.....even if the fun comics have their fans, I rarely hear them praised for their own merits. Usually it's in opposition to the popular crossover comics ( i.e. " Spider-Girl has Peter and Mary Jane together, therefore I like it, unlike Brand New Day, which I hate as though it were Mein Kampf " ), unfortunately making the fun books into an innocuous refuge for fans that are afraid of change.

Marvel and DC feed off of negative publicity, and every time somebody who has way too much free time posts a snotty comic strip about how Dan Didio's editorial direction is about rape or something, it just means that Didio becomes more prominent. Good storytelling doesn't sell in the superhero genre when compared to shlocky upheaval; this is why Daniel Way still gets work. Bitching about it is participating in the negative cycle as much as praising it is.

Ultimately, if you're upset with the state of comics, all you can do is buy the comics you like, and dismiss the comics you don't. Quiet bemusement is the best weapon the audience has, while the Chicken Little act just perpetuates the state of things.

As for comics I'm currently enjoying; Ellis/Bianchi X-Men, Brubaker/Epting Captain America, Fraction/Larocca Iron Man, The Incredible Hercules, Invincible, Astonishing Wolf-Man, Dynamo 5, Fell ( when it comes out ), Buffy Season Eight, the latest Umbrella Academy comic, The Boys, and Ex Machina. Anyone want to discuss these?

> There are plenty of comics out there put out by the Big Two companies that aren't dark and gloomy. Marvel Super Heroes. Age of the Sentry. Booster Gold. Ambush Bug. Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam.