Editorial: What I Hate and Love about Decompression in Superhero Comics

Hello everyone. I’m Logan Dalton, the News Editor at Capeless Crusader, and this is my weekly editorial. In this editorial, I will ramble on about a pop culture topic of my choosing, probably comics related. Eventually I will come up with a name and direction for this weekly article. But today I would like to talk about a storytelling device that may elicit a shudder in comics fans: decompression.

Warning: Ultron doesn’t appear in the comic that happens to have his name on the cover.

What is Decompression?

Decompression is a recent trend in American comics where the focus is on visuals and characterization instead of plot. This TV Tropes entry has examples of comics that have lots of decompression. A major example is Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original Spider-Man origin story in Amazing Fantasy #15, which introduces a completely new superhero in fourteen pages, is extended to seven issues in Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s opening arc of Ultimate Spider-Man. Decompression works in this particular example as readers get to spend more time with Uncle Ben before he dies as well as see Peter Parker’s development from nerd to showoff and finally superhero. However, decompression can also be seen as a negative thing. For example, in the Age of Ultron event, Bendis took two issues for Captain America to formulate a plan and waited until the penultimate issue to show Ultron before concluding the series with trailers for upcoming comics. These examples are extremes, but can decompression be a legitimate form of storytelling, or is it just “writing for the trade”? I will use two recent comics written by Brian Michael Bendis: All-New X-Men #25 and last week’s All-New X-Men #26 to explore this question.

Decompression: The Bad

All-New X-Men #25 is an exaggerated example of artistic decompression. The plot is a single conversation between Beast and the Watcher about the consequences of sending the 1960s X-Men into the future and the possible futures that will happen to them, or the X-Men. With eighteen pencillers, it ends up being a showcase for comics’ greatest art talents with splash pages from a wide variety of artists, including Bruce Timm, David Mack, J.G. Jones, and Lee Bermejo. This “jam” issue explores Bendis’ ideas about his run on All-New X-Men, including the way Beast has destroyed many positive futures for the X-Men. However, it doesn’t deal with any of the fallout of the “Trial of Jean Grey” crossover or even feature any of the main cast of the All-New X-Men book. Bendis sacrifices plot for art and ideas. This is a comic with gorgeous visuals by artists, who normally don’t draw the X-Men, but it interrupts the flow of the larger arc. I think that All-New X-Men #25 would have worked better as an annual than an issue in an ongoing series.

This page alone is an argument for a Bruce Timm/Paul Dini X-Men cartoon.

One could make an argument that comics like All-New X-Men #25 are important, especially in an age of relaunches and renumberings. It’s good to take a step back and explore what sets a particular series apart from the others. All-New X-Men is so dependent on time travel that it’s almost wrong not to explore the possible futures of its protagonists, especially when Bruce Timm, David Mack, and Skottie Young get to show Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Iceman lose their respective minds. But, when you throw in hilarious, yet unnecessary comic strips about possible futures where Kitty Pryde and Colossus along with Wolverine and Jean Grey end up together, the comic becomes an exercise in self-indulgence. The ideas and visuals work, but All-New X-Men #25 ends up being a pretty piece of filler that could have fit in any current X-Men series because it ends up touching on the X-Men as a whole and not the cast of All-New X-Men with the exception of the opening splash pages with Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, and Angel. I could see it adding pages and “value” in a trade paperback with some readers not getting angry at the lack of story because of the sheer nostalgia of having Bruce Timm draw different versions of Jean Grey, or Art Adams illustrate a sequence of Beast killing dinosaurs in the Savage Land.

Decompression: The Good

The following issue of All-New X-Men uses decompression in a much less self-indulgent way. The first part of the comic is extended conversation between Jean Grey and the older Cyclops, their first real conversation in the series. This scene is important for Jean Grey, who has unlocked special powers a long time before she was supposed to and is also dealing with 1960s Cyclops leaving her to explore space with his father Corsair. They also discuss the problems with the space-time continuum, but in a manner more applicable to their characters. It also reveals how out of sorts Jean Grey is when she tells Cyclops that he is the man that she hoped the younger Cyclops would become even though this Cyclops killed Charles Xavier.There is also that creepy age gap. The conversation also sets up a little internal conflict when Cyclops reveals that his ex-girlfriend Emma Frost will be training Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde tells older Cyclops to stay away from Jean Grey because she knows about the attraction between those two characters.

Along with developing Jean Grey and Cyclops’ relationship, Bendis also gives much needed characterization to X-23, who has kind of been ignored by the team up to this point. (Iceman doesn’t know her real name and calls her “Wolverine clone”.) As Angel, probably one of the more optimistic members of the All-New X-Men, tries to get her to come back, X-23 gives her perfectly justified reasons for leaving the team (too much danger, angry that Cyclops left her without an explanation, feels like she doesn’t know the other team members). This scene also sets up the return of the Future Brotherhood from the “Battle of the Atom” crossover. Bendis does a good job having readers emotionally invest in characters ,like X-23 and Jean Grey, as well as setting up internal conflict before introducing the external conflict. And this is when decompression is a good thing.

Decompression: The Ugly Truth

Decompression works as a storytelling device, when it is used to actively develop characters and not add length to a trade collection. All-New X-Men #26 is an example of the former while All-New X-Men #25 is an example of the latter. All-New X-Men #26 could have had the X-Men jumping right into action against the Future Brotherhood, but Bendis decides to spend extra times exploring Jean Grey’s feelings after her captivity by the Shi’ar in “The Trial of Jean Grey”. These extended conversations show Bendis’ knack for dialogue (he can sometimes be a showoff) and help readers connect with characters on an emotional level. And in the long run, it is more interesting to look at a relationship between a character and her future boyfriend/husband who killed her mentor than see yet another action scene.

One of the reasons I don’t mind decompression in many cases is that I have a soft spot for quick hitting, clever dialogue and characters with superpowers, who still have problems. It is enjoyable for me to see characters that I care about just talk to each other. This is why I feel that decompression can work as storytelling device if it is used to develop characters instead of have a whole comic of punching, like Ultimate Spider-Man #7 , which is Spider-Man just hitting and quipping at the Green Goblin. However, many people read superhero comics for action scenes and not relationship problems. This is why books like The Pulse, which spent a whole arc dealing with Jessica Jones’ pregnancy and her relationship with her boyfriend Luke Cage, get canceled after fourteen issues. Visually gripping action scenes are a big part of superhero comics, but what keeps me reading them is the personal stories of the characters. What attracts you to superhero comics? Is it the punching or action? Is it the visuals or big reveals? Or are you like me and in it for the characters. Please comment below if you have anything to add or rant at me about.