If you are on Twitter, a fan of comics and you're not following the John Byrne Says Twitter account you should fix that. The owner of the account (not actually John Byrne) posts a combination of quotes pulled from a variety of sources and the occasional bit of explication into a fascinating insight into the mind of a sometimes controversial comics creator.
This series of tweets led me to making this post:
Just in case you don't know who John Byrne is, click here.
This series of tweets led me to making this post:
I have seen comics, an entertainment form once intended for the widest possible audiences, and an entertainment form to which...
— John Byrne Says... (@JohnByrneSays) January 27, 2014
...I have dedicated a most of my adult life, turned into a niche market exercise in mutual masturbation for aging fanboys and...
— John Byrne Says... (@JohnByrneSays) January 27, 2014
...ennui engorged bungee jumpers. I have seen characters I grew up loving and admiring, and even perhaps trying to emulate, turned into...
— John Byrne Says... (@JohnByrneSays) January 27, 2014
...bleak, empty, virtually pornographic caricatures of themselves. I have seen something which was once done...
— John Byrne Says... (@JohnByrneSays) January 27, 2014
...purely for the love of it turned into something that is all about money. And, ladies and gentlemen, I am PISSED.
— John Byrne Says... (@JohnByrneSays) January 27, 2014
This is a sentiment that you've been seeing more and more lately, and not just from creators but from fans as well. Everyone wants their favorite forms of entertainment to become popular and "mainstream," they just aren't prepared for the repercussions that come with that popularity. It makes me glad that role-playing games declined in popularity from their heyday in the 90s. Yeah, I would love to see more people playing D&D or Vampire or Champions or whatever game makes them happy, but I am glad that we don't have to deal with the bone-crushing mediocrity that has invaded other forms of "geek" entertainment, like comics.Just in case you don't know who John Byrne is, click here.