Future better than present?

Johanna covers a bunch of the Marvel team books in her blog today, making some interesting and often very humorous points. Yet the best point she makes is this at the end that questions how everyone seems to look forward at what is coming, rather than what is happening in the books they read now.

That's a scary notion to think on, but is probably quite true in a lot of respects. Now in the instance of the books Johanna is talking about here, the creative talent coming on board the books are remarkably better than the current ones. So it is easy to understand wanting to look forward at what the new teams will do rather than think much on the current drek.

Yet look at the recent news that DC is returning the Hal Jordan character as Green Lantern.

Now never mind that this story is 6 months into the future, it garners interest and discussion by both sides today, and so by the time it comes out it'll be old news. Which is fine, because if it doesn't prove to be worth the talk, which I doubt it will be, well by that time DC's next bright idea will be the talk of the industry.

One thing I've found in comics, is that there seem to be a lot of great idea people. That's why solicitations, and other talk can make things sound so wonderful. Yet the problem is that there seems to be very few people who are good at execution of those wonderful ideas.

I wonder if it amounts to the same way that after a certain age Christmas morning's wonder loses its edge, once you realize that the anticipation you had built up for it over the years was never lived up to.

The hype and solicitations for upcoming books, work in the same way as the wrapping on the presents. Pretty and wondrous to behold before opening, as it is filled with all kinds of possibilities and potential. Yet once the wrapping is off, often the present or story never lives up to that potential you thought it might hold.