The Comics Rack

Summer Thoughts 2

   With the last days of August upon us (at least as I'm writing this) another random thought about comics that has been floating through my brain.
   I tend to spend more time in comic stores during the summer than at any other time. Don't really know why (since they are the same stores I could visit in the winter), just seems to work out that way. Anyway, I was leafing through some of the new comics when I began to notice something: when was it decided that all comics must be colored dark and moody in shades that resemble warm poop (you may also insert your own word for poop, I'm just trying to be polite about the whole thing)?
   Thinking back, I'm sure I first noticed this trend when the Steranko Nick Fury volumes came out from Marvel. They were colored over in Europe, (where, I guess, everyone who reads comics does so under a very bright light and only dark colors don't hurt the eyes) and I remember thinking that the flesh tones were all off in both book: as if everyone were deeply tanned (and I mean deeply). Other colors were a bit darker than their American counterparts, but, what can you do? There is no World Color Organization where you can lodge complaints.
   I next noticed this trend when I got back into reading the Avengers, just before the "Disassembled" story line. The color was darker than I was used to at the issue I began reading, and it got progressively darker as the storyline progressed. "Ah," thinks I, "they are creating mood," and, since the mood of the story was rather bleak, I kept on reading each issue without really giving it a thought. But, even after the events of the "Disassembled" storyline, things just never seemed to get back on track. Faces are all deeply tanned, colors are muted and the sky is never blue, but a kind of greyish color that suggests stormy weather.
   So, back to the present, I'm thumbing through the comics and chance upon DC's Brave New World sampler book. After giving it a once over, I realize that I have absolutely no interest in any of these characters, not because of their stories (I found that out later after I read the book at home), but because they all seem to be dark and dismal characters, who have their adventures during an extreme total eclipse of the sun. Shades of brown delineate the faces of the characters with muted greens and moldy yellows at every turn. Even Capt. Marvel, who should be about as far from bleak and dismal as they get is colored too dark. His uniform isn't red, it's a shade of red. His thunderbolt isn't yellow, but a muted shade of yellow. And, of course, it's twilight in Fawcett city 24/7 (and this doesn't even take into account the wretched art under the dark colors).
   Other comics yield the same results. Capt. America is but a shade of his former self and is only sort of red, white and blue. The Ultimate Universe is done in brighter colors, unlike the muted Marvel universe, but is still a bit dark. DC seems to have their act together a bit better, but they run the gamut from the JSA (done correctly) to Batman (well, he is the Dark Knight, but come on!).
   Exactly what all this means I'm not sure. One of the customers at the store quipped that the sun never shines in the Marvel Universe, but the same seems to hold true for DC. What I can tell you is that sales for comics are off and the colors in the books are dark and depressing. A correlation? I'll leave that for you to decide on your own.