Decompression is a state of mind: Why I hate modern comic's

I made the mistake of purchasing two new comics back to back, digitally. I rarely read comics anymore, my $50 a week habit down to one or two books. The hope is to buy a tablet eventually and read more comics there (Amazon Fire makes me tingle).


The comics in question were IDW's Cold War  # 1  wrtitten and drawn by John Byrne and BOOM's Irredeemable #1 written by Mark Waid with art by Peter Krause.

John Byrne has been making comics since the mid-70's and I have been a fan of his work since the early 80's. With Neal Adams inspired line-work Byrne has mastered visual storytelling, as displayed by the first 4 pages of Cold War. A dialogue and caption free story of intrigue unfolds at a breakneck pace. Clearly told in the "classic" style where plot and story drive character and plot, there is a casual confidence in the work. The eye flows across the page, naturally drawn from panel to panel, and even without dialogue, a dense story is told economically.

Mark Waid has been writing comics for over a decade as part of a "new wave" of creators, joining the likes of Brian Bendis and Warren Ellis. The seperation point of this new generation of writers and artists is a deliberate move away from a "classic" style and more into decompressed storytelling. Decompression relies on repetition of panels to create dialogue scenes, show time passing and attempts to evoke a more "cinematic" experience. Reading much like movie storyboards, decompression lends well to collected volumes as the format of choice rather than self-contained 22 page comics. Dialogue drives character, which drives story.

The first 4 pages of Irredeemable is gripping stuff, as a panicked costumed man tries to save his family from attack. A four page glimpse into a 60 second moment feels stretched as the violent payoff in the final panel is the inevitable conclusion as established on the first page. Told mostly in medium shots and close-up's, there is no sense of place, only of people.

Decompressed storytelling feels like wasted opportunity to me, no doubt because I grew up on "classic" storytelling. There is a fundemental lack of economy, with a "tell don't show" mantra permeating an entirely visual medium.

Maybe it's not a bad thing that I have mostly stopped reading comics.Mostly.