Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site wjvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!decwrl!sun!qubix!wjvax!ron
From: ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: CoIE:  a non-fan's opinion
Message-ID: <500@wjvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 14:31:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: wjvax.500
Posted: Tue Jun 18 14:31:45 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Jun-85 01:29:24 EDT
Organization: Watkins Johnson, San Jose, Calif.
Lines: 44

First of all, upon being pressed, I will admit that buying 'Crisis on
Infinite Earths' is probably not the best way to get involved in the
DC universe.  I started reading/collecting comics in the days when
Marvel was going great guns and DC wasn't worth wasting money on.
(This is my opinion, of course.)  This was about 1972 or so.  My first
comic was Spider Man #100.  I then went back and purchased SM back to
#32 and bought a bunch of others as well.

My main attention shifted from SM to the X-Men with about the third
issue of the new team.  The exception to this was Starlin's Warlock,
which, during it's brief existance was *THE TITLE* for me.  Anyone
remember it?

Then, it seems, there came a time when all the good artists, editors,
et. al. from Marvel migrated to other companies.  Quite a few to DC.
But me, no, I'd been buying Marvel for years.  Had an emotional attachment
to the characters of several titles, and damned if I was going to change.
Then things started going to hell.  They canceled Howard the Duck.  The
art started to deteriorate.  The *stories* started to deteriorate.  Inks
became murky.  Titles started to be shuffled around frequently to provide
for more 'first issues'.  A greater effort was going to connecting the
comics with other markets, I.E., Micronauts (actually the best of these),
ROM, Transformers, and (ugh!) Secret Bores.

Someone who has followed the people involved with drawing, scripting, and
editing could probably tell me what happened.  But now I'm getting interested
in DC's stuff.  Bought the issue of legion (?) with Changeling vs Terminator
and gee, why didn't I start collecting this comic before?  And gee, about
half of the names in the credits are familiar.

Anyway, I hadn't intended to blither so long.  I've started reading CoIE,
and, well, I can appreciate what's happening here (marvel, in true copycat
fashion is starting to do the same thing.  See recent Avengers.) but
I find the layout and scripting of CoIE to be too fragmented to really tell
what in hell is going on.  The panels are cluttered.  Too many characters to
tell them apart easily.  Is this a result of not being familiar with the
DC universes, or has anyone else noticed it as well?

Well, this has wandered too long.  Had to get it off my chest, I guess.

-- 
__
	Ron Christian  (Watkins-Johnson Co.  San Jose, Calif.)
	{pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,certes,isi}!wjvax!ron