Haha! Seriously, Hi, folks. What you’re about to read, or perhaps are already reading and flipped back to see what all this crazy writing is about, is the highlights of a long love affair between myself and comics.
Yes, comics. Specifically, superhero comics. Oh, I’ve read other types over the years, and I enjoy them, too, but my first and main love has always been superheroes. Why? Search me. Larger than life? Able to fix rotten situations relatively easily (Which, incidentally, might explain why I prefer older comics to the ‘latest and greatest’)? I don’t know, and I haven’t asked my analyst, so for right now let’s just go with ‘I like ’em.’ Perhaps as you read this blog, you can decide and tell me.
So what’s in here? Oh, a little bit of everything. I’m interested in both how characters came to be as they were, are, and will be as well as making up reasons for what I read that are often silly, but fun, too, at least for me, and I hope for you. I’ll cover things like costume development, from Batman’s cape to Lois Lane’s hats (yes, hats: you won’t believe it), how the character changes and why I think that happened, For example, did you know that when Superman began, he operated much like the Batman? No cozy relationship with the police (the Batman’s has ebbed and flowed over the years), no particular compulsion against threatening people, and you got the sense that he really meant it, too. I haven’t followed Superman in recent years much outside of one collection (I have some more lined up to read now , though), but I know that wasn’t the case through the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s, or even the 90’s.
Now, I’m going to ask one thing of my readers, such as I may have. I fully realize this blog may never be more than something created for my own entertainment, and that’s fine, so no, this is not a pitch for money. I’m not a working writer and may never be, and even if by some miracle I become one, this blog will not be used to boost sales or the like.
No. What I ask of you is this: if you’re intrigued, if you get interested, buy some comics! Support the medium. Don’t just go to the movies: I will confess right now that I have seen very few live action superhero movies, and I’ve not liked any of them much because they nearly always distort the characters in order to ‘broaden the film’s appeal’ and, frankly, they usually accomplish this by dumbing down either the character, his story, or both (I have nothing against Sam Jackson playing Nick Fury, but I do about making Thunderbolt Ross an absolute tool the way he was in the first Hulk movie; that was done to avoid exploring the nuances of his character, which in turn lessens the tragedy of Bruce Banner). Case in point: the Batman’s secret identity used to get exposed in the comics about once every five years, max (if that). However, in the first three films (I’m talking the 80’s and 90’s, kids, not the more recent films), he was exposed in every single film. Tony Stark’s cover is blown in the first Iron Man film and to a villain at that. Oh, I know Stark himself revealed it at the end, too (which I wasn’t too happy about), but I think that was a case of the writers trying to sync with current Marvel storylines. Even so, that first film had diddly squat to do with those. The whole point of The Invincible Iron Man has always been a near-unbeatable being on the surface and a fragile human within the armor. Couldn’t we simply have stuck with that for one film?
Of course, I know why: revealing the secret identity is a cheap, easy plot device. Better yet, as a bonus you get the face of the actor you’re paying a bazillion bucks on screen just a little more instead of a mask that anyone could wear. In other words, Hollywood logic.
Comics don’t have to resort to those tricks because they let you inside the character’s head. You don’t have to see Peter Parker’s face unmasked to know he’s straining to hold a runaway train back.
Why? Because in a comic, you can see his thoughts, and they tell the whole story. And yes, I know, I know, but all the people see how human he is! Sorry folks, but to me, that’s cheap writing and also undermines the problem the character has: he is ‘just a kid’ through much of the early run of the comic, and yet no one knows that, which is why Jameson’s schtick continues to work, kind of. Spider-man lives with that and yet keeps being a hero, keeps saving people every day. That, to me, adds to the depth of the character much more than blowing his identity does.
Of course, as I said, the fact that the drawn Spider-man doesn’t cost 32 something million bucks the way Tobey Maguire did for the second and third films may also have something to do with it. Not that I begrudge Maguire his pay; it’s simply the reality of the thing. If you’re paying for that face and its expressions, then you’re going to want to use them as much as possible and never mind how much you screw up the idea that one of the core concepts of the character is that Peter has strong reasons for always keeping his face concealed when he’s Spider-man.
In a comic, on the other hand, thanks to thought bubbles, you can see spectacular action scenes, see facial expressions when possible, and know what the character is feeling without constantly resorting to unmasking him, all thanks to the combined efforts of a writer and an artist (even when they’re one and the same). It’s a unique medium that is able to convey a story in a unique manner.
But I digress.
Buy and read comics. You have a wonderful medium for them now: it’s as though tablets were made for comics. The colors are bright, the text clear, you can zoom in on panels, and your younger sibling can’t sneak in and snip the UPC code from the covers for some stupid school fundraiser while you’re out of the house the way mine did. If you like them, it’s worth your while, I think, to subscribe to services like Marvel Unlimited. I wish DC had something similar, as their DC Universe collection, last time I looked, was sadly lacking in that area, although it does have all their animated movies and Batman: the Animated Series, which makes it a good deal. You can’t go much wrong with Bruce Timm (Yes, I enjoy animated features, but generally not as much as comics). But with MU, you can dig into the past, see where these characters came from and how interesting and/or silly they were or have become. You don’t have to worry about the mailman messing up your new issues, either the way I did. The only problem is ownership, but I hope someday soon that will be solved, and until it does, it will affect many more things than comics.
Anyway, rant over. Prepare to be amused, astounded, or simply astonished that I would actually find this or that interesting. Either way, to the Comicsmoble, Readin’! We have an odyssey to begin!
(er, Dad joke. Sorry. Blame ZeFrank.)
I do not claim ownership of any of the partial image representations posted here.