the Thing and the Hulk. But when characters not named “The Flash” are blurred when they suddenly turn their heads, it’s time to practice some restraint — forcibly, if necessary. The less you go to that well, the more impact it carries when you hit us with a little “earthquake action” during a big fracas.
Death: Is It Really the Answer?: Ultimately, yes, death is the answer for all living things. But in comics it’s become a punch line. Batman dies, Superman dies, Captain America dies, Bucky actually died in WW II and came back in the past few years (was there a huge “Bring Back Bucky” groundswell I missed? I’ll never understand why he was returned from beyond the grave), Hawkman has died so many times he actually has four completed punch cards — one more and he gets to come back as Phoenix. How about this year you don’t kill anybody, and if you do kill someone, the rights to that character transfer to a competing company? I’d love to see what a company like Dark Horse could do with Batman, and I’d also love to see the game of hot potato that erupts when the rights to Jason Todd are handed around and around — that useless conker could be the first character to die twelve times in one year in twelve different titles.
Corollary to Death: If All These Heroes Are Anti-Heroes, Who Are the Good Guys?: Once upon a time, the only anti-hero in the Marvel Universe was Wolverine and DC responded (eventually) with Lobo. These guys are like hot peppers — throw a dash into a title and things immediately become spicier, but dole ‘em out with a heavy hand and any book becomes unbearable. Earlier this year we performed a little exercise on this here blog where we ID’d the pure, untrammeled good guys in comics, and we were barely able to come up with three each. When everybody is a renegade bad-ass doing whatever it takes to win, the acts one must commit in the name of remaining a renegade bad-ass become ever-coarser. And now the dominant flavor in comics is flaming bad-ass, and it tastes terrible. Let’s dial down the angst, the grit and the mania for homicidal maniacs and try — please, *try* — to remember that the operative element in “superhero” is the “hero” part. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the modern superhero comic book without resorting to easy-killing grizzly bears in spandex who ain’t afraid o’ nothin’. The books these two created featured fallible characters who believed in doing the right thing; Kirby and Lee worked solely in the key of hero, and their books sang as a result. Most of today’s comics merely grunt. And we’re all the worse for that.
-Paul
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One of my favorite bookstores in St. Louis. Star Clipper offers not only the best selection of comic books and graphic novels in the city, but also a cornucopia of art, design and pop-culture related books and magazines. 
