Monday, April 28, 2014

Done With Comic-Book Mega-Events AKA Eventitis Finally Takes Its Toll

D-O-N-E

Okay, that's it, I am officially tired of, exhausted by, and done with comic-book mega-events. I'm sorry big comic companies--specifically Marvel and DC--but I just don't have the patience, funds, or optimism to continue following these big event-comics you like to have. When it was one a year I could maybe manage, and sometimes they were even pretty good. I enjoyed "Civil War", "Final Crisis", "World War Hulk", and "Flashpoint" was surprisingly good too. Oh, and I actually kind of liked "Age of Ultron" and  "Infinity" even if they weren't many peoples' favorites.

The thing is though, over time the near-constant influx of events has just taken its toll on me. "Secret Invasion" started promisingly but ended up being startlingly mediocre. "Dark Reign" wasn't necessarily an event, but the "Siege" it led to was, and God was that terrible. I couldn't even finish "Fear Itself" and "Avengers Versus X-Men" may have put Cyclops in an interesting place thematically but was overall a pretty damn poor excuse for a 12-issue series. "52" was incredible, but "Countdown to Final Crisis" was an abomination, with "Blackest Night" being decent but nothing to get overly excited about (I have the same feelings about its follow-up "Brightest Day" but did like that a bit more). Then "Trinity War" turned out to be nothing more than a prelude to "Forever Evil" and with it almost finished I'm pretty sure that event is going to get a solid "C" or "C-" from me once it ends.
I couldn't even finish this event.
Now we have events that overlap with and tie-in to other events. DC is going to have their three weekly-comics going at once that all seem to end in March of 2015 (with the special month-long event in September that uses the horribly stupid 3-D cover gimmick again and which ties in to one of the weekly comics, "Future's End") and therefore might be leading up to another mega-event.
Marvel is going to be making a big deal out of killing Wolverine, and "Original Sin" just kicked off with tie-in mini-series in the works along with those dreaded ".1, .2, .3, etc." issues.Oh, and then Marvel announces a mini-event set in 2061 (100 years after Marvel officially "started" as it were), and starts teasing something called "Axis"  that will clearly involve the Avengers and the X-Men butting heads once again. Plus, there is something in the works featuring all the spider-men in the multi-verse teaming-up, and I'm officially just done, D-O-N-E, done.

Between DC's three weekly series and September event plus Marvel's mega and mini-events, I'm just through. I'm tired of having these huge world-spanning, "Things will never  be the same...until the next big event" shenanigans taking place on what feels like a near monthly-cycle of one event ending and another starting. I've officially caught the dreaded eventitis

What is "Eventitis"?

Some of you out there may not be familiar with the medical condition known as eventitis. The prefix "Event" is of course in reference to comic-book mega-events, and "itis" is a Latin and Greek suffix for something to become inflamed, abnormal, or in excess. Comic-books have and seem to be having more-and-more events and therefore, eventitis is basically a slang term for being burnt-out on all these comics events--with it I suppose quite literally meaning that there is an inflammation/overabundance of events causing irritation, specifically to a person's pocket-book.

Eventitis is usually something that does not happen overnight. Like most irritations and inflammations it develops slowly over time, bugging you slightly but being something you think will go away. Then one day you wake up, look at the problem, and wonder how you let it get so bad before doing anything about it--with the problem in this case of course being all the comic-events happening one after another, after another, after another. Eventitis is something that once contracted may eventually go away, or be stuck with a person forever. I don't know if my eventitis will somehow fade if the prefect event for me to is announced, or if I'm forever stuck with it. All I know is I've come down with it, and I've got it pretty badly.

Treatment
"D.A.R.E." may have failed as a program,
 but their slogan is quite apt in this case.
I've got eventitis, that much is clear. the only treatment I can think of for it is to not read all the events coming out, and that is in fact my plan.

I'm going to read the "zero" issue of "Original Sin" that was recently released out of curiosity but am not going to be following the event. I'm also not going to pick up any of the weekly comics DC is putting out, and September may be a month where I skip the relatively few DC books I'm still reading ("Batman" "Green Arrow", a "Justice League" or two and "Injustice: Year Two", which isn't even in the main DC Universe, possibly explaining why it is arguably the best book out of all of those). I'm not going to read that Spider-Man event, the Marvel 2061 stuff lacks a place on my pull-list, Wolverine can die without my reading about it, and whatever "Axis" is can carry on without me.
Nope. I'm not gonna do it.
I'm not going to get excited for this.

I still enjoy a variety of comics that are more popular and less popular along with being mainstream or independent. The new "Moon Knight" and "Loki: Agent of Asgard" comics from Marvel are killing it with barely any issues even out yet, and other Marvel titles that aren't trying to tie-in with major events are pretty great too. Image of course has stuff like "Saga" and "Zero" to keep my attention, and Avatar's "Uber" continues to be a treat. Plus there is "Afterlife with Archie" which is just great, and, "The Beautiful War" will be coming out relatively soon with great art by Ashley Wood, ensuring it will at least be gorgeous. All of these show that clearly I'm not burnt-out on comics as a thing I enjoy, I just have a severe case of eventitis.

I may have eventitis and not plan to actively buy and read all of these new events, but I will of course follow the news about them and potentially flip-through any issues I hear about with shocking matters. My main worry is just that some of the comics I still enjoy will tie-in with these events I'm not following and leave me extremely lost. At that point I may have to either resign myself to some confusion or just drop those comics tying-in with events if needed. When that potential time comes and irritates my eventitis I'll deal with it, but until then I guess I just have to accept the fact I have this condition and still enjoy the comics that don't bother it. Whatever the case, please do tell me how they kill off Wolverine; I'm betting its vague enough they can bring him back just a few months later.

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