NYTimes Article about Marvel Comics

**wktf** · 07-28-2019, 08:05 PM

Though I didn’t have the same issues or reasons as this writer, I really could relate to this piece that covers the escapism and relatability of Marvel Comics when they first were taking shape.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/a...U1jujJiSGQ21RM

Mister H · 07-28-2019, 08:45 PM

Nice little read. Thanks for posting that. IMO, it’s too bad today’s comics are mostly terrible, they could create some great memories for kids now but they choose to make statements and be one-sided.

risingstar · 07-28-2019, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wktf

Though I didn’t have the same issues or reasons as this writer, I really could relate to this piece that covers the escapism and relatability of Marvel Comics when they first were taking shape.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/a...U1jujJiSGQ21RM

I can relate as well. However, it seems unfair for the author to minimize how Millennials respond to the Marvels. Just because they have easier access to the medium, digest the material in a different manner, and can benefit from greater competition for their entertainment dollar (and time), it should not translate necessarily into a less meaningful escapism. It's just different. My parents come from the swing and bebop era whereas I came from the classic 70s rock era. They could recite chapter and verse on how my era of music is less somehow -- and they would be wrong, imho. It was just different. For whatever reason, my era of music resonated so much more with me than it did with them.

I come from the era when we used to listen to music together on our record players in our rooms (pre-walkman era, before people began to separate themselves from each other). We used to pore over every single liner line on album covers and interiors. My kids, for example, can't do that (or have little interest in doing so). They can only do 5 things at the same time. They really do not think they are missing anything -- and they probably aren't.

**wktf** · 07-28-2019, 10:21 PM

You know, I didn’t read this as a criticism of Millennials at all. Rereading it, I still don’t see this. He was merely speaking of his own experience and feelings. I agree with you that just because something is different doesn’t make it wrong. I also listened to music on a phonograph in the ‘70s with my friends and loved album cover art and liner notes. I miss those, too. But, again, I don’t read this as a condemnation of a younger cohort. I read it as a reflection of his experiences in his youth and the joy brought to him by Marvel Comics.

risingstar · 07-29-2019, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wktf

You know, I didn’t read this as a criticism of Millennials at all. Rereading it, I still don’t see this. He was merely speaking of his own experience and feelings. I agree with you that just because something is different doesn’t make it wrong. I also listened to music on a phonograph in the ‘70s with my friends and loved album cover art and liner notes. I miss those, too. But, again, I don’t read this as a condemnation of a younger cohort. I read it as a reflection of his experiences in his youth and the joy brought to him by Marvel Comics.

It didn't have to be said directly for that to seem to be among the overall messages. There didn't appear to be any celebration for modern escapisms. Whatever the case, while I can completely sympathize with this fellow's nostalgia, the harsh reality is that he basically presented as having little interest in today's brand of escapism, which is too bad, because there's lots of fun to still be had. Life risks being less enjoyable when one spends too much time lamenting the past, I think.

**wktf** · 07-29-2019, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by risingstar

It didn't have to be said directly for that to seem to be among the overall messages. There didn't appear to be any celebration for modern escapisms. Whatever the case, while I can completely sympathize with this fellow's nostalgia, the harsh reality is that he basically presented as having little interest in today's brand of escapism, which is too bad, because there's lots of fun to still be had. Life risks being less enjoyable when one spends too much time lamenting the past, I think.

I don’t think this was the point of the article at all. It was a reflection on his own experience and love for the roots of what’s made the movie franchise so successful. It’s completely introspective with no condemnation of anything else.

I had a professor who said that art is independent of the artist, meaning it’s open to interpretation by the one experiencing it. I seriously think you’re reading way too much into this article and into an arena he did t even intend. It’s your interpretation and no less valid than any other, though I personally see no evidence supporting it.

protector2814 · 07-30-2019, 05:41 PM

I read this .... & just identified. I too grew up lonely,
semi-unatheltic (I played the sports I enjoyed, but never that well & was often made fun of for my attempts), isolated, & found comics a tremendous, paneled, colored escape. & for me, Marvel, DC, Warren, Charleton, Atlas of the 70's, Archie, etc... were my escape. I've never let go. Sure, I'm not as vested in the modern storytelling I find in many of today's books when compared to the glory days of my Bronze & Silver immersion in to comics, but I see them as what they were; a fun & nice way to wander with my mind. The MCU is best for me when it hits my memory. A team-up, a fight, Cap in The 1st Avenger w/ his line "I had a date." I suppose you could call it nostalgia, but I don't think comparisons were made by the writer. He seemed to be just remembering. I can & do enjoy this modern phase of comics & film, don't get me wrong, but Marvel, for me, will always be the classics or at least comics where the classics are referenced. This was not a now vs. then piece. It was a comics were/are important to me piece.