10 Most Harmful Trends In Comics Today
6. Corporate BS...
Rumour has it that Marvel Comics has to kill 4 major characters a year due to contractual obligations.
Four. Major. Characters.
Every. Single. Year.
That, friends, is a wonderful example of corporate BS leeching all the fun out of comics.
In the old days, when a character died, it was cause for alarm. It was a banner moment in your reading life. Where were you when Robin was murdered by The Joker, or when Superman died fighting Doomsday? What about Hal Jordan? Barry Allen? It mattered more back then because it didnt happen as often.
4 deaths a year? That means that the audience will soon become even more immune to comic book deaths than they already are. It also means that, once you kill the hero, some poor jobbing hack has to figure out a way to bring them back to life, which gets less and less forgivable with each passing attempt.
If a character dies via necessity at the end of a story, fine, but it just happens all the time these days. When it gets to the point that fans can set their watch by it? Forget it. It makes the entire industry appear amateurish and stupid.