A friend and I were talking online recently about the number of “pulp heroes” getting their own new comics. “I want new stories and new characters, not these old guys and girls. Why can’t they come up with something new and different?”
The answer I gave him was one given to me by a sales expert I got to chat with once: Nostalgia sells!
NOT EVERYBODY LIKES IT, OF COURSE!
My friend isn’t alone in this. A lot of readers look at these characters with disdain. One person at a local comics shop was complaining bitterly that his favorite heroes were staying on the shelf while people from the ’40s and ’50s were getting their own titles. (He’ll be happy to know that She-Hulk might indeed getting a new book soon!)
Granted, the original comics often don’t measure up to today’s standards to those of us reading today. I find their panels small, and there’s just way too much dialogue. But that doesn’t mean the characters are poor. I like to say that there’s no such thing as a bad character, only writers who don’t know what to do with them.
I’ve often read messages that question the desire to bring back TV shows that have been cancelled, such as Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and Jericho. “Those programs didn’t last on television. Why would they want to sell comics based on them?” Then, too, Charlie’s Angels, The Beverly Hillbillies and others were made into big-budget movies. More on all this later.
HALLMARK ORNAMENTS WOULDN’T BE AS BIG WITHOUT NOSTALGIA
There are many examples of people buying items that reflect our desire to revisit things or times we miss. I often see holiday cards with characters from seasonal shows from long ago, most notably Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the very first animated Christmas special. (It debuted one year before Charlie Brown bought his little tree for the pageant.)
Batman: The Animated Series was set in what appeared to be a Gotham City of the past. I thought it fit the show very well.
But the biggest example of nostalgia selling has to be Hallmark’s ornaments. If you pick up this year’s catalog, you’ll see many ornaments fashioned after characters from past shows, strips or comics. Regulars this year include Superman, Batman, many Marvel heroes and the kids from Peanuts. This doesn’t even begin to talk about the nostalgic ornaments that focus on memories from past time periods, like carolers and snowmen.
The company rolls out many of their products at various times during the year. Hey, they’re even continuing their efforts to sell Easter ornaments as well as selling a new Peanuts character every month. That keeps us coming back for more.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH COMICS?
While Firefly isn’t likely to be back on TV anytime soon, it still has occasional comics and video games selling pretty well. The same principle applies – there aren’t enough fans to restart the series at this moment, but there are more than enough who want to plunk down their hard-earned cash for new stories or other related merchandise. You only need a fraction of the viewers to buy your products to make them successful.
Also, a lot of us weren’t around reading the “pulp heroes,” so on many levels, they’re “new” to today’s readers. Some books still keep the characters back in their original times, like Masks and Mobsters and Mask of the Red Panda. They’re particular favorites of mine.
As hard as it may be for some to believe, those of us who have been reading comics for a long time also feel warm inside when we see a hero we’d followed years ago getting a new lease on life. We can still read, you know!
Not every book keeps characters in their original time, though. Captain Midnight, The Owl and The Shadow are good examples of heroes from previous eras being transplanted into today’s setting successfully. We see them struggling to adapt, which often reminds me of how the rest of us who already live here find it tough to keep up. Many of us feel like a “fish out of water” in the current rapidly changing world.
Like everything in comics to me, a good story means everything. Don’t get me wrong – I love certain characters, but I’ll read a comic about a hero I don’t particularly like in order to dive into a terrific tale!
If you’re like me, you’re hungry for variety in your reading experience. I give newer books like Mouse Guard my attention just as much as I have read Batman and The Shadow. Just because it’s a character you’re familiar with doesn’t mean it’ll be bad. After all, Spider-Man is now more than 50 years old, Superman and Batman even older. But they still have life in them.
If you’re curious just what’s going on with a character you don’t know much about, I’d recommend you give that book a try. After all, you weren’t born knowing about (insert your favorite hero here)! You had to read about that person for the first time. You might even find a new hero to love!
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