Growing sick of the industry

Why is it that the big two only seem to be turning the same stuff we've already seen before?

List of examples please?

It's the same trend we're also seeing in Hollywood and the video game industry. They've become so big and corporate that they're becoming risk-adverse. Better to stick to the beaten path than try something new and risk losing money. The ironic part is that this kind business strategy tends to inevitably cause customers to become bored and disenchanted, and sales drop.

@Shadow_Thief said:

It's the same trend we're also seeing in Hollywood and the video game industry. They've become so big and corporate that they're becoming risk-adverse. Better to stick to the beaten path than try something new and risk losing money. The ironic part is that this kind business strategy tends to inevitably cause customers to become bored and disenchanted, and sales drop.

you're saying that things like the DCnU are "risk-adverse"?

@DrkImmrtl said:

Why is it that the big two only seem to be turning the same stuff we've already seen before?

Because us stupid comic fans live in nostalgia,it's why Jeph Loeb even has a job.

You may have been reading the same comics too long? None of them were designed to run 40+ years; less for the same people to read them for a prolonged amount of time. Try something else, perhaps.

Because creativity is dead. Just kidding. If you are tired of the big 2 then take a break for a while. Read some of the other companies. Or try out some indie stuff. I highly reccomend anythinig by Alex Robinson of Top Shelf. His stuff is totally different than the superpowered same old same old. Give it shot. Hope this helps.

@Shadow_Thief said:

It's the same trend we're also seeing in Hollywood and the video game industry. They've become so big and corporate that they're becoming risk-adverse. Better to stick to the beaten path than try something new and risk losing money. The ironic part is that this kind business strategy tends to inevitably cause customers to become bored and disenchanted, and sales drop.

Until something new comes in to be exploited.

And really, this is not new. They aren't just now getting boring and stale. They've always been like that, they've just beaten different paths. Sturgeon's law applies to every form of mass media, and it states 90% of everything is crap. The remaining 10% is always absolutely awesome, you just have to sift through a lot of crap to get to it. That is an inalienable part mass media.

@DrkImmrtl said:

Why is it that the big two only seem to be turning the same stuff we've already seen before?

That's because... They ARE turning the same stuff we've already seen before... They've been recycling stories for decades... For whatever reason, they simply lack the imagination to come up with new scenarios...

Personally, I think it is largely due to their unwillingness to let characters mature... No super hero, or villain, can get older, get married, have children, etc... So they can't experience normal lifetimes of experience. They are LOCKED into that "between 20 and 35, single, dating" phase... They can't watch their children grow, so there are no Super Heroes dealing with their children learning to drive, graduating high school, getting married. There are no super heroes that grow old, retire, and pass on the mantle... If you get a new Batman or new Spider-Man every 25 years or so, you can have a whole host of new interactions and story lines... But if you have ONLY Bruce Wayne forever then you have ONLY those things that affect Bruce Wayne to put in the story..

Consider Peter Parker... We finally got to see Him and M.J. get married. The stories changed, they became better... But rather than letting him grow older, and maybe have children, we got 'One More Day.' So, we went BACK to the single and struggling to get along or have a relationship Peter Parker. He went BACK to having to hide his identity from those he loved... So, we get RECYCLED old storylines...

The only real exceptions I can think of to this are Franklin and Valeria Richards, and Dani Cage. Children born to super heroes (Not children that just show up at the doorstep all grown up.) And now, after 50 years Franklin is 10 years old. Wiccan and Speed, the sons of the Scarlet Witch and Vision, are not exceptions as they were written out of existence but then brought back basically all grown up...

So, if you're characters CAN'T go through normal life cycles, then you HAVE to keep them in the same frame of life and the same life... So you HAVE to recycle stories...

Would it REALLY be so bad if Bruce Wayne got old like mortals do, and passed the mantle to Dick Greyson? Would it really be awful if Peter and M.J. had a daughter named May who inherited Peter's powers?

@InnerVenom123 said:

List of examples please?

Okay... The X-Men.

The Onslaught Storyline. Age of Apocalypse storyline. Age of X storyline.

• Something happens that brings the X-Men into an alternate reality
• They fight... A lot..
• Things go badly for many issues...
• Then suddenly, they win. They are back in their own reality, but there are a few minor changes...

The House of M falls into that category as well.

How about Countdown to Final Crisis and Flashpoint...

• Reality becomes altered
• Major characters suffer and die
• Huge final battle
• Then BAMF... things are back to normal with a few minor changes..

How man "Crisis" events were there? Were they really all that different?

Back to the X-Men. How many of their major story arcs revolve around a Hate Group out to destroy mutants because mutants are... mutants...

Annihilation Wave and Annihilation Conquest.

War of Kings / Kingbreaker / Vulcan Saga...

Now, to be fair, MOST books are simply telling stories that have been told before, but they tell it creatively and it feels different. But with the comics, it just seems very much the same story told again and again.

@RisingBean said:

@Timandm: This is why I think things like the Ultimate Universe are good. It lets people who dig "Bruce Wayne as Batman" have him, while letting things in the older continuity continue to evolve.

True enough. I think that was the whole purpose of the Ultimate universe.

If you're sick of the industry move on with comics or get a job in it, The way people complain about comics is becoming the same way people complain about wrestling.