How things have changed

Next to comic books, there is probably nothing I love more than Star Wars. Actually, it was Marvel’s Star Wars comics that got me into it in the early 80’s, but more about that in a future blog entry.

So last night I saw Solo: A Star Wars Story and I really liked it. There were so many references to the original trilogy and we got to see so many things that we always wondered about. How Han met Chewie and Lando, how he got the Falcon etc. I won’t give any spoilers here, but there was definitely a lot of fan service going on. I know it didn’t get very good reviews, but screw that. I’ll form my own opinion and I thought it was awesome. 

But this was the third movie in a few weeks time that I liked this much. The other two were Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2. Three movies like that in a row? That would never have been possible when I was a kid. There were only three Star Wars movies, which we had all seen about a hundred times, and every effort to make a movie or TV show based on a superhero sucked. I was never a huge movie buff (Star Wars being the exception of course) and never went to the cinema that much, but these last few years have been crazy! There are so many superhero movies coming out and we’ve already had 4 new Star Wars movies. I’m definitely not complaining here, but things sure have changed. How is this possible?

I’ve thought about this many times and I think it’s an age thing. People of my generation, who loved stuff like superhero comics, 80’s toy lines and Star Wars when they were kids, are now the people who make these movies and TV shows. And when one is successful, more are bound to follow. After 18 years of movies about Marvel superheroes by Fox, Sony and Marvel Studio’s, I thought people would be fed up with the genre, but then Infinity War was such a huge success again. The general public has finally accepted superheroes and science fiction and it’s no longer something that only die-hard nerds like myself can enjoy. Sure, we’re still the ones that pick up the small references and easter eggs, but even without those, the movies are great and can be enjoyed by anyone. Back in the day, they tried to change the characters and the stories too much to make them appeal to a bigger “mainstream” audience. But that never worked, because that audience still didn’t get it and the real fans hated it, because they changed it too much. Now they stay more true to the original content from the comic books and apparently that works out great.

And look at the sheer amount of TV shows out there now, all based on comic books. That’s just crazy. Back in my day, the only superhero shows we had were reruns of the old Batman and Hulk TV shows with Adam West and Lou Ferrigno. Now there’s Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, The Flash, The Walking Dead, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher, Powers, Legion and the list goes on and on. Just too many too keep up with.

This has had a huge impact on conventions as well. I used to go to these Dutch cons, which were basically just stands with boxes filled with comics and a few artists signing books. That was it. There was no movie or TV stuff and no cosplayers either. And you could hardly get any merchandise like t-shirts or action figures. Now there’s only a few stands left that actually sell comics and the rest is all about movies, television, video games and anime. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love the time we live in, as far as this kind of thing is concerned. There’s a new Star Wars movie every year and all my favorite comic book heroes are popping up on the big screen. And people finally know what you’re talking about. But why was I already into that stuff over 30 years ago and is the general public only discovering it now? And how long will this “phase” last? Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Author: comicgeek76

Dutch comic book fan/collector since 1984 View all posts by comicgeek76