This Is Why Comics Were Better 30 Years Ago! 

I'm Gen X. Most modern comics are terrible. Decompression is one reason I stopped buying new comics. I feel like I'm getting ripped off, paying 4 or 5 dollars for something I can read in 5 minutes. I agree with you that writers were incentivized to decompress because it allowed them to be lazier in terms of creating new story ideas. Some of these modern comics crack me up - dragging out stories for years on end just to get an omnibus treatment, way past their shelf life. I also think the advent of superhero movies and TV shows encouraged the decompression in comics too. I noticed they both started about the same time; around the early 2000's. Most decompressed comics are the same repeated panel angles from a flat angle - more like a movie storyboard. I've often suspected that modern writers are thinking of their story in terms of a live-action show or movie, instead of a comic (whether intentionally or unintentionally; I don't know) and that's how it ends up on the page.

And they were even better 50 years ago.

50th Like 53rd Comment, Wow!!!!

Another great video!

54. I prefer story value for my money. I'm not going to pay 4.99 CAD for a comic I'm done with in 5 minutes. I'll go through the back issue bins and spend 5.00 CAD on a comic from the '70s or '80s. The text in comics wasn't just explanation, but was often literate prose. Also too, many comics writers used to make great use of thought balloons which have seemed to have disappeared of late. BUT, I don't think this is a manga versus comic thing. Back in the '80s I was also reading Lone Wolf And Cub... IMO it is that every comic is now a potential IP for a movie studio and film makers think visually, so they have removed the narration boxes and thought balloons to up-sell their characters to Hollywood. I guess this makes the monthly floppies a loss leader and the resulting 'graphic novel' the profitable product. They of course can be sold at bookstores in that format. There's two thingsmore.

31 and I like visual storytelling more. If I want more prose I'd pick up a novel

I am back issue/mostly bronze collector so I definitely prefer the older stories. I feel like more care went into the stories and I prefer the grimy classic art of McFarlane, Milgrom, and Saviuk, plus Romita-esque artists (Kane, Andru, Buscema, Byrne). I actually feel my reading stamina has worsened since I've started reading more. Tik Tok/distracted reader. Lol. I also feel like there's a lot more emphasis on covers /variants in modern comic which have nothing to do with story. Indies have found a good balance (good art and sufficient dialogue). Rambling. Have a great one 👍🏼👍🏼🎃🎃

I prefer the older or more traditional style of storytelling and always appreciated the soft reboot in each issue. Even as a kid this was helpful because I was reading so many comics month to month. This motivated me to try new comics regardless of the issue number because I trusted the process to provide the introductions and context I needed to jump into the story with any issue. I didn't go into my LCS and only pick up issue number ones. This is why series were not rebooted as often as they are today because the publishers feel like they need to manufacture these jumping on points. I don't try a new comic and look up all the characters online to figure out what's going on; I should be able to get everything I need from the comics. Also: I need The Wahoo backstory sprinkled throughout each video! Let's make this happen.

Awesome video bud 👍 30 years ago was when i was collecting comics. 🔥 👊 🔥 Have a good week bro!

I never really read much at all in my life. I actually didnt get into comics until 2020 or so. But I am dyslexic, so I could never read books without getting really tired. I would read a page and by the time I got to the end of it, I had struggled so much that I didn't really comprehend it. So I would read it again and again. I would get a couple pages into a book and be fried. But when I started reading comics, I found them much easier to read in smaller bite sized chunks. And now I read a lot. Something I never thought I would be able to do. That being said, one of my favorite comics of all time, The Me You Love in the Dark, has very little words. But I find it so incredibly emotional and tells such a great personal story. Whenever there's a comic with a paragraph in each panel, I get bogged down and really taken out of it.

I'm a Gen Xers. I like a good balance of story and art. Because I'm reading so many new books I prefer a lighter story side. Some stories are so complicated it forces me to re-read to keep all of the details straight.

I'm 52 (Gen X!) and I prefer more story and miss that with the newer titles. More dialog and narration usually means more character and world development, giving more insight into characters, individualizing and humanizing them. But it depends a lot on the writer. There are good writers today and there were bad writers in the 70s/80s, haha. Visual-heavy/story-lite comics do take much less time to read, so I feel like with the shift to the direct market, with older, more affluent customers, there was an attempt to capitalize on selling more titles. I think people want to spend a certain amount of time reading comics, so they'll buy 2 now for every 1 they used to buy. But the art is often so beautiful that I don't really feel like I'm being ripped off. It's just become a more expensive hobby, haha.

52 yo Gen-X'er here. I got back into comics about five years ago, and this is my number-one complaint about new comics. I won't single out titles here, but some of the new-release comics I've bought recently have about as much content as a Doctor Seuss book. The text and dialog must be strong as it is the backbone of every comic. I don't need a full novel for each issue, but at least prioritize the written medium. I would say publishers should maintain a standard comparable to 1990s books. At the bare minimum. To be honest, I believe publishers are intentionally stretching out storylines now just to get the money from alternate cover sales. From the videos I've watched, it seems the page rates are awful now, so it's hard to get experienced writers.

I fondly remember Legion and its 9 panel pages. That was a long read every month.

As a side note, I also tend to like the storytelling tool of "show, don't tell". I feel like if you can get the same thing across with less words, you almost always should. It feels so much more rewarding as a reader to decipher what a character is feeling rather than being told what he is feeling.

the old cartoons and tv shows used to have a quick exposition during the recaps or flash forawrds. i liked the yellow highlighted box that refers the reader to a previous comic # when an *asterisk is in the dialog bubble. so fun to go back and look for that specific comic book in the shelves.

56- I have ADD when it comes to reading. As a kid I remember the simpler the Sunday funnies the better. Stuff like Dunesbury was too much reading. Where I prefer Dennis the Menace or Peanuts. As I got older I appreciated Family Circus or Far side. Keep it simple. That’s why I really like the newer books and thumbing through all the great art. Another great topic- enjoyed! Finally, Is Virginia really for lovers? 👍❤️

Great video and discussion. I still prefer older books when it comes to DC & Marvel. Those 2 def try dragging out the story longer nowadays. Thats why I prefer many indie books (such as Witcher, Something Epic, anything Jeff Lemire & more) because they do arcs that go 4,5 or so issues then take a break and come back with another full story for 4-5 or so issues. Is it me does it also feel like there are more ads now in today’s books?? Great job as always coming up with an interesting topic to discuss. Thanks for sharing. Have a great week. Be well. 🤙

Although those older readers in the 1970's didnt need explanations of the Mandarin's rings, there was a fad for back issue references, people were flipp'n books soo much in the 70s cuz of hype for back issue references Gene Simmons was do'n it, so you know it was cool lol, but unlike in the 80's, although people were flippn, the market in the 70s was mainly about searching for back issues for reading and collecting, not for speculating on making ten to a hundred to a thousand times the books cover price. At the end of the day the companies that own these IP now are the antithesis to brick and mortar since there is more ROI from data-mining the login account used to sample a free comic book online -just like w/the iphone our access to technology will be further restricted to some virtual world, as parking lots and grueling traffic and remote junk food are what the physical world will only really be about in this fake evil entity the former-USA... The global conglomerates that run our lives could give a $hit about comics... Revolution no evolution or get ready to have your comics rejected since all those plastic bags are going to be considered a carbon footprint penalty, they were raised to hate non-vaxd and soon they will hate people that own plastic, comics like everything else will have no value to "people" / consumers / scum that make up this fake country,... we're fukd G money we're done dawg, lmao!! Sequential story-telling of any quality demands both sik story and dope illustrating wtf both of which are anti-'american' concepts...

Love these out of the box think tank discussions. 👊 Great content! I agree, I want more story, too. I like the story writing from 30 years ago better, but I prefer the card stock paper of today.

Give me the art, the art in today's comics is so much better. Most of the superhero stories are the same over and over again so if that art can make that world better I am all for it. We know the setups and the stories so they can move them along faster, and we understand what's happening. We don't need need our hands held breaking down the "why".

I'm 43, and I like both for different reasons but if I could only have 1 I'd go with the newer style over the old. Because on occasion the newer style has stories that are paced good, and not drawn out. And the older books rarely if ever had artwork to today's standards.