Wot? No Comix?

What withe getting a couple of books finalised and rushing to meet the deadline for the new American Vampires book for Career, I haven't had much time to think about comics. From what I can gather anyway, there's little happening on the comics front. Each time I go into the local bookstore which sells comics all I see on the shelves are the Avengers - prior to the film - Thor, marked as a film tie-in, the Hulk marked as a film tie-in and Captain America, marked as you've guessed as a film tie-in. All getting ready for the Avengers film which is out in April I think. So it looks like the only available comics are tied into the films that Marvel and Walt Disney want you to see. I'm also expecting a spate of Batman comics prior to the film. Other than that there appears to be very little - just the usual clutch of X-Men. I would assume that Marvel and D.C. have now killed the innovative market and all that's left for one or two artists is storyboarding for films. A sad state of affairs. Of course I could be wrong but nobody has been in touch with me to tell me that I'm not - in fact just the opposite. Comics as we knew and loved them are, by all accounts - and not just me - dead in the water. Of course you can download the latest Batman or Spiderman to your mobile phone or I-Pad but am I the only one who enjoys an ordinary comic that you can leaf through? In one of the rooms I have a couple of shelves of comics dating back to the 1950s and I still get a thrill out of sitting and looking through them. Am I out of touch? My son, in his kinder moments, refers to me as a dinosaur and maybe that's true. But I've a feeling I might give up talking about comics in this blog and talk about football instead. So what about 1949? Well Adrian and I are going to meet up around the beginning of April and sit down and have a talk about it - so watch this space. But I'm getting depressed with it all. Comics used to be new, vibrant and exciting and full of possibilities. But there's not any more. Like everything else. Is it just my age?