Detective Comics - Before 2011 Renumbering #854

WOW! The rainbow comics are in full gear. I find I just have to agree with Chuck Dixon. Some storylines just don’t fit in a mainstream title. Before everyone who reads this decrees that I’m a bigot let me just say this. “Comics arent’ just for kids anymore” was a slogan when I was younger, but if you wanted to read the ultraviolent, sexually explicit (or even in most cases-implicit) type of stories, you purchased from either behind the counter or on the top shelf. The “For Mature Readers” titles (many of which became the foundation of Vertigo) published by DC were in the same area as the titles by Eros, and Rip Off Press, and Kithen Sink. Many of the titles I buy today cant’ be read by my own children. Most of the titles which have always been newstand, spinner rack, general readers (all ages) titles are now filled with profanity, nudity, routine decapitations and other maimings. I’m not certain we have progressed at all as a community of collectors and enthusiasts. Of course this is merely a mirror reflection of where we’ve headed as a society in general. I do LOVE the JH Williams art. I think Rucka has a plot that’s mildly intriguing, but I’m not sure I’ll be sticking around to find out. I want Batman back in Detective Comics where he belongs, and this version of Batwoman needs to be sold in a different manner. It’s true, comics arent’ just for kids, but shouldn’t they be for kids too. What happens to our medium if we don’t grow the fan base? We will continue to pay more and more for the titles we read while kids won’t have anything cool to read, and comics are cool to read. I grew up with these things. They taught me how to read, and gave me a very diverse interest in everything from history and government to arts and literature. I even learned a few words of Spanish, French, and German thanks to all of those western and war comics that still existed (God bless Roy Thomas and the All-Star Squadron- you’re the reason I majored in history at college)in the 70’s and early 80’s. I would like to see the same thing happening today. We should tone down the sex and violence and let more people into the magic of comics. Bone was a great independant success in the 90’s and yet it was for all ages. I was as captivated by it as anything else produced during the “age of Image”. I think we can do better than what we have been. Sorry, this is more of an essay than a review, but I felt like saying it.