[BurningPanther]

Well, I agree and disagree.

On the one hand, I loveloveLOVE stories with a definitive introduction, climax, and conclusion. I like that the story focuses on a set of characters for a set period, and once finished, doesn't draw it out further. This is the reason I like a lot of Japanese stories, many are standalone, with the introduction of a character, the story following for a period of time, and a definitive end, such as Evangelion, Cowbow Bebop, Galaxy Express 999, the animated Fullmetal Alchemist, to name a few.

However, unless the story specifically spells out the main character's death(which is where it should end), then should said character live on, then I have no problem with the story going on, because that's what the story is: his life, start to finish. It's the part I appreciate about ongoing series; like reality, the character experience some tribulations in brief arcs, encounter some villains re-occuringly as you might a problem in reality.

[Brayden]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Pfft. Original TMNT, long before they became cute for mainstream, used to carve people up left and right in the original comic books. It was glorious!.

I have some of those in graphic novel form. Man that is some good stuff. It really killed what I knew as TNMT when I read those. Colored bandanas, "cowabunga"... man, they sure did change a lot to bring that stuff out for kids toys.

[tdh]

I've been a comics fan since I was a kid, but I've had a number of breaks from comics - some spanning 10 years or more. After the House of M & Infinite Crisis I got back in again. Mainly Spider-Man, Avengers and Uncanny X-Men, but started to check out other books along the way. I've been enjoying a lot of the things going down, and really liked the Civil War arc. Joe Q has made a lot of changes that I've been real impressed and happy with. Hopefully the Spidey changes will work out going to 3 releases a month. Getting rid of Sensational is something I saw a while ago. The art was amazing, but the story line seemed to just be a garbled mess of junk. Going with just Amazing & Ultimate Spider-Man is the way to go.

I understand IfritnoItazura's point, but I'm with Panther too. Sometimes a story has to end, other times you finish a story and you want to know what's next. I like that comics make an attempt to following somebody's life, and not just a single adventure. One of the big appeals to Spider-Man for me is he seems more real than a lot of other heroes; has real day to day problems along with his problems as Spider-Man. If you don't follow that day to day struggle, there is no Spider-Man.

But there are a lot of continuity issues in comics, and in my opinion, especially with DC. I almost stopped reading DC books all together because of how annoying they made it to keep up with somebody's story line. I understand the reason for this. It's a great way to turn somebody onto another story line, but you go from buying 1 or 2 books for one character to having to check out 5+ books a month to follow them.

[IfritnoItazura]

Originally Posted by tdh

I like that comics make an attempt to following somebody's life, and not just a single adventure. One of the big appeals to Spider-Man for me is he seems more real than a lot of other heroes; has real day to day problems along with his problems as Spider-Man. If you don't follow that day to day struggle, there is no Spider-Man.

Hmm. From that and what you said about 10 year breaks earlier, you should be mature enough: I recommend Maison Ikkoku to you, a manga which is available in English. Completely wacky, yet... Real.

I don't care for Takahashi's Urusei-Yatsura style art work at the beginning of the series, but the story never fails to deliver, and her line arts really clean up and gain a certain beauty from their simple elegance as the series progresses. There is plenty of cheap laughs along the way, with many poignant storylines neatly tucked in. It's a series which had me crying for joy at the end. (Well, severely misty eyed. I am a guy, after all.)

You'll need have some familiarity with rounin (people who couldn't pass college entrance exams, yet still trying) culture, and understand that in the spaced cramped Tokyo, older apartments may not have individual bathrooms, and that public bath houses (think Roman!) were common place. Even without those backgrounds, though, the stories within should still have universal appeal.

(If you can't tell, I loved that series--I have it in both English and Japanese. )