I'm really tired of griping about Louise Simonson in my reviews but she was clearly a downer in late-eighties/early-nineties comics. My beef with her is her constant and overuse of the thought bubble. For instance, take Cable joining the New Mutants. Rictor is obviously displeased; the artist draws him that way. Yet, for all the visual cues we get, Louise goes and gives this too lengthy, cheesy statement about how Rictor is thinking "Okay Cable. You win this round." Plus more. This isn't necessary. There should be a synergistic approach to penning a comic book. You don't need to spell everything out. We don't need Sunspot thinking to himself how he would take a bullet for his new mentor ( New Mutants #93). This is filler content. Just have him mention to the others how he trusts Cable and won't let the team down. Boom! Instead of a lame frame of fifteen thought bubbles we've got the same info in one statement. Then the artist can validate the statement by showing Sunspot giving his all for Cable's cause.
Sadly, I just don't care for this woman's work. It's too blatantly in-your-face with the message. Then again, some people need this. As for me: I don't.
Sometimes I like to listen to the radio and bemoan the state of music. No song is more annoying than the Britney Spears song "Three," yet people love it. Why? The hook? Okay, I'll give you that: the tune is easily remembered. But what about the music and lyrics? That song does absolutely nothing to showcase the talents of the guys playing the instruments, make a person think differently about song composition, or desire to apply any of the lyrics to one's philosophies of life. The song merely follows a sure-fire formula for radio success.
Please allow me this shameless plug: bands like Saves the Day, Eisley, and Brand New change the way music should be experienced, yet they get very little attention. Their songs are actually thought out, both lyrically and, especially, musically. And this is where the epiphany comes in. Bands like Brand New have a high amount of "awe" in what they do. The ability to convey emotions amongst their mad-hat approach to music is a thing of pure awe. But we don't view awe in this light with the media. If something is full of awe then it is awful. So, while Brand New may be amazing in almost every aspect of their craft, purely full of awe, they get discounted by the masses. Whereas if something has some awe to it, you guessed it, it's awesome. So mediocrity (a mere possessing of some awe) is considered cool. What then, I ask, is something completely devoid of awe? Well, to the mass media, it can only be the greatest form of entertainment ever. Yet, we don't have a word for this. This logic seems backwards but it makes complete sense. Bands like Brand New are awful (brilliant but ignored), bands like the Used are awesome (just enough mainstream in them to appeal widely), and bands like Fall Out Boy are so devoid of awe that a word doesn't exist to explain why everyone can like them yet they still make millions on a remake of a Michael Jackson song, even when the remake pales so far in comparison. This spans all forms of the media. I don't quite get it.
Of course, there are exceptions. The Killers are full of awe but still have found a place in pop culture. The same can be said of Jimmy Eat World (though their earlier catalog is almost completely ignored). As it is, oh well.
I already know what I'm going to use this site for: beefing up my 90s X-Force knowledge. It's pretty lame that I haven't progressed past that era of comics, but I'm stuck. Basically, I'm just here to make sure that people who come after me are better informed than I. I bought some lame comics just because one of my characters was in it. By updating the issues on here from the issues that I've read, maybe, just maybe, I can help prevent someone from buying an unnecessary comic. Or urge them to buy something. I don't know. I'm a guy. We don't really plan things.
Log in to comment