Do you like fight scenes in comics?

[Lovecraft13]

In general, do you like reading fight scenes in comics?

Did you like them more when you were younger?

Do you like them more now that you're older?

In terms of genre, what type of fights do you like to read the most: hand-to-hand, gunfights, large team battles, swordplay, etc?

Do you prefer short fight scenes or drawn-out fight scenes that last for an issue or more?

Are you generally happy with most of the fight scenes you do read?

Lastly, are fight scenes well-developed and or constructed in terms of clairty, presentation (page layouts and panel counts), and pacing?

[Mike225]

Hope this helps...

In general, do you like reading fight scenes in comics? Yeah.

Did you like them more when you were younger? No, the same.

In terms of genre, what type of fights do you like to read the most: hand-to-hand, gunfights, large team battles, swordplay, etc? Hand-to-hand.

Do you prefer short fight scenes or drawn-out fight scenes that last for an issue or more? Depends on the story; The Guy Gardner/Batman fight was fucking awesome, but Hulk/Thing is usually enjoyable, too.

Are you generally happy with most of the fight scenes you do read?Not 100%, no.

Lastly, are fight scenes well-developed and or constructed in terms of clairty, presentation (page layouts and panel counts), and pacing?Depends on how good your artist is, I guess. You might want to let them go nuts with the breakdowns and look them over, accepting what you want and rejecting the rest.

[dano]

People find conflict entertaining. It's something in the human spirit.
The thing that makes conflict or fighting especially good is if you can rally the reader behind the cause; Spider-man's the every-guy who's making up for past inequities. Superman's a consummate hero trying to act as savior to the masses. Batmans about revenge for past wrongs.

As long as you can get the reader behind the reason for violence they'll like it.

Odd tidbit; when interviewed killers display no feelings or intentions different from our own. Someone may have embarassed them or disrespected them and they felt the same frustration or anger we all feel. The only difference is the intensity of the response.
Where most of us would just walk away pissed, or some would even start a fist fight killers just respond a bit more severely.

We can get behind the other responses because we consider them acceptable levels.
Fantastically, we have secret admiration/fascination for those who go to the extreme because we can't.

Everyone like a good fight. Its fantastic.

[Biofungus]

From an artistic POV, I love fight scenes. They are the most dynamic poses you can draw in comics. A good comic book artist can make a fight scene look one step below animation in fluidity.

[Scott Story]

I have a different perspective. When I was younger, I loved the fight scenes. Now I prefer them to be short and sweet, and the few panels the better.

But it's all relative. Batman beating up Superman in DKR was one of the greatest fights ever. I loved the violence in that book.

On the other hand, a bloodless fight between a bunch of muscle guys as so often passes for a fight in a comic doesn't interest me much.

Thing is, there's fantasy violence that media pedals, the pretty choreographed stuff with beautifull martial arts and storytelling taking place. Then, there's the brutal real world stuff. Truthfully, I don't like either anymore.

In Johnny Saturn, when there is violence, someone gets hurt. There is always injury or death that follows. I keep it short, to the point, brutal, and there are consequences. That's the way I prefer to show it.

[Lovecraft13]

I was just really curious about individual taste. Personally, and I think Kep said it before, a comic book brawl is an established part of the medium's history, and should be used to move the plot or story forward. If you have a 22-page brawl, make sure there's still a story unfolding. Makes sense, right?

But is hand-to-hand combat really exciting to read in a comic? I guess it depends on the writer and the artist. The last memorable fight scene I can recall was the first bout between Batman and Prometheus, which happened off-panel and was simply alluded to by exposition and a panel of art. That's powerful.

[MColbert728]

I tink it boils down to the internal logic of a fight scene. I don't care if it's a team battle or two capes whaling on each other as long as the action flows and makes sense and is interesting... there you go.
Good examples:
Dark Knight returns - Bats vrs Superman (with some help from Green Arrow) just masterful in the pacing and the emotional resonance. It summed up everything about the story.
Nextwave - That crazy 12 page layout of one long fight scene. No words just udder f'n weird monster bashing for the self proclaimed "Fight Comic" worth a look at if only for the sheer insanity and unhinged fun of it.

No formula just something that grabs me.

MIKE
ROCK!!!

:banana: :banana: :banana:

[Matt_Face]

Well... I've been reading a ton of comics and TBP's lately. This is after a 10 year gap in reading comics, and I have been thinking about fight scenes a lot during that time.

I think the very cool thing about large team battles is the opportunity for fantastic art. There are scenes, or even single pages or single panels, with the whole Justice League (or X-men or whomever) fighting a ton of villains that truly look epic. The kind where you look at them and think "wow that would make a rad poster."

Another wonderful part about team battles is the oh-so-comicish dialogue.

"Hold on Batman, I'll subdue him with a little help from my ring"
"Thanks Green Lantern. Watch your back Wonder Woman!"

It gives you an opportunity to use a wide range of voices in your head as you read.

One on one fights are great for many of the same reasons. I'm a sucker for a Wolverine vs. Sabertooth match. Who doesn't love a drawn out grudge match.

I have noticed though that some fights can just fall flat and drag FOREVER and if it's not a lot of fun to look at, I find myself rushing through them to get to the portions relevant to the story line.

Bottom line, I like Super Hero fights and I would be very sad if they were replaced with Super Hero diplomacy scenes instead, but like everything else, if they are not done well, they can suck and just be page fill.

[Buckyrig]

In general, do you like reading fight scenes in comics?

Not really. But that might be because most of them are shoehorned into a story.

Did you like them more when you were younger?

Probably a little.

In terms of genre, what type of fights do you like to read the most: hand-to-hand, gunfights, large team battles, swordplay, etc?

That's all good. I'd more likely say that I dislike gunfights more than I have a preference for any of the others.

Do you prefer short fight scenes or drawn-out fight scenes that last for an issue or more?

Short...unless it really works well.

Are you generally happy with most of the fight scenes you do read?

Not remotely.

Lastly, are fight scenes well-developed and or constructed in terms of clairty, presentation (page layouts and panel counts), and pacing?

That's all well and good, but how engaging a fight scene is, is going to turn on the artist's abilities more than anything else.

[galmando]

captain america and heir keiser at teh end of the ultiamtes vol 1. wait, and the hulk fight, those are some of my fave drwan fights. bryan hitch is great at that.

[Jonzeartist]

In comics fight scenes are not as important. Much like books, the story and dialog are more important and in comics you add in the art. One or two panels of two guys fighting should be enough with most artists but some can really draw a fight scene like no body's business. Like Cladio Castellini (sp) that guy rocks. LOL

But like with every book, movie, tv show or comic...the story and writing are the foundation of it. If you don't have that then it doesn't matter who you have as the artist.

Jon

[JamieRoberts]

One of the more well-crafted fight scenes is in here. It takes about eleven pages of the story, but it's beautifully constructed.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h183/jam-wah/toys/wildcats001.jpg

[Paul Sanderson]

I like good fight scenes. If they're well written and illustrated, they can be quite entertaining. I prefer hand-to-hand or gun battles myself, but if it's well crafted, I like just about any fight scene. I don't think that's changed over the years since my childhood.

[deathdealer]

I tink it boils down to the internal logic of a fight scene. I don't care if it's a team battle or two capes whaling on each other as long as the action flows and makes sense and is interesting... there you go.
pretty much what i was gonna say...the moments i don't like a fight is when it doesn't make sense,nothing is more confusing than the fast paced fight that skips the visual info needed to be coherent

[GigaLeo]

As has been said, I love a good fight scene that has a real meaning behind it instead of one that's been shoehorned into the story. One of my favorite fights is between Shazam and Superman in Kingdom Come, aside from looking amazing, the fight was something I was anticipating as soon as the story started to unfold. I also like a good fight that establishes a character, particularly the first half of Deathstroke's fight with the League in Identity Crisis. The actions, along with the narration reminded me of why I enjoy the character so much.

[Flairbrusher]

HELL YEAH I Love a great fight scene... I was weaned on those great fights that were in the late 70's XMen books and the ones Byrne created for the Fantastic Four during his runs in those days. Did I forget Marvel Two In One?
The Thing vs. ANYBODY (so long as they were drawn by Byrne or Perez)...anything cosmic in scale where there's plenty of blasts going on and buildings are being demolished. Yeah, the fight between Bats and Supes was cool... that's why we bought all of those books in the DKR series... THAT was new for them back then... I loved the fights throughout the Infinite Crisis series. Hand to hand, sword to sword, gunfights, tanks, I don't care, so long as it's BIG. And well drawn... that left out that old Onslaught thing from the 90's... what a mess. I love drawing them too. Nothing better than throwing people against one another... reference gives me an excuse to watch wrestling and the Rocky movies and Kung Fu flicks.
http://www.anthonyhochrein.com http://www.cafepress.com/ahochrein

[Troy Wall]

Great questions.

The majority of fight scenes in mainstream books are boring as shit. See Kirkman's still-in-progress Ultimate X-Men run for the best, most recent example of boring brawls.

I love a good fight scene, but for me there has to be a decent build up so that you actually give a good shit about the fists being flown. The fights in Ultimates 2 are interesting because Millar made sure we were damned well ready to see Captain America and Al Rahman get it on--I'm still waiting for Thor VS. Loki! While we're on Millar, we can use Civil War as an example of where the build-up method didn't work. I couldn't give a fuck about the fights happening in issue 7.

The other type of fight scene that kicks mucho ass for me are those seen in books like The Authority (original run by Ellis and Millar) and work by Garth Ennis. Think about when the Authority fought the rogue Doctor--they evacuated the entire Earth's population to parallel dimensions in anticipation of the havoc that was to come. If that doesn't get you pumped for a fight, I dunno what will.

And Seth V.S. The Authority is the greatest fight scene to ever play out across sequential art!

[Troy Wall]

I loved the fights throughout the Infinite Crisis series.

Those were good fights. I'll tell ya what made a lot of 'em (especially involving Superboy Prime) interesting for me: the second issue. Issue 2, titled "The Survivors" really helped us to understand Earth 2 Superman's motivations. That issue as a whole gave meaning to every fight there after that involved Earth 2 Superman, Superboy Prime and Alex Luthor.

[The Scribe]

No fight scenes in a superhero comic would be a bad idea.

[Hob Anagarak]

In general, do you like reading fight scenes in comics?

Yes, when they’re well done.

Did you like them more when you were younger?

Probably, I remember going more for visuals though than the context of the visuals.

Do you like them more now that you're older?

I guess so. I do have a fondness for characters who tend to punch things into next week.

In terms of genre, what type of fights do you like to read the most: hand-to-hand, gunfights, large team battles, swordplay, etc?

I prefer hand to hand/duels mostly. With team fights, characters usually get lost in the fray (like Civil War). Swordplay, theoretically could be good, but I have yet to see it (looking at you, KOTOR and Legacy.) Not that big a fan of comic gunfights.

Do you prefer short fight scenes or drawn-out fight scenes that last for an issue or more?

Drawn-out fights. I likes my slugfests. There are exceptions, but usually, “fights” that are over in two panels or like one punch strike me as a waste of time.

Are you generally happy with most of the fight scenes you do read?

Sadly, no. Cable&Deadpool would be the lone exception I can think of off-hand.

Lastly, are fight scenes well-developed and or constructed in terms of clairty, presentation (page layouts and panel counts), and pacing?

See the above. Zircher was awesome on the book, but I’m willing to say that the new guy (Reilly something?) has gotten to be even better. Imho, the guy’s work on the book has improved by leaps and bounds since he started.

[jimmybott]

I love a GOOD fight in comics. Whether its hand to hand, swords or a gun fight. As long as it's drawn well. I think Lesean Thomas did some great work in Arkanium, he packs in a lot energy and Brian Stelfreeze is one of the most fluid and graceful action storytellers, I really like his action work on "Guncandy" and back in the 90s Peter Milligan and Edvin Buikovic did an awesome 'Human Target' 4 issue mini-series at vertigo.

So yeah, I love action in comics, aslong as it's dynamic and well put together. But I don't think there enough examples of great fights in comics.

Personally I don't think they need to be more than 4-5 pages or so long. I think a whole issue is a waste.

Just my 2 cents

[Moonrider]

The best fight scenes I can find are all from manga. I don't know, there's always something missing in comics when you look at the fight scenes. It tend to feel either too short or too static. The only comic with fight scenes that I really like is the showdown between Captain America Vs. The Colonel in Ultimates 2. Maybe it's because of the realistic movie-like angles.

And oh, I think a whole issue of fighting would be really cool and not a waste at all. It hasn't been done enough. A waste would be having splash pages of guys standing around doing nothing but pose.