I’ve been reading a lot of comics from the 60s-70s lately, and just enjoying how much unabashed fun the artists and writers have. Drawing absurd scenarios, heroes overcoming overwhelming odds, character development that mattered and changed characters, this was the promise Stan Lee delivered when he turned the superhero paradigm on its head and ushered in the silver age.
As comics became more “brands” they stopped the focus on the fun storytelling and character development. In the 80s-90s properties got gobbled up for film rights and the folk who took over realized “wait, if we change too much these lose their iconic flavor for the potential films, we have to reset!” — and then event fever took place, with “world-shattering” and “universe changing” crossovers which always had the world ending, always had something resetting and changing when the world was made right again. A hero would die. A hero would come back to life.
When these events became the norm, comics stopped being fun. Because there’s no danger, there’s no wonder, there’s no progression, there’s just an ever stagnant property where they’re tricking you into buying the brand so they can keep Hollywood happy by having a promotional item for the film.
It sucks. It needs replacement.
On that note, I was thinking about how Stan called The Fantastic Four the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine”, and he was right. The family dynamic, the character development, the crazy sci-fi adventures, it was all there.
And as I think about how times have changed in the industry, and what I’m doing to combat it, I’m trying to give that fun factor again. Have a storyline where things actually change, what happens actually matters. As Flying Sparks reaches its apex in this first arc (of which I hope will be many), there will be a world shattering event. It will change the entire dynamic of the comic — and it’s not just an empty promise. The events in it will MATTER. There will be no erasure, no reset.
I don’t even think readers are prepared for what’s going to happen, but I’ve hinted along the way.
We’re bringing it back. Just like FF was the World’s Greatest Comics Magazine, Flying Sparks is America’s Greatest Modern Superhero book, I’m sure of that more than ever before. We have something special going and more folk need to hear about it.
Tell your friends. Let them know the change they demanded from comics is here. Flying Sparks is the flagship and you should be reading it if you love comics.
We’ve already hit huge success. Back today and let’s get this even bigger.
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