The Comics Industry Reacts to Bill Maher's Stan Lee Comments - Sensationalist Headlines

I do, and much of our shared culture and history as it relates to "growing up" does though The most formative moment in my life was watching my dad die. The top ten moments of my life that define me, are all negative moments that caused me to have introspection, which lead to growth. You don't really get "introspection" from things that don't cause you some form of pain typically.

What does that have to do with the original topic of not liking "kids things"?

That isn't really where I started the conversation, but if that's how you want to sum up where I entered the conversation, then go ahead, I just think that's an incorrect way to frame the disucssion at all. It isn't about "not liking kids things". It's not even about "kids things". It's about things you do as a kid being things that don't bring you as much joy as an adult because you've lost the perspective you originally had is lost.

Okay, gaining a new perspective i get, but losing the ability to enjoy things like that completely seems self limiting

So? That's something that genuinely happens to people as they grow up? It's not self inflicted, it's something that happens though.

Not to me, so... idk man

Cool, you're probably one of the only people I've ever met who feels this way If you haven't lost the ability to enjoy some of the things you did as a kid, I really question how much you've gone through as a person to feel that way

Why? Are you so tied to your suffering as badges of honour that when someone says they've grown and learned as a person and still stay connected to who they were before, that you then question their maturity or life?

Anyone who sells you this angle is trying to trick you.

The most annoying thing about this is that he refuses to consider the possibility that a story might be better told in visual media than solely with written word. Not just because I'm a fan of comic books, but because... well, I concluded a long time ago that my own personal project I'm working on is going to have to be in graphic novel form. Because there's just no way to capture the insane shit in my head with written word alone. If only I didn't suck at drawing. (I'm essentially hoping I might someday be able to collaborate with someone on this project. It likely will never happen, but it absolutely never will on my own, unless I want to get laughed at for pairing my story with artwork about one step up from Chris Chan.)

I'm not mistaking my trauma for maturity. I started this discussion by stating that losing things is part of growing up. I used the example of the immature aspects of comics being a thing that I gave up, not comics themselves. I wonder if I had phrased this better if people would have agreed with that sentiment over the one that everyone received. Secondly, I have seen therapists throughout my life, I have "Sought help", this is a position I have arrived at through constant introspection, work with therapists, and to be bluntly honest, as compassionate as you are being here, you are implying my entire "world view as an adult"(Maturity) is just trauma. I don't want to read into it, but it's a strong way to just dismiss my whole view and everything related to it. It's not. I believe most of the growth people go through is from negative stimulus. Positive stimulus in life can and does cause growth, but I don't think you can seek those experiences out, they're organic and cannot be manufactured. Negative stimulus isn't something that should be manufactured for the sake of it either, but it is something that causes learning, growth, introspection, and other positive emotions. I don't think comfort seeking behaviour does provide lasting growth.

You made a pretty sweeping and relatively boisterous statement to another person with an incredibly narrow point, what else am I to do when responding to it but respond to that point? I believe that statement is emblematic of a traumatized mindset and not a legitimate view one should abide by, as I suffered in the past from an abuse-derived mindset of a similar nature. I'm not casting aspersions or trying to dismiss your view, I'm directly responding that I don't agree. It's subjective slant and you're free to take it or leave it.

Probably the same way that Feeble Lord of Boxes routinely miss the point as highlighted by this here thread. The things that bind and connect are still viewed from different angles. This actually bring this thing full circle as Stan Lee didn't intent to be a comic book writer at all, it was summer job for his uncle and he was so embarrassed at the gulf between comics and his dream of writing the Next Great American Novel that he used a pen name. Lee had the same attitude Maher did when he started, and rather obviously he didn't when he left, and what happened wasn't the kind of hardening through loss that you're actually talking about, that is a type of growth, but isn't necessarily the path to becoming wise; quite the opposite in many many instances. There's a reason many kids' production have a villain and hero that often have similar traits in common with one diametric difference. Lee's best work came after he realized comics was medium and like nay other established medium it had a unique properties that could project beyond the page, a way of storytelling unique to itself, and that uniqueness doesn't require the eyes of a child to get the most out of it; quite the opposite. Maus, Bone and Cerberus the Aardvark don't work in any other medium. They embraced those foundational elements and relied on them and the appreciation of them to become timeless and always relevant. Lee fuinally figured out he could do the same in the early 60s, twenty years after he was supposed to be done with a summer job before becoming the next Important Literary Guy that got all the pussy and money and told the quintessential tale of the age. Instead he told timeless stories, stories that may date on the edges of fashion and likeness, but will remain sacrosanct in theme, heart and character. Maher's attitude is the same one that got Trump in the White House. The attitude that this thing is meant for "_______", and you know about _______, you know what they're like, which supremely ironic as Maher has made a literal lifelong career of saying nu uh like a fucking child. By deliberately picking the farthest possible venue from where compromise can be made and refusing to move from it. When Maher says 'grow up' he means 'do things my way', not 'come to the realization you have balance and finesse and struggle and compromise and refuse to compromise and generally learn all day every day until such time as you're reasonably sure you might be able to ask the right questions, but probably never the right answers, and probably only for you. Growing up does entail embracing more things with less time and energy, but anything worth keeping can be kept if it's really that valuable to you. The people writing the best comics tend to be from their mid thirties on, that's not an accident or happenstance.

Redirect Notice and no no you didn't, but you did help make it so there's that.

There is nothing inerently immature or mature about comic books, the inherent flaw in what Maher stated is that he was critiquing a medium as if it was incapable of anything beyond "HERO FIGHT DA BAD GUY". Plus, theres nothing wrong with enjoying simple stuff like that, so long as you yourself recognize what it is, who its intended for, and as a person you're not particularly immature to begin with. You can also easily enjoy even some of the most childish things simply for the artistic aspect of it. Plus, i think a lot of the stuff meant for younger audiences such as in the Stan Lee days are in many ways more mature than a bunch of "mature" comics which are nothing but sex and violence.

I spent 10 minutes thinking this was Bill Hader and I was totally confused.

I agree that Negative Stimuli can most definitely lead to growth and maturing, but to say it is the most impactful is just a sign of your life experience. One of the biggest changes I’ve gone through the past couple didn’t come from darkness, but love and light. Meeting someone who gave me a new perspective on life, allowed to me to regain a sense of child-like wonder. Gave me introspection to how I approach life, people, my goals, was as important if not more than some of the major negative stimuli that encouraged growth in me. Maybe there’s something in comics that could revitalize and change your perspective in a way that truly did impact your life. Life is full of suffering, but it is important to remember not all of it is.

You can speak for yourself on this. While that's not always the case for everyone and many people lack the curiosity and awareness to seriously consider things without having suffered some form of loss or pain first, that definitely does not apply to everyone. Several of the formative moments in my life have been from painful experiences. An abusive piece of shit alcoholic father who convinced me to do everything in my power to not be like him, my grandfather whose death was the first major one in my life that hit me hard because he was a big role model for me, my first stepfather who was a self-centered asshole who always forced everyone to do things his way. All those were negative formative experiences. On the other hand there were tons of positive ones too that didn't require any loss. My early discovery of reading and how much fun it was. This not only resulted in reading a lot of very interesting stories but also directly helped curate my natural curiosity and knowledge. It was an outdated set from when my mom was a kid but we had a set of encyclopedias and I read the entire set from cover to cover on numerous occasions. Same with some old biology books we had from like the 50s-70s and even the dictionary that was part of the encyclopedia set. Then there's finding games. While it was primarily a hobby it helped a lot in teaching me how to make friends and be more socially conscious. It also directly sparked my interest in learning to programming, and while I'm still pretty mediocre at it that's an interest that nonetheless persists to this day and I still commonly work on improving. Those two are the most major ones and this post is already a bit long so I'll end that there since I think it made my point clearly enough but as you can see, I neither lost anything nor suffered for those formative experiences related to those two subjects and they were both huge influences on the way I turned out.

Calling out your usual contrarianism and 'it's only pithy and smart when I do it, when you do it it's ____' has jack do with my personality, and is pretty fitting in thread about supposed maturity and prioritization of media, and inability of people whom should (and do, this is about the fifth thing he's been called on in the last year)) know better to build context before critcizing or going for a lazy ass snipe attempt.

i remember this, i watched it when it came out and this interview made me respect colbert more tbh, he's so determined to finish it, i'm just laughing along with him as he desperately tries to contain a screeching maher and finish the damn thing

I mean, I play with toy soldiers and I'm still politically informed.

An Open Letter to Bill Maher from Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment Mr. Maher: Comic books, like all literature, are storytelling devices. When written well by great creators such as Stan Lee, they make us feel, make us think and teach us lessons that hopefully make us better human beings. One lesson Stan taught so many of us was tolerance and respect, and thanks to that message, we are grateful that we can say you have a right to your opinion that comics are childish and unsophisticated. Many said the same about Dickens, Steinbeck, Melville and even Shakespeare. But to say that Stan merely inspired people to “watch a movie” is in our opinion frankly disgusting. Countless people can attest to how Stan inspired them to read, taught them that the world is not made up of absolutes, that heroes can have flaws and even villains can show humanity within their souls. He gave us the X-Men, Black Panther, Spider-Man and many other heroes and stories that offered hope to those who felt different and bullied while inspiring countless to be creative and dream of great things to come. These are but a few of the things we the fans of Stan Lee also consider “adulting,” because life both as a child and grown-up can indeed be a struggle. Stan is the author of millions of happy childhood memories and the provider of so many of the positive tools of adulthood. Our shock at your comments makes us want to say “‘Nuff said, Bill,” but instead we will rely on another of Stan’s lessons to remind you that you have a powerful platform, so please remember: “With great power there must also come -- great responsibility!”

Going through life without some sort of trauma is either a pipe dream or just straight up repression. Whether it be losing people important to us, sufferign some great disappointment as our eyes open to the world, or even having an accident of some kind, something eventually leaves a mark.

Oh by the way, Bill Maher just admitted in a new interview that he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about, but he's right anyway (because of course he is): "But talk about making my point for me: Yeah, I don't know very much about Stan Lee and it certainly wasn't a swipe at Stan Lee," Maher said, with King interjecting to say, "You would have liked him. He was a really nice guy." Maher continued, "Yeah, fine. I amagnostic on Stan Lee. I don't read comic books. I didn't even read them when I was a child. What I was saying is, a culture that thinks that comic books and comic book movies are profound meditations on the human condition is a dumb [frick]ing culture. And for people to get mad at that just proves my point." I am so ready for this fucker to die alone in a few decades and for nobody to go to his funeral. With his continued assholery he's not going to have many friends, if any, by the time he's old and frail. And the few romantic relationships he's had have unsurprisingly failed.

Can't wait for his fucking death.

His position is like saying the entire film medium is shit because you dont like 1940s cowboy movies and wondering why people are calling him a brain dead reprobate.

In other words: "People getting mad at me for saying stupid shit just proves that they are the stupid ones, not me!!"

"People getting mad at me being ignorant as fuck and insulting the legacy of a beloved man who's just died just proves my point, it's a dumb HOBBY!" lmao