What happened to Big Nate? The Fall of newer Big Nate comics

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(Note; This arcticle is MAINLY OPINION BASED. If you have a complaint, please leave it in the comments.)

Hey guys, ComicRater here. Today on this arcticle, I will be discussing how I think the newer comics aren't as good as they used to be, and how they need to have changes. I have wanted to speak out about this for a long time, but never really have, because I was scared of hate. But now I am saying it. But before, I would like to get 2 things out of the way. With that out of the way, lets start!
 * 1) I understand that the newer comics aren't going to be as good as old ones. I understand Peirce has been doing this for 29 years. But this doesn't mean me and other people can't have expectations for the artists we love.
 * 2) I do not hate Big Nate, Newer Big Nate, or Peirce. I am just doing this to talk about how the new comics need improvents if it wants to stay awesome. I appreciate Peirce's efforts, and I understand that he works hard every day, and I respect that.

The Golden Age
I think the most of us can agree that before 2014, Big Nate was Golden.

And while not everyone can agree, most of us can.

There are a few reasons for this. Back then, the storylines weren't always stretched so long. If Nate was talking to Mrs. Godfrey, we didn't need a 7 day storyline to show this. For example, once in 2019, Gina got in trouble, and 4 days of it were spent on that basically just for Mrs Godfrey to say "You're in trouble." This could simply be done in one day in the Golden Age, leaving more room for funny arcs. And when they had long arcs, they were actually good! One example is when P.S 38 students went to Jefferson. It was almost 2 months long, but that was fine because it was a good and interesting arc!
 * 1) Arcs weren't stretched thin

2. Nate was a punching bag, but for good reason

One of the problems with new comics (which I'll discuss later) is that Nate is too much of a punching bag.​​​​​ But it wasnt really a problem at this time because most of the time, because Nate deserved it. He was a jerk, did bad things, but still had a heart. A lot of the time he deserved it, and that's what made it funny and satysfying.

3. A lot of the arcs/dailys actually made you laugh

This one is pretty self explainatory. The arcs were funny! Even Peirce himself had his favorite comic in the golden age!

Big Nate as a whole just seemed to feel a lot better then. The arcs and comics were funny, no strips felt forced or too repeated, and Nate deserved what he was getting.

2014: The Downfall
Some people, including me, think Big Nate lost its gold in 2014. There are plenty of reasons, but I will just name a few. This is probably the most obvious reason. A lot of the arcs felt boring and repeated. Its the same things happening over and over again. A good example of this is the sherman arcs, it usually goes like Nate saying "You're so lucky, sherman." for the whole week, and Sherman having annoyed thoughts. Some might say "He has been doing this for 29 years" I'm aware of that. In fact, Arica Jade made a pretty good comment on this. Check out the picture.
 * 1) The arcs feel boring and repeated

2. Lots of Wasted Potential / Not trying anything new

What I mean by this is that we will see the first strip of the week, say, "Hey, this looks like it could be pretty interesting!" Yet to find out that it is a repeated arc that is the same before. Big Nate strips have seemed to become too predictable, and I am probably not the only one who thinks this, because I have seen comments on it before. I have many examples, but I don't wanna flood this page with photos, so here are some prime examples.
 * The week of December 3, 2018
 * The week of October 23, 2018
 * The week of June 12, 2017

3. The Slapstick Comedy 

Also known as Nate being a punching bag. It all started back in 2016. After Nate broke up with Trudy, Nate became a lot more mature throughout the series. I am partially okay with this, but a main problem with this is that Nate is still the target of slapstick comedy. It isn't funny anmore because Nate is getting beat up when he doesn't deserve it, physically and mentally. Back then, it was funny because he did stupid things. It isnt like that now. He feels more like a Charlie Brown character instead of a jerk who got what they deserved. And I know a lot of people are annoyed by this, but I'll just show one example.

I agree with almost everything this guy said, even though I think (Please don't kill me) Dee Dee is sort of an overrated character. Some people said "Well, it's called Big Nate, not Big Dee" Jonathan W.G made a great point about this.

"What’s your point? Some arcs in Calvin and Hobbes focus on Calvin’s parents and yet it’s still as entertaining. Peanuts has nothing to do with actual peanuts. Some arcs in Garfield focus on the other characters. It’s called character development and it should happen in comics where there are other characters that should be acknowledged"

4. A lot of the arcs are stretched thin

There have been many arcs that have been unnesscarily long. I am all for long arcs, but these were boring arcs that were usually stretched to months for no reason.

There was a 2 week break between the arc, so it wasn't as long. But still. This was a month long arc of Nate just being tourtured for no reason. Sure, Gina got in trouble in the end, but this could of easily been stretched down to one or two weeks. Yep. A 2 month arc. This was basically the exact same arc as the Trudy arc, but worse. We spend 2 months to figure out if Daisy likes Nate. In the second to last week of the arc, they go on a date, and then, the end up not being together. What? Why did we just spend 2 months on that? And the Comments weren't exactly pretty.
 * The Sherman / Gina Arc (May 6, 2019 - June 22, 2019)
 * 2017 Valentines Day (February 6, 2017 - April 1, 2017)



5. The Characters

The character have been really bad in the past few years. For oe thing, they all pretty much do nothing but react to Nate. And when they do have a personality, its usually bad. So many of the characters have been ruined, such as the teachers, miranda (though she was never good) Francis, and even Chad. Peirce has turned many of the characters into jerks or idiots, and it just leaves us shaking our heads with disappointment. Another prime example is Nate. It seems like Peirce is trying to make Nate mature and stop at the same time, and it NEVER WORKS.

Changes are Needed
In my opinion, I think Big Nate needs to have some more interesting arc choices if they wanna keep their fanbase. I am not saying huge ones, like Nate going to 7th grade (although that would be a great ending to the strip), but some ones that could keep the strips interesting. Some of these include: These are just a few, but there are more. And we have seen these changes, too! I will mention later what it was.
 * Nate getting a dog
 * Nate meeting his mom
 * Nate going on a vacation (Thanks Pig Lover and Spyro!)

Its Not All Bad
But, it doesn't mean Big Nate is ruined. There are obviously some good things about it.

1. The art -The drawings look really good. Besides Nate's head looking big, all of the drawing look really polished and clean, and the colors look really nice and vibrant. Even if the comics sometimes don't, the colors and drawings never fail to impress me.  

2. Not all arcs are bad-Even if some don't, a lot of the arcs still make me laugh, such as the prank day arcs and when Nate and friends made a movie in 2016.  

3. Changes-We havent seen many changes, but we have seen some.

1.Nate becoming more mature (2016)

Even if I am not the hugest fan of it, I respect Peirce for trying it.

2. Nate getting over Jenny

Me and many other people were very happy about this. It was nice to get over this crush that Nate had for 25 years.

Conclusion
So that's that. Just to state it, I hate to be so harsh on Big Nate because Peirce is one of my favorite authors. I just wanted to get this off my chest.

Thank you to all the people that will respect my opinion and that read the whole. If you disagree with anything, feel free to politely state it in the comments. Thanks again.

This is ComicRater, signing off