MORE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT OCTOBER ’11 COMICS: PART DEUX — NO MARVEL OR DC ALLOWED!
Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes
KC Carlson looks at more goodness listed in the new Previews.
KC Carlson looks at more goodness listed in the new Previews.
KC COLUMN: The Never-Ending Story, Part 4: 1986
by KC Carlson
PREVIOUSLY ON NEVER-ENDING STORY: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)
The early 1980s were a tremendously exciting time for comic books, as comic creators were making bold new leaps in presenting their stories to an increasingly sophisticated audience. Superhero comics began to mature, introducing more and more elements of “realism” into the four-color pages. Long-dormant genres of comics — as well as brand new ones — appeared. Things were changing so rapidly that old publishers — pushed by their writers and artists — scrambled to invent new ways to present comic material, such as mini- and maxi-series and graphic novels. There was more emphasis on the self-contained story (with beginning, middle, and end), another mature industry development that the media and readers traditionally outside of superhero comic books began to embrace in a big way. And if the old-school publishers weren’t willing to try something new, there were dozens of young independent publishers anxious to experiment.