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From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Re: no danger / no drama
Message-ID: <822@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 19:34:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: vax2.822
Posted: Fri Jul 12 19:34:06 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 14:52:45 EDT
References: <423@carina.noao.UUCP>
Organization: The Institute for Criminal Masterminds
Lines: 69

In article <423@carina.noao.UUCP> parks@noao.UUCP (Jay Parks) writes:
>Comics will never be dramatic.  

Ah, never ever say never :-).  I think rarely would be more appropriate.

>     So.  What are we left with?  There is NO DANGER.

I think maybe you're confusing Marvel with the whole comics scene.  I have
to admit, it is AMAZING how many dead Marvel heroes have risen from the dead
-- Phoenix & Guardian had the most hoopla about their passing, and their
walking around (or soon will be).  Warlock's living in his soul gem,
apparently not paying rent or income tax.  SpiderWoman also has this
distinction.  As to villains, yah.  As many have said, it seems to be the
Marvel Age of Death.  Only Captain Marvel seems to stay dead

But all mainstream comics?  Well, perhaps it's how one defines mainstream.
I would point to First's Jon Sable comics for making death a very real
alternative.  Although Sable himself (as the main character) is probably
invulnerable (unless his sales go down :-) ), characters around him, very
interesting well-developed characters, have died.  In fact, one of the very
best sub-plots in comics is that Jon, after 30 issues of development, has
fallen in love with Myke, his illustrator; and he (and the readers, because
these are some of the most carefully drawn-out characters imaginable) is
extremely worried that the enemies he has made as a mercenary will come back
and hurt her.  Yes, I know, this is a conflict as old as Superman; but Grell
does this so well that you not only care for the character, but you can see
that it can happen.

Death also has appeared in Zot (Prince Drufus, though we see the
after-life), where it was well-done.  I wish I could point to DC, but only
Supergirl comes to mind; Abby came back (wonderfully) in Swamp Thing, and
lord only knows about Flash.

Oh, as to old age, I do recommend the Gargoyle mini-series from Marvel; I
thought that did an extremely good reproduction of the fears of growing old,
handled very sensitively.

So while "melodrama" seems to have a large following, it is not inherently
impossible for this to happen in a comic (it has before now -- just came to
mind -- Ladner in Master of Kung Fu).  And if the alternative press is
considered mainstream (I consider it so), this is really not true (although
still unusual).  I tend to think that the quality of a comic (if it is not
mainly humorous in nature) means that drama (and not melodrama) are present;
and there are many quality comics out there.

>     The point behind all this raving is that there IS hope for serious
>comic writing.  It isn't in the mainstreams, though, it's in the
>independents.

Whoops!  I guess we do agree.  Just list this article as "additional
justification". :-)

		"In the end, it will be the insects who rule the earth."
					-Noted scientist

		"In the end, who cares?"
					-Remo Williams

		"End? What end?  You whites will be with us forever."
					-Chiun, Master of Sinanju

        If he's not one thing,
           he's another. --->           Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
                                        John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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