Anyone else have trouble with classic comic dialogue?

General Discussion Comic Books
#1

I’m relatively new to comics. Started around 2000. Read stuff like Hack/Slash and Evil Ernie. Really liked BTAS and got on the DC train soon after.

Anyway, I’ve tried reading older comics a few times and noticed that with some titles, I had a really hard time swallowing the overloaded and hammy dialogue. The stories weren’t bad, just some of the dialogue and monologs get so long winded like this post and I get bored.

I checked out the New Titans. Read the first set that was available here. I liked the story a lot. Cool characters. But, man, that dialogue was such a ham and cheese sandwich. And don’t get me started on Cyborg’s ‘mebbe’ and other creative ways of expressing his, um, yeah. Product of the times for sure.

So, I don’t know what age those issues fall in (golden or silver or whatever) but I don’t really enjoy much of the dialogue. Stories are pretty interesting though.

Anyone else have trouble reading with older comics?

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#2

For sure. New Teen Titans is tough

1 Like
#3

Lol, cyborgs dialogue had to be borderline offensive to some.

#4

New Teen Titans dialogue is “The Room” tier for me. It’s so awful that it makes it hilarious and charming for me. Except for Changeling. He kinda just makes me want to scrape out my eyes every time he speaks.

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#5

Yes. You’re not alone.

#6

Fyi, the New Teen Titans would be considered the Bronze Age.

2 Likes
#7

All stories, in every medium, are products of their times. I understand exactly what you mean about this. The dialogue is very different from what reserved of more modern comics are used to. I always just approach it with an aim of enjoying it for what it is.

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#8

I meant “readers,” not “reserved.” Auto correct strikes again. As an English teacher, I wish I could correct my typos.

#9

I enjoy it for what it is and products of different tine periods. I can tolerate the cheese of history

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#10

I love the Golden and Silver Age books! Where every sentence ends with an exclamation! Point! All of them! No matter how dramatic! They only had one punctuation mark then! Even when they had to deliver bad news! Like, I’m sorry but your wife died! Of cancer! It’s like there was NO modulation! I love that convention! Even the dogs bark, Arf! And the birds, Tweet! It was a very exuberant time, I guess!

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#11

Every comic is a product of its time. I don’t mind the purple prose and exposition-y dialogue of older comics, as that was the form when I began collecting. Sure, the dialogue seems cheesy now, but that’s also what makes older comics charming to read. In an age of decompressed storytelling, I appreciate the tight quick stories of 70s/80s era comics. Let’s bring back “thought balloons” and let’s see more “done-in-ones.”

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#12

Not at all. Im young enough to not be used to any old style and been reading for less than a year. I can enjoy anything that is well written and draw. IMO there are amazing stories from 70s and 80s despite the different tone the dialogue had back there. (Although, the narrator interruptions can get annoying).