Only 4 and 5 star reviews?

Has anyone been reading comic books lately at Comicvine? How is it that ALL of these books are 4 and 5 star rated books? They are not that good. Shouldn't a 5 star comic represent the greater works in comic fiction? Say stories like Superman Red Son or even Claremont era X-Men? This doesn't even touch upon books that are iconic or actually represent the greatest works in comic fiction like, well, almost anything Alan Moore or The Dark Knight Returns which are certainly twice, no ten times as good as the muck that gets 5 star ratings on this site. Who are these comic reviewers? How am I supposed to trust these star ratings when they pretty much read 'If this is a new DC book it's definitely the best book right now as well as the rest of these 10+ 5-star rated DC books'. They are not THAT good. Some of them, sure, new Justice League gets a 5 star on it's good issues. Hell, even Aquaman was good enough to warrant a few 5-star reviews during the first run, other than that the website sets no real criterion for their rating system, that or they REALLY need people who are a bit more well read to be reviewing these books.

The issue I raise with it is that the comic review aspect of the site is great, in theory, but in practice it falls flat when every single book is 'the book to get'. Does anyone out there feel my discontent? Come on angry comic book nerds! Demand more honesty or better reviewers!

I demand that you let them be at peace with their opinions.

I have seen many 2 and 3 stars. They have a even amount of good and bad reviews. Also if the comic is really good it can get five stars. It doesn't have to be using your example Red Son which also be five stars. I am not saying Justice League Justice League #12 is better than Red Son but they can both be five stars.

@x_29 said:

I demand that you let them be at peace with their opinions.

Epic. Just epic. :) I concur.

I think most of you are missing my point. I'm not complaining about the reviewers opinions of the book, I'm upset with the criterion the community is using to dictate ratings. How many books that come out in a month are really 5 star books? As someone who doesn't want to go grab every comic in a store because, well, they're not all going to be good (or worthy of 5 stars), how can I determine what the best books are that are coming out this month? Shouldn't this be a website that can help me discern what books are really worth my time and money? Shouldn't that be the point of reviews?

I'm not a 'superman' fan or a 'wolverine' fan, and I really appreciate it when someone does give a serious or negative review of a book. It helps me avoid the titles that are clearly low quality. The actual written reviews are hot/cold, some are great, others can't justify their opinions or the ratings they give the books. It's like that guy that you asked about the Green Lantern movie who said "OH MAN, it was awesome! There was a bunch of space aliens and some guy with a giant babyhead and some sweet action!" That doesn't make Green Lantern a good movie... Comic books have improved since the late 90s exponentially but they've recently taken a turn for the worse. I'll even concede that the New 52 opened some interesting space for the writers to play with and really help invigorate monthly publications, but Marvel is producing mostly trash. Every time I pick up a new Marvel book to read through it I can barely finish it. As the webs premier comic book site, should there be a way to gauge what the best books of the month are? Is this available in the forums and I'm not finding it?

Shouldn't this be a site for the people looking to hold the publishers accountable for the trash they peddle? I'd simply like to see a legitimate weight by which these books are measured against each other. This isn't simply about the subjectivity of the reviewer, it is about reviewers who have more than 3 opinions on the books (good, better, bestestest). I understand writing about these comics without spoiling the issue is hard, but before I go plop 3 or 4 bucks on a title I haven't been reading I'd like to know there was a reviewer who actually really wanted me to pick out this title because it IS unique and because it is well written. I don't think that's much to ask.

Sorry for lighting this fire, but I think the community of comic book fans should do a bit more questioning instead of simply grabbing whatever new issue of _____ is out regardless of quality and touting it as 'good' when clearly (at least to me) MOST comics in shops these days are not 'good'.

Go ahead and ask your local comic shop owner how many great books came out last month. I bet you he'll give you 3 maybe 4 titles, not 20, and he has a vested interest in convincing you to buy more books. Why should comicvine be trying to sell me on 20 titles a month? If anyone has another site that actually performs this task please let me know because I want to actually know when something makes an impact and goes above and beyond the monthly publication. I'm tired of reading reviews by fans that pander only to other fans. That is not how criticism works. That's not the point of a review.

@k4tzm4n: Also, thank you for your comment. It was encouraging. I look forward to seeing what you can do to improve the reviews because I believe it needs serious improvement. I'm not saying every review should be 2 stars, but this is like giving 70% of the class As, 20% Bs, 5% Cs, and 5%Ds. I hope you can follow my logic here. That may work in a Psych 101 class, but when I'm trying to figure out what the best comic books coming out are, I don't want to hear that 70% of them are great. That doesn't do me as an audience any favors.

I just noticed this thread and find the dismissive nature of the majority of comments perplexing. Out of curiosity I looked up the 100 most recent reviews and this is what I found. (If anyone has a breakdown of all reviews let me know, did not feel like doing the 1000+ by hand)

5 Star - 37

4 Star - 40

3 Star - 19

2 Star - 4

1 Star - 0

While a limited sample size, is that hard to believe that someone would be skeptical when over 3/4 of reviews are given as above average to exceptional? Regardless of personal feelings and opinion on single reviews on a particular title, the OP had every right to call out what is at the very least a curious statistic.

Isn't the goal of comic book companies to put out good books? Sure, you're going to have some piles of poo here and there, but their goal is to put out comics people enjoy. Most of the time, they hit their mark.

@RedQueen:

I understand what your saying, but even dismissing the titles accepted as unworthy of even bothering to review, the lack of almost any unfavorable scores is notable. Even if I were to only rate the titles I follow and pay for my ratings would be nowhere near as generous, and I'm sure many others would feel the same way.

When any statistic is skewed in any direction to the extent shown, it is worth examination. As for if it is right or wrong (if there is a right or wrong), really depends on perspective, but the total dismissal that it is completely irrelevant shows many missing the point.

@inferiorego said:

Isn't the goal of comic book companies to put out good books? Sure, you're going to have some piles of poo here and there, but their goal is to put out comics people enjoy. Most of the time, they hit their mark.

If they were hitting the mark as often as you say, the industry would not be continuing along a decades long death spiral outside of the short term bumps from the New 52 and random events. using my limited sample size alone, I would also be skeptical to some extent of anything in any medium rated at 96% average or better. Not everyone is privy to all the details behind what is reviewed and why.