Patman

Having read "The Mighty Avengers" a few weeks ago in one sitting (picked it up mainly for the Frank Cho artwork), I was taken aback by the inclusion of thought balloons (Bendis doing the scripting), and had forgotten when was the last time I had seen thought balloons in comics on a steady basis within a title. Given what I read of the thought balloons in "The Mighty Avengers", I can't say I miss them, but it does seem like a writer's crutch at times when using them to show a character's self-doubts and owning up to not quite knowing if a plan of action will work for a given situation, or their genuine reaction to something plot-related.

boredsilly

I don't actively miss thought balloons, but I do think it's silly that there use is actively frowned upon in today's comics. I thought they were "cute" in Mighty Avengers at first, but I got tired of them pretty fast. I think that's because they felt more like a gimmick than anything else.

I think they still have a place, but I guess the caption boxes pretty much do what they used to.

fujishig

I don't miss thought balloons all that much... in fact, I usually don't even realize they're missing until someone brings it up.

I do miss the detailed notes that editors used to put in books, referencing exactly which issue something happened. I dunno, I always used to like those. And I do miss letter pages as well.

Steve Phillips

I had no idea thought balloons were passe. It shows how long it has been since I read comics regularly.

True_Story1011

Uhh.... arent they still around, they are just square boxes narrating the thoughts as opposed to the 'I cant believe I did that'.

Its more, ' As the hero contimplates the wrong decession he made...'

ytrez

I grew up on old Marvel and DC Comics and there were tons of exposition handled through both thought balloons and text boxes. Matt Wagner's Mage was the first series I recall that didn't use these conventions. I thought it an interesting experiment and had no idea it would become standard practice in comics. It came, I think, out of an effort by writers to make comics more like movies and I don't know that I miss it. I look at it as a continuing evolution of the form. Personally, I think an artist should be able to utilize any style or format necessary to tell a story, and if that includes thought balloons, so be it.

JarJarBinks

I do miss them. It's probably why we know the older characters so much better than newer ones. We've had a window into their thoughts. Where as now adays when thought balloons are frowned upon, we don't have that same sense of insight into the character's personality and own view of the world around them. Which you do get from books, where the writers can explore the character's psyche. Probably why there haven't been many new popular characters in most comics since the early 90's.

slop101

I hadn't noticed their absence.

Rogue588

What a coinkydink...I happened to miss them until Mighty Avengers...

madcougar

I hadn't even noticed, that's how much I missed them I guess. I'm going to have to go back and pay more attention to MA.