Why does nobody talk about silver age comics being harder to read than collect

I spent last Saturday going through a stack of 1960s Fantastic Four issues at a shop in Denver, and man the dialogue is rough. The characters explain every single plot point out loud like the reader is five years old. But the covers are amazing and the condition is usually better than 90s books. Is it just me or do other people buy silver age stuff for the art and not bother reading it much?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_rivera7618d ago

Exactly this. The writing was so wordy back then because they were still figuring out how to tell superhero stories without talking down to readers. I mostly buy silver age for the Kirby art and just skim the dialogue.

dylan_bell18d ago

Huh, I actually read the dialogue. Not gonna lie, the wordiness is part of the charm for me. It feels like the writers really cared about every panel and wanted you to get the full experience. Kirby's art is great, sure, but those long captions and inner monologues give the stories a certain weight. Skimming them would just feel like missing half the meal to me.