Remind me! When did this happen?!!

[benday-dot]

Hey! I am sitting here trying to figure out when Marvel stopped doing this! What you ask?! Why putting an exclamation mark after every sentence! No matter how banal! It was a staple of the Marvel Silver Age! (probably DC too... but I'm not as familiar there!) I am pretty sure I remember reading, in a bullpen bulletin or somewhere, that an editorial decision actually came down deciding this was a little strange!!!! It had to stop!

[scratchie]

Hey! I am sitting here trying to figure out when Marvel stopped doing this! What you ask?! Why putting an exclamation mark after every sentence! No matter how banal! It was a staple of the Marvel Silver Age! (probably DC too... but I'm not as familiar there!) I am pretty sure I remember reading, in a bullpen bulletin or somewhere, that an editorial decision actually came down deciding this was a little strange!!!! It had to stop!I remember this from when I was reading comics as a kid! This was in the mid-to-late-70s! I used to read a lot of comic books, and I noticed this practice which you have described!

[theflyingfrogunderdog]

ALL THESE YEARS--

--AND I DON'T THINK I EVER NOTICED IT! :o

[MDG]

The DC editorial decision that bugged me was always putting superheroes names in bold. "When is SUPERMAN going to get here?"

MDG

[Cei-U!]

If memory serves, the justification for the question mark thing was the fear that periods would drop out of the art during printing (and, yeah, I know that's a wee bit nonsensical). I *believe* it was Roy Thomas who initiated the change at Marvel, beginning with Conan the Barbarian #1 but don't quote me.

Cei-U!
I summon the lore!

[dan bailey]

i could be dead wrong, but my impression is that -- presumably for the reasons cei-u cites -- exclamation points were the rule in comics loooong before the '60s, & for that matter in newspaper comic strips, too.

[CPT Space Bomb]

Why, I believe you are right! Sadly, I do miss the exlamation marks! They were great, and made you KNOW that you were reading a comic book! Of course, it might be thought of as "out of style" now, but I wouldn't mind seeing them again! Reading over some old Lee/Kirby stuff makes me happy.........ahh the exlamation marks! Ouch, I just broke my leg! I'm tired, and I think I'll go to bed! Captain America, it looks like the camera needs a new roll of film!

[dan bailey]

of course, without the exclamation points, i guess we wouldn't have elliott s! maggin. maybe scott shaw! as well.

[J'onn J'onzz]

Welcome to the classic comics forum Space Bomb! The only time I noticed was when Jack Kirby did it on every sentence he ever wrote on the Fourth World titles.

[MDG]

If memory serves, the justification for the question mark thing was the fear that periods would drop out of the art during printing (and, yeah, I know that's a wee bit nonsensical). I *believe* it was Roy Thomas who initiated the change at Marvel, beginning with Conan the Barbarian #1 but don't quote me.
I know that Thomas didn't want any "POW! ZAP! WHAM!" sound effects in Conan.

MDG

[benday-dot]

Here's a neat round table discussion by several comic creators on word balloons and abandoned story telling techniques ... pretty interesting stuff

http://www.balloontales.com/articles/thoughts/index.html

[Cei-U!]

Here's a neat round table discussion by several comic creators on word balloons and abandoned story telling techniques ... pretty interesting stuff

http://www.balloontales.com/articles/thoughts/index.html

That's an awesome article. Wish I'd had it on hand when I was trying to make many of the same points in an earlier Classic Comics thread a few weeks back. Thanks for the link, ben!

Cei-U!
I summon the exoneration!

[Sir Tim Drake]

This storytelling convention is still very much in force in Disney comics! Practically every line of dialogue in duck and mouse comics ends with an exclamation point! I think it was one of Augie de Blieck Jr.'s columns that made me realize this!

This convention seems entirely natural in comic books, but when it happens in real life, it's just weird and annoying!

By the way, welcome to CBR, Space Bomb! I hope you enjoy it here!

[Sanagi]

Wow! I remember that! Imagine reading prose literature with nothing but exclamation points!

It was the best of times! It was the worst of times!

Call me Ishmael!

The sound of the bell of Gion temple echoes the impermanence of all things!

[MDG]

Here's a neat round table discussion by several comic creators on word balloons and abandoned story telling techniques ... pretty interesting stuff

http://www.balloontales.com/articles/thoughts/index.html
I just skimmed it now--I'll read it later when I have time--but it seems ridiculous to me that comic book editors would arbitrarily nix the use of storytelling devices--and usually devices that are unique to comics. Also, that, with the insistence on continuity, eliminate ways of making that continuity clearer for new/casual readers (and by casual readers, I mean people who might god forbid miss an issue or not buy a tie-in book, then have no idea what's going on).

MDG

[Agentum]

I heard they did that becuse a point could be lost in the printingprocess very easly.

[InfoBroker]

One of the Stan's soapboxes from the early 70s talks about the reason for the ! and that they would experiment with phasing it out.

Conan may well have been the test bed for the desire to ease away from them. A quck scan of Conan #7 shows the very bold . being used for about 20-30% of the conversation. But a lot of ! still abound!

Especially when the last word or two is also in bold face!

- jb the fond of !s ib -

[benday-dot]

[QUOTE=InfoBroker]One of the Stan's soapboxes from the early 70s talks about the reason for the ! and that they would experiment with phasing it out.

You are exactly right... and I know I have at least one book containing that Soapbox... I am currently reading a bunch of titles from that era, and as soon as I come across it I will post it. Thanks.