A friend of mine sent me this link saying it was a good point by Brubaker(Why I quit doing work for hire superhero comics).  But, after reading it, I was left thinking that not only was it not a good point, but that Brubaker was a perfect example of what's wrong with the industry.

I agree with him that "events" shouldn't be forced on a regular series/creative team, but I certainly don't agree that fans should "follow creators" or that creators should be allowed to do whatever they want with a property.

Brubaker's claim to fame for example.  Bringing Bucky back.  That's a part of the problem, not creators being smothered by the genre.  It isn't the genre that is wrong for not indulging a Sex Criminals Daredevil or Bitch Planet Supergirl.  If a writer can't come up with stories for the characters as they are established, then it isn't the character that's at fault.  In fact, if "Kill or be Killed" is an example of what Brubaker would do with Marvel or DC characters if he was "free" to do what he wants, I applaud the industry for frustrating him.

Anyway, I'd have much rather read this blog on a Monday than a Friday.  I don't like to get my blood boiling this early in the morning before the weekend.

I don't believe that Ed Brubaker's current project is an example of what he would do with "other's" characters. Of course, I haven't read it, yet (mainly because it hasn't been published, yet... Oddly enough), but based on the images he has decided to share, I just may give it a shot. It certainly doesn't appear like anything that mainstream Marvel and/or DC is publishing.

And the industry isn't what is apparently frustrating him... It's idiot fans jumping to conclusions about his "part" in the latest Captain America storyline.

Mr. Brubaker's advice is good for fans that are getting "burnt out" on super-hero comics. I believe that his advice is, bottom line, that there is an alternative.

Maybe that's too subtle a difference. But it shows up in big ways in their stories. 

When I was a kid, I bought just about everything Marvel and DC produced, and I loved it.  I wasn't just buying in to a particular title or character, I was buying into a whole world (two worlds)--that I enjoyed.

When I was an adult (to this day), I DO just follow creators I like--whether on creator-owned books or the mainstream stuff.  If I buy five Marvel or three DC, I get to enjoy those creative teams working on characters I like, and I'm mostly protected from the big "events" that take over once a year...while still being close enough to get the gist of what they're doing.  (I wasn't against Doc Ock being Spider-Man for a year or whatever, for example, but I didn't like it enough to buy the main book, but I got the gist of it over in the AVENGERS books.)

My growing up coincided with a decline in the industry anyhow.  (I didn't PLAN to stop buying Marvel and DC, it just worked out that way.)  Once the effects of CRISIS settled down at DC, the whole line was just a confusing mess--so Bye DC.  Over at Marvel (this was the late 80's and into the 90's), many, many titles had overblown art (literally--the characters' bodies were bulging muscles almost to the point of exploding and the women had bubble bodies in their own way) and they flooded the market with substandard stuff--so Bye Marvel.

I moved to Independents and really enjoyed a lot of those: JB's NEXT MEN, Miller's SIN CITY, Mignola's HELLBOY--some good stuff was out there, just not at the two super-hero companies...and I still loved super-heroes.  I'm embarassed to say this but Image Comics got me back to collecting--when they started, it was great!  Jim Lee doing WILDCATS, Larsen on SAVAGE DRAGON (it was fun!), and the others were good enough--they were starting a new universe and I was there for the start!  It was awesome...until they started flooding the market with substandard stuff too!  (Mostly by 2nd and 3rd rate copies of the more talented founders.)  They learned their lesson from Marvel well.

So, for 30 years, I've been following the talent.  I buy ten comics a month by creative teams I like.  Ironically, when I was a kid with no money I bought everything and now that I'm an adult with plenty of disposable money, I can barely find ten books to buy.  (So I end up buying back issues and reprints of the comics that came out BEFORE I started collecting.)  I would LOVE to buy an entire company's line--20 or 30 comics a month!

But they keep doing these things that drive people like Ed Brubaker and me (and a lot of my friends and a lot of you here on the Forum) away.  What a waste.  What a shame.

It was as a reaction for fans calling him a Nazi (among other things) and blaming him for the current Captain America story, which takes place 5 years after he lift Marvel.

And while I certainly didn't agree with the decision to bring Bucky back and make him the Winter Soldier, it's hard to argue that it wasn't a successful and profitable decision for Marvel.