Tried reading a Bronze Age X-Men run that everyone raves about and I just don't get it

Picked up Giant-Size X-Men #1 and the following Claremont/Byrne issues at a shop in Phoenix last weekend. Everyone online acts like these are the peak of comic storytelling. I read through the first 12 issues and honestly the dialogue is so wordy and the pacing is glacial. Characters stop to explain every power mid-fight. I get it was a different era but I expected more. Am I missing something or do people just have nostalgia goggles on?

2 comments

2 Comments

max_torres445d ago

Start by saying those old comics definitely read different now. I picked up the same run a few years back after hearing all the hype and had the exact same reaction. The whole "snikt" and "bamf" every other panel just kills the flow for me. But I think you gotta remember a lot of those fans were like 12 years old when they first read them so the nostalgia is real. The story ideas were fresh for their time but the writing style is clunky as hell by today's standards. If you can power through the wordiness the character stuff actually holds up pretty well but I get why it feels like a slog.

dakota4155d ago

Start by asking if it's really that deep though. I mean sure the "snikt" stuff is corny but people acting like it ruins the whole experience... feels like we're overthinking superhero comics from the 80s. @max_torres44 I get the nostalgia factor but I still flip through that Claremont run sometimes and it's fine. Not everything needs to be some literary masterpiece to be fun to read.