Last week,Marvel shows off the design for the new Captain America,complete with gun and knife.
The internet reacts,with many fans crying out that Captain America would never use a gun and that his shield is all the weapon he has ever,or would ever need.Fans on forums show scans of Captain America comics from the 40's and 50's(See here )where he is clearly using guns,but it falls on deaf ears.(eyes?)
This week,Marvel releases 2 books that show Captain America using a gun( Avengers Classic #5,in the extra story in the back and Captain America #31, during one of the flashback scenes with Bucky.Yeah,they were manufactured flashbacks,but that's besides the point.)
Did they anticipate the potential backlash?I think comic companies read and react to the internet more than they claim to.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Nostalgia
Reading back my post from yesterday got me thinking about how much nostalgia from our younger days influences our thinking.It's not just a comics thing where people seem to be reluctant to move away from the old guard.How many times do you hear about a singer/band's first album being their best one?How often do you see a list of movies grouped together under whatever premise and see that the bulk of the movies on the list are 20,30,40 years old or even older than that?The same thing goes with television and (especially) literature.Newer stuff just doesn't get the same respect.
Does everything really suck so bad right now?With all of our advances in technology,with more source material available to draw inspiration from, is the best we can do really something from many decades past?Personally,I think that's crap.I think things are getting better or, at the very worst, staying the same.It's our sense of nostalgia that taints our view.
Being first does not mean being best.The Simpsons is something of an homage to The Flintstones, which in turn is paying tribute to The Honeymooners.Does that make The Honeymooners the funniest and best of the three shows?No.Comedy has evolved.The formula set forth by The Honeymooners has been tweaked and improved.Watching that show seems quaint and more amusing than funny compared to the wild directions The Simpsons have taken the formula of the disfunctional,bickering family."But Jackie Gleason was a genius."Maybe he was, but now his comedy is dated.We need to move on.
Black Sabbath was arguably the first heavy metal band.I know that's a point of contention amongst music buffs,but in terms of just nailing the sound and the mood of heavy metal Black Sabbath was the first.I love Black Sabbath.Everyone knows Black Sabbath through either their songs or at least by association through Ozzy Osbourne.But they're not the best metal band.Music has moved forward.Metal has taken huge leaps and bounds from the days of Sabbath's simple power chord riffs.And I don't have to crap all over their legacy to point that out."Paranoid" can still be a great album.It's just not the best anymore.At some point we have to let go.
I think it comes down to the fact that we often look back to our childhoods to find the happiest moments in our lives.(unless your childhood was totally fucked up)I think it's a bad thing to live in the past too much.Children are easily entertained, or at least easier to entertain than adults.They don't have the baggage that comes with growing up.That's why the cartoons we watched as a kid are better than the cartoons now.We still see them through the eyes of a ten-year old.Maybe the cartoons,music,movies,etc of today are of the same or even better quality than those of yesterday.We're just trying to look at them from a mindset we don't have anymore. It's too easy to let our biases influence our thinking.There are gems in every genre waiting to be discovered and cherished if we can just let go of our security blankets.
Does everything really suck so bad right now?With all of our advances in technology,with more source material available to draw inspiration from, is the best we can do really something from many decades past?Personally,I think that's crap.I think things are getting better or, at the very worst, staying the same.It's our sense of nostalgia that taints our view.
Being first does not mean being best.The Simpsons is something of an homage to The Flintstones, which in turn is paying tribute to The Honeymooners.Does that make The Honeymooners the funniest and best of the three shows?No.Comedy has evolved.The formula set forth by The Honeymooners has been tweaked and improved.Watching that show seems quaint and more amusing than funny compared to the wild directions The Simpsons have taken the formula of the disfunctional,bickering family."But Jackie Gleason was a genius."Maybe he was, but now his comedy is dated.We need to move on.
Black Sabbath was arguably the first heavy metal band.I know that's a point of contention amongst music buffs,but in terms of just nailing the sound and the mood of heavy metal Black Sabbath was the first.I love Black Sabbath.Everyone knows Black Sabbath through either their songs or at least by association through Ozzy Osbourne.But they're not the best metal band.Music has moved forward.Metal has taken huge leaps and bounds from the days of Sabbath's simple power chord riffs.And I don't have to crap all over their legacy to point that out."Paranoid" can still be a great album.It's just not the best anymore.At some point we have to let go.
I think it comes down to the fact that we often look back to our childhoods to find the happiest moments in our lives.(unless your childhood was totally fucked up)I think it's a bad thing to live in the past too much.Children are easily entertained, or at least easier to entertain than adults.They don't have the baggage that comes with growing up.That's why the cartoons we watched as a kid are better than the cartoons now.We still see them through the eyes of a ten-year old.Maybe the cartoons,music,movies,etc of today are of the same or even better quality than those of yesterday.We're just trying to look at them from a mindset we don't have anymore. It's too easy to let our biases influence our thinking.There are gems in every genre waiting to be discovered and cherished if we can just let go of our security blankets.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wrestling And Comics/We Are All Too Old
In the course of my searching through the internet I found this post on WFA which likened the recent beating that Tigra took at the hands of The Hood in New Avengers to a "job" in pro wrestling.I have to say that I love the analogy.Pro wrestling and comics are very similar.Both involve impossibly muscular men and unrealistically attractive women in colorful,gaudy costumes with strange names playing out the ages-old fight between good and evil.
I'm not writing this to tear apart the author's argument,but rather to explore the comics-wrestling connection.In wrestling,to "job" is simply to lose.Someone has to do it.A "jobber" is someone who loses consistently.The classic "jobber" is mostly a thing of the past.They have been replaced with those who are informally referred to as "jobbers to the stars",who are people like Al Snow(mentioned in the comments section of the linked post) or Scotty 2 Hotty.They have enough of a name to win some of the time,and even to win the occasional title,but are almost guaranteed to lose against a star of higher caliber.These are the people who used to be called "mid-carders".Tigra is a mid-carder.She has a name.She's been on the Avengers.But she isn't an A-lister or a marquee name by a long shot.That much I think can be agreed.
In wrestling,much like in comics, the bad guy(or "heel")is there to pose as realistic a threat as possible to the good guy(or "babyface/face") before inevitably getting his/her ass handed to them in the end by said face.Heels can come in many forms:cowardly,sneaky,foreign,monster,etc.The Hood is currently being set up as the monster heel,which is arguably the most dangerous kind.
One way to establish your monster heel is to have them decisively beat up some known,capable opponents,like a mid-carder.No one will be impressed when you beat a serial loser.For this you can set up a "squash match",which is just one way of saying "one-sided victory".In this case,the person being beaten is not important.The purpose of a squash is to build up the winner and nothing else.The poor victim on the receiving end is interchangeable.In this case,Tigra is the one who got squashed.
I know many people are upset that it was a female hero on the receiving end of the beating.I understand.I can see that women get the shit end of things in comics way too often,but I think in this case it just happened to be Tigra.She's been in a couple of books recently,so peope know who she is.She's not a pushover,but is also not a heavy hitter.She would have been out of the main scene anyway, as it appeared she was heading to some Midwestern state whose name escapes me at this moment for her Initiative assignment.She was an appropriate candidate for this "job."I know Bendis could have picked another character or even created someone just for The Hood to beat on,but he didn't.It might be a little shitty to see the former Avenger Tigra taken out so easily and brutally,but in this case I don't think this is her story.It's The Hood's.You aren't meant to go"Will Tigra get her revenge?" but rather "What will it take to stop The Hood?"She might get her comeuppance at some point,but I think that's secondary to the story they're trying to tell.They have a monster heel to build up.
Did Bendis and company accomplish this?At least as far as the internet crowd goes,the answer is no.I think part of the reason is that comics' target audience is just too old to completely lose themselves in a story without critical analysis.It's part of getting older and liking the same things you liked when you were 12.Our imagination and sense of wonder gets a bit trampled by the weight of the world.Wrestling has the same problem.It's no longer targeted at very young kids, but rather at teens and young adults.As a wrestling worker,I prefer to see young kids at the shows.They lose themselves in the spectacle and yell,scream, react and just have a great time.It's the older fans who sit back and heckle or make snarky remarks about things like"workrate".The kids will give the heel "heat" for beating up on the face,which is the reaction you hope for.The adults are much more likely to direct their heat towards the booker or the promotion itself for putting together a match in a way that is totally contrary to what they would want.While there's nothing really wrong with that,and some of the talent might even agree with them, it's just not the reaction you want people to have.Sure, the creators have a big hand in what goes on, but they're not supposed to be the focal point. You want the people to be into the story,not the politics.
I don't want people to stop complaining.I enjoy reading the rants regardless of whether I agree with them or not.It's part of fandom.As fans, we can certainly demand a better product.And comics,much like wrestling,are niche products that typically put much more effort than some more mainstream endeavors(like pro sports) into being fan-friendly.I just wonder if when you direct all of your venom at the writers and/or editors if you're really "getting it."Maybe the curtain has been pulled back too much.Maybe too much has been made of writers/artists instead of the story, which is the ultimate end product that we spend our money on.Maybe as we get older our suspension of disbelief and desire to escape fades a little and gets replaced by cynicism and our own projected mistrust of authority.Maybe it has always been there and the internet just brought everyone together in a public place.After all, the stereotype of the snarky"Comic Book Guy" had to come from somewhere.It just seems to me that a lot of the "heat" directed at writers/artists/editors(in this case,Bendis)by the current comics crowd would be directed somewhere else if we were all ten or fifteen years younger.I know I read comics differently now than I did when I was 15.Do you?
I'm not writing this to tear apart the author's argument,but rather to explore the comics-wrestling connection.In wrestling,to "job" is simply to lose.Someone has to do it.A "jobber" is someone who loses consistently.The classic "jobber" is mostly a thing of the past.They have been replaced with those who are informally referred to as "jobbers to the stars",who are people like Al Snow(mentioned in the comments section of the linked post) or Scotty 2 Hotty.They have enough of a name to win some of the time,and even to win the occasional title,but are almost guaranteed to lose against a star of higher caliber.These are the people who used to be called "mid-carders".Tigra is a mid-carder.She has a name.She's been on the Avengers.But she isn't an A-lister or a marquee name by a long shot.That much I think can be agreed.
In wrestling,much like in comics, the bad guy(or "heel")is there to pose as realistic a threat as possible to the good guy(or "babyface/face") before inevitably getting his/her ass handed to them in the end by said face.Heels can come in many forms:cowardly,sneaky,foreign,monster,etc.The Hood is currently being set up as the monster heel,which is arguably the most dangerous kind.
One way to establish your monster heel is to have them decisively beat up some known,capable opponents,like a mid-carder.No one will be impressed when you beat a serial loser.For this you can set up a "squash match",which is just one way of saying "one-sided victory".In this case,the person being beaten is not important.The purpose of a squash is to build up the winner and nothing else.The poor victim on the receiving end is interchangeable.In this case,Tigra is the one who got squashed.
I know many people are upset that it was a female hero on the receiving end of the beating.I understand.I can see that women get the shit end of things in comics way too often,but I think in this case it just happened to be Tigra.She's been in a couple of books recently,so peope know who she is.She's not a pushover,but is also not a heavy hitter.She would have been out of the main scene anyway, as it appeared she was heading to some Midwestern state whose name escapes me at this moment for her Initiative assignment.She was an appropriate candidate for this "job."I know Bendis could have picked another character or even created someone just for The Hood to beat on,but he didn't.It might be a little shitty to see the former Avenger Tigra taken out so easily and brutally,but in this case I don't think this is her story.It's The Hood's.You aren't meant to go"Will Tigra get her revenge?" but rather "What will it take to stop The Hood?"She might get her comeuppance at some point,but I think that's secondary to the story they're trying to tell.They have a monster heel to build up.
Did Bendis and company accomplish this?At least as far as the internet crowd goes,the answer is no.I think part of the reason is that comics' target audience is just too old to completely lose themselves in a story without critical analysis.It's part of getting older and liking the same things you liked when you were 12.Our imagination and sense of wonder gets a bit trampled by the weight of the world.Wrestling has the same problem.It's no longer targeted at very young kids, but rather at teens and young adults.As a wrestling worker,I prefer to see young kids at the shows.They lose themselves in the spectacle and yell,scream, react and just have a great time.It's the older fans who sit back and heckle or make snarky remarks about things like"workrate".The kids will give the heel "heat" for beating up on the face,which is the reaction you hope for.The adults are much more likely to direct their heat towards the booker or the promotion itself for putting together a match in a way that is totally contrary to what they would want.While there's nothing really wrong with that,and some of the talent might even agree with them, it's just not the reaction you want people to have.Sure, the creators have a big hand in what goes on, but they're not supposed to be the focal point. You want the people to be into the story,not the politics.
I don't want people to stop complaining.I enjoy reading the rants regardless of whether I agree with them or not.It's part of fandom.As fans, we can certainly demand a better product.And comics,much like wrestling,are niche products that typically put much more effort than some more mainstream endeavors(like pro sports) into being fan-friendly.I just wonder if when you direct all of your venom at the writers and/or editors if you're really "getting it."Maybe the curtain has been pulled back too much.Maybe too much has been made of writers/artists instead of the story, which is the ultimate end product that we spend our money on.Maybe as we get older our suspension of disbelief and desire to escape fades a little and gets replaced by cynicism and our own projected mistrust of authority.Maybe it has always been there and the internet just brought everyone together in a public place.After all, the stereotype of the snarky"Comic Book Guy" had to come from somewhere.It just seems to me that a lot of the "heat" directed at writers/artists/editors(in this case,Bendis)by the current comics crowd would be directed somewhere else if we were all ten or fifteen years younger.I know I read comics differently now than I did when I was 15.Do you?
Due To A Lack Of New Ideas I Now Present The Same Crap I Always Talk About
It's been a pretty bad week for me blog-wise.Besides drawing a daily blank as far as what to write about,I've also been working extra hours and trying to catch up on my far-too-neglected piano practice.I went hiking at the Delaware Water Gap again.I'd post pictures,but blogger has been giving me trouble with that in the past few days.I'll try again another day.Surely I can fill up some space with my regular minutae.
1)I got a $50 tip for helping someone with our shop's forklift.I hit Border's this morning to spend it on some TPBs.I got the Birds Of Prey TPB "Sensei & Student."Damn if they don't get a lot of issues in those trades.They even take me over an hour to read,and I read pretty fast.I've still got the last issue in it to go.I also got Superman For All Seasons. I'm not much of a Superman fan,but in flipping through it I liked the scenes with Clark in Smallville.After reading through it during my lunch break,I'd have to say it was a rather charming story.It took the whole "Superman is awesome at everything" part of the character that makes him a bit annoying to me and set it aside to show a more emotional side of Superman, as well as a peek inside what the other people in his life think of him.For an impulse buy,I was very satisfied.
2)Tommorrow is comic day for me.I'll probably get about 6 Marvel books, doubtfully any DC books and Vol 7 of The Walking Dead. I'll be nearly caught up but I'm going to continue to get this just in trades.It will make it easier for the day I inevitably read every volume back to back.I can't say that I'm sick of zombies yet.I'll even be getting Marvel Zombies 2 tommorrow.
3)My cats are driving me nuts.Our kitten is now 6 months old and is trying to assert herself with the other cats.She torments the older one with a move I can only describe as a side-headlock takedown.Every time I hear moaning I know exactly what's going on.Her and the older female fight constantly.I hope they resolve this thing amongst them soon.It's like my girlfriend and I can't relax for more than ten minutes without breaking up a fight or an impromptu wrestling match.Right now the oldest female is the dominant one of the three,but that might change soon.(Ohmigod.I just blogged about a cat story.I'm going nuts.)
4)It's 1:30 AM and I'm still not tired yet.I have always had problems sleeping.I've tried every trick and tip that has ever been published,but if I can't shut the old brain down then sleep is impossible and recently it has been running nonstop.If I can get about 5 hours of sleep or at least 5 hours of in bed relaxation I'll be fine tommorrow.Anything less and I drag all day.I won't drink coffee because it's tastes disgusting and smells bad enough to put a lump in my throat if I breathe in its vile stench too deeply.If I could ever get past or even used to the inhumanly horrible taste and smell there's still the fact that caffeine has almost no effect on me.I doubt it so much as raises my heartbeat. Coffee...nothing.Jolt Cola...nothing.Red Bull....nothing.Those pep pills they sell at convenience stores...nothing.Ginseng...nothing.Stacker2....nothing,even after taking a handful.X-tra large pixie sticks...nothing.Mountain Dew...nothing.Energy bars...nothing.You get the point.I gave up on finding something years ago.
5)That's it.I really have to go to bed.
1)I got a $50 tip for helping someone with our shop's forklift.I hit Border's this morning to spend it on some TPBs.I got the Birds Of Prey TPB "Sensei & Student."Damn if they don't get a lot of issues in those trades.They even take me over an hour to read,and I read pretty fast.I've still got the last issue in it to go.I also got Superman For All Seasons. I'm not much of a Superman fan,but in flipping through it I liked the scenes with Clark in Smallville.After reading through it during my lunch break,I'd have to say it was a rather charming story.It took the whole "Superman is awesome at everything" part of the character that makes him a bit annoying to me and set it aside to show a more emotional side of Superman, as well as a peek inside what the other people in his life think of him.For an impulse buy,I was very satisfied.
2)Tommorrow is comic day for me.I'll probably get about 6 Marvel books, doubtfully any DC books and Vol 7 of The Walking Dead. I'll be nearly caught up but I'm going to continue to get this just in trades.It will make it easier for the day I inevitably read every volume back to back.I can't say that I'm sick of zombies yet.I'll even be getting Marvel Zombies 2 tommorrow.
3)My cats are driving me nuts.Our kitten is now 6 months old and is trying to assert herself with the other cats.She torments the older one with a move I can only describe as a side-headlock takedown.Every time I hear moaning I know exactly what's going on.Her and the older female fight constantly.I hope they resolve this thing amongst them soon.It's like my girlfriend and I can't relax for more than ten minutes without breaking up a fight or an impromptu wrestling match.Right now the oldest female is the dominant one of the three,but that might change soon.(Ohmigod.I just blogged about a cat story.I'm going nuts.)
4)It's 1:30 AM and I'm still not tired yet.I have always had problems sleeping.I've tried every trick and tip that has ever been published,but if I can't shut the old brain down then sleep is impossible and recently it has been running nonstop.If I can get about 5 hours of sleep or at least 5 hours of in bed relaxation I'll be fine tommorrow.Anything less and I drag all day.I won't drink coffee because it's tastes disgusting and smells bad enough to put a lump in my throat if I breathe in its vile stench too deeply.If I could ever get past or even used to the inhumanly horrible taste and smell there's still the fact that caffeine has almost no effect on me.I doubt it so much as raises my heartbeat. Coffee...nothing.Jolt Cola...nothing.Red Bull....nothing.Those pep pills they sell at convenience stores...nothing.Ginseng...nothing.Stacker2....nothing,even after taking a handful.X-tra large pixie sticks...nothing.Mountain Dew...nothing.Energy bars...nothing.You get the point.I gave up on finding something years ago.
5)That's it.I really have to go to bed.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I'm A Bad Comic Book Fan
I spend a lot of my time on the internet reading about comics.I think I'm a horrible fan though,because I don't engage in a lot of what appears to be perfectly normal comic fan-like behavior.
1)I have never dropped anything from my pull list.
2)I've never blamed an artist/writer for failing to entertain me.
3)If I buy a book, don't like it, and keep buying it then I admit to just collecting it.
4)My childhood remains blissfully unraped.
5)I love changes to the status quo.It can be exciting.
6)I don't talk down to or insult people who read different things than I read.
7)I understand when the movie is different than the book and judge it on its own merits.
8)I don't nitpick at continuity errors.
9)I like most of what I read.
10)I don't get all up in arms over a bad cover.
11)I liked Civil War, House Of M, and Avengers Disassembled.
12)I feel no sense of nostalgia for the comics of my youth.The writing and art are 1000000 times better today than they were back then.That's the main reason why I got back into comics.
13)I don't hold any character up to a standard that was set decades ago.Times change and people change with them.
14)I've never made a "Michael Turner can't draw feet." comment.
15)I don't buy comics just to make fun of them or to hate on them.I buy them for my reading enjoyment.
16)Delays don't bother me at all.
17)Events don't bother me either.
18)I don't take the stories personally.
19)I can wait out the slower pace that decompression brings.
1)I have never dropped anything from my pull list.
2)I've never blamed an artist/writer for failing to entertain me.
3)If I buy a book, don't like it, and keep buying it then I admit to just collecting it.
4)My childhood remains blissfully unraped.
5)I love changes to the status quo.It can be exciting.
6)I don't talk down to or insult people who read different things than I read.
7)I understand when the movie is different than the book and judge it on its own merits.
8)I don't nitpick at continuity errors.
9)I like most of what I read.
10)I don't get all up in arms over a bad cover.
11)I liked Civil War, House Of M, and Avengers Disassembled.
12)I feel no sense of nostalgia for the comics of my youth.The writing and art are 1000000 times better today than they were back then.That's the main reason why I got back into comics.
13)I don't hold any character up to a standard that was set decades ago.Times change and people change with them.
14)I've never made a "Michael Turner can't draw feet." comment.
15)I don't buy comics just to make fun of them or to hate on them.I buy them for my reading enjoyment.
16)Delays don't bother me at all.
17)Events don't bother me either.
18)I don't take the stories personally.
19)I can wait out the slower pace that decompression brings.
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