Comics of the Week - Not So Much

I wasn't blown away by anything this week. There were some solid books, but nothing that necessarily inspires me to write. That said, FF #16 works well as an epilogue and set up for the next Fantastic Four arc. I've read that Jonathan Hickman will be off both titles in October and I say "NOOOOO!!!!" What he seems to be setting up next seems just as great as what we've seen so far from him. But, we'll see who takes over next. Azzarello and Risso's Spaceman is a strange book. I think I want to like it more than I actually do. Ultimately, what I loved so much about the first issue, the language, is probably what I find troubling now. I just can't find a way into the story in a compelling way. Although, this issue was better than the last couple and I plan on finishing the whole miniseries, I'm just not sure where it's going and not in a good way.

Anyway, since there's not much to say about the comics I read, I'll instead talk about why I'm not going to read Avengers vs. X-Men. The short answer is I don't care. I'm just not too interested in these characters to begin with. I'm also not interested in big events anymore. But ultimately, I think the reason I am not reading it is because I'm tired of continuity. My approach to comics is that what "matters" is what I read. If I don't read it, then it doesn't "matter." Very simple. For example, I read two Batman books. Anything that happens in the other books, I don't care. From the looks of things, the Batman in the Justice League book is not the same as the Batman I read in Snyder's Batman or Tomasi's Batman and Robin. Does that upset me? No. Doesn't matter to me what happens in Justice League because I don't read it.

An event like AvX is basically about reinforcing continuity and making it seem like all the books should "matter." In other words, it's about selling books. It's about getting you to buy books you don't normally read. But then, once the event is over (and sometimes even during the event) you'll find that the continuity that the publisher is trying to reinforce, falls apart and just doesn't make sense. So, I say screw continuity. Let each book, each story, stand on its own. If they happen to cross over in a more organic way, that's fine, but you should still be able to pick and choose and still get a complete story. And while an event doesn't really take away your ability to pick and choose, I've seen enough of these now to know that, particularly with Marvel, the wrong choice of book means you really will miss key elements of the story. I'm not taking that gamble anymore.

Another reason I'm not reading it is because how often will Marvel's heroes get into these all out wars before the rest of the world decides it's had enough? Why does Marvel even need villains anymore?