I’ve been mulling this topic for a while because it’s somewhat controversial: what are some overused, oversaturated tropes, stories and genres in comics?
Now, this is subjective territory. What I love may fill you with horror and vice versa, so allow me some context. This is purely anecdotal, drawn from deep immersion in the comics field. I’m not just talking published comics here, either — this is what I’m seeing flooding social media among small and independent creators1.
Many creators on these media platforms produce work from a place of passion for the subject matter. But many more, and this may be my overly cynical assessment, push out algorithm-friendly content that grows an audience but fails to advance the art form2. Further, this clickbait-chasing homogenizes art styles and disincentivizes experimentation because creators look at what’s successful online and emulate it3.
Here’s my list so far, in no particular order:
Vampires. Zombies.
Dungeons & Dragons. Not the broader sword and sorcery genre, but derivative D&D stories.
Self-serving autobio (including undiagnosed mental health issues).
Anything pandemic related. Let's give it a decade or so and revisit. For now, this is tapped out, and I realize that I may be projecting my exhaustion and trauma onto this genre.
Coming of age YA. This goes especially for those creators of a certain age and gender identification (yes, old heterosexual males, I mean you) desperately trying to capitalize on the piggybanks of a younger audience in a fast-growing market demographic.
Harry Potter influenced student magic schools.
“Fan” art deriving from licensed properties: Marvel, DC, Netflix series, what have you.
I threw this topic out to fellow nerds on the Slack channels of Eleven O’ Clock Comics (U.S.) and Awesome Comics podcasts (U.K.), and their answers were interesting.
Here are some of the highlights:
“[G]ood guys becoming bad guys, and vice versa.”
“Dark [insert character name here].” [I suggested adding “and gritty” to this — CGC.]
“Vampires and Zombies are definitely overused.”
“As much as I've always enjoyed a good ‘Crisis on Thingy Blah Blah’ big multiversey type of crossover storyline, they could put a 10 year moratorium on that sort of storytelling across all media and properties and I'd be pretty okay with it now.”
“Superhero families — I just want Batman. Not an army of variations of him and Robin.” [Yes, yes, a thousand times yes — CGC.]
Overuse of the “He’s dead — wait, now he’s back” plot device. This is my summation of a couple of comments — CGC.
“Stories where the characters are obvious analogues for existing characters. This can be done well but but more often than not it takes me out of the story.”
I’d argue that some of these are plot devices, rather than thematic genres or tropes, but these people read way more comics than I do, so I’m going to allow them to rant a little, mainly because so many of them are correct.
Even in overused tropes, breakouts happen, some mad genius reinvents a genre and new fans come along.
To keep the universal balance and maintain at least a show of symmetry, I am working on an “underused” list of genres and stories.
Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for over or underused tropes.
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WHAT DID YOU DRAW THIS WEEK, Q?
Oh, that’s a good question. Thank you for asking. I did do some sketching last week during my trip to the U.K. (that whole Dad thing, remember?). This was in actual pencil and ink on paper, as I forgot my digital stylus and couldn’t use my beautiful new Huion tablet computer, despite packing it oh-so safely and …
Here’s a brief drawing TikTok from a Costa Coffee on Praed Street, near Paddington in London, while waiting for my flight.
What I didn’t elaborate on there, because only my Substack subscribers deserve the juice, is that this is part of a silly short one-page gag strip I may eventually share on Instagram.
…
WHAT ARE YOU READING?
Last week’s best day? I met Falpy and Esmond on Sunday for a trip to Gosh Comics (Soho, London) and lunch (Mexican). Falp gifted me a copy of his latest work, Pink Coffee. What a fever dream. This is typical of Falp’s underground work, which is unafraid, prodigious, provocative, subversive and, in all, amazing. He’s the natural heir to the work of several underground artists of the ‘60s, like Peter Bagge. (You may see some similarities.)
Will you understand Pink Coffee? I didn’t and neither will you. Buy the ticket, take the ride, to quote Hunter S. Thompson. Just let it speak to you.
Watch this young man. He’s an emerging talent, as well as a good friend. And one day his influence will be cited in textbooks.
Falpy, standing outside the office of Spanish supermodel Julia. (Photo credit: Tony Esmond.)
In fairness, examining my motives for a second, I may even be reacting to themes, tropes and genres being overused cross-media, especially streaming services, but definitely on art-content-heavy feeds like Instagram.
“So, what exactly is art then, Cliff?”
Yes, yes, look, I fully comprehend this is why my Instagram is unsuccessful — no need to rub it in.