monoxide_child
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The 'geek/nerd/anime/comics/etc.' thread
- Thread starter Defiance
- Start date
tobz
is where its at
Not at all impossible, though I think it's silly how many of the newer franchises that are already planned for rebooting. Feel like such a money machine, and I fear in the end will be the reason or the downfall of superhero movies... Try something new to keep things fresh instead, that's my idea.
I don't think many of the mainstream superhero comics are that big of a deal, when it comes to literary content anyway. I look at them more as our version of mythology, childhood stories we take with us when we become adults.
Some were more well-written than others, obviously. Golden age X-men (late 1980s to mid 1990s) were pretty uneven, but having Chris Claremont as your writer does add an element to the comics that makes it more like... well, literature. Alan Davis did wonders with Excalibur when they were around, but that was an Alan Moore creation to begin with, and perhaps the basic potential for decent writing was greater.
Why? Well, most superhero comics exist in this strange nexus of other comicry, to make up a word of my own. Spiderman is a franchise that had four or five different comics starring the same character ongoing at one point, each with a different set of writers and artists.
In other words, yes, they are cash cows. But moreso in the internet era, because it can be so easy to disseminate the images.
Our comic books in 2012 aren't the stuff we grew up with, and the stuff we grew up with was already becoming ultra lucrative. The "traditional" comic ended with the comic book industry crash during the mid-1990s. The existence of Image, and to a lesser extent Valiant and the short-lived Ultraverse, sapped the old structure of whatever it had left.
I'd like to think we can take childhood myth and make it into really awesome stories and movies, but you can't expect Spiderman to be super deep and awesome when the comic itself was so uneven, and even bad, for large stretches.
I guess I'm cynical in that sense, I don't think the original material was all that good for most stuff that's being turned into movies. I feel -some- X-men stuff was pretty good, but if you want to see how uneven the writing talent was, go pick up the re-print of the 1990s Executioner's Song. The X-Factor stuff pretty much blows away everything else out of four different titles that made up the 12 part series. 2-3 years earlier, when Claremont was with X-men, it might have been a different story altogether.
But, I digress. I'm happy to see this stuff made into movies, cuz, I mean, ultimately it was cool to see Thor alive on the silver screen. Warts and all. And if I get to see Thanos in action, even better. The Infinity Gauntlet is my favorite Marvel series of all time.
Some were more well-written than others, obviously. Golden age X-men (late 1980s to mid 1990s) were pretty uneven, but having Chris Claremont as your writer does add an element to the comics that makes it more like... well, literature. Alan Davis did wonders with Excalibur when they were around, but that was an Alan Moore creation to begin with, and perhaps the basic potential for decent writing was greater.
Why? Well, most superhero comics exist in this strange nexus of other comicry, to make up a word of my own. Spiderman is a franchise that had four or five different comics starring the same character ongoing at one point, each with a different set of writers and artists.
In other words, yes, they are cash cows. But moreso in the internet era, because it can be so easy to disseminate the images.
Our comic books in 2012 aren't the stuff we grew up with, and the stuff we grew up with was already becoming ultra lucrative. The "traditional" comic ended with the comic book industry crash during the mid-1990s. The existence of Image, and to a lesser extent Valiant and the short-lived Ultraverse, sapped the old structure of whatever it had left.
I'd like to think we can take childhood myth and make it into really awesome stories and movies, but you can't expect Spiderman to be super deep and awesome when the comic itself was so uneven, and even bad, for large stretches.
I guess I'm cynical in that sense, I don't think the original material was all that good for most stuff that's being turned into movies. I feel -some- X-men stuff was pretty good, but if you want to see how uneven the writing talent was, go pick up the re-print of the 1990s Executioner's Song. The X-Factor stuff pretty much blows away everything else out of four different titles that made up the 12 part series. 2-3 years earlier, when Claremont was with X-men, it might have been a different story altogether.
But, I digress. I'm happy to see this stuff made into movies, cuz, I mean, ultimately it was cool to see Thor alive on the silver screen. Warts and all. And if I get to see Thanos in action, even better. The Infinity Gauntlet is my favorite Marvel series of all time.
monoxide_child
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i don't agree
yes the Spiderman Comic has had a lot of stretches that were totally fucking crap
but
in the hands of the right writers/directors/producers
i really think the Spiderman movies have the potential to be a whole hell of a lot better than the crappiness of the comic
I mean, I'm not saying it has to be bad. Having a great comic book didn't stop Hollywood from raping every orifice of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, which is one of -the- brilliant comic books of our generation. The movie adaptation made me want to hang myself.
Just sayin' that it's not so easy with super ultra iconic figures like Spiderman. There's too much going on with Spidey, you get to pick and choose.
Lemme give you a more specific idea of what I'm talking about. In the early 1990s there were four (five if you count Excalibur, which you should whenever Alan Davis was writing / drawing) X-Men titles, and four Spiderman titles. The Uncanny X-Men (gold team), X-Men (blue team), X-Force, and X-Factor. These were completely different characters and super teams, all in related but different comic books.
Spiderman's four comic books were about the same goddamn hero, all concurrent. Spidey could be in a coma in THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN, while running the NY Marathon in SPIDERMAN. And they were all "present" Spiderman.
This happened with a lot of comics, like Batman. It was less deliberate with Spiderman, though. I know. My brother and I used to get every issue of every Spiderman for about five years. We didn't even really like the damn comic but you need something to read when your X-Men fix is up.
I gave up most comics when Image-geddon robbed many of Marvel's best comic writers / artists. Every asshole color artist and copywriter got to make his (and they were all men, down to a fucken man) own comic and run it into the ground in a month.
DO YOU REMEMBER WETWORKS??? LOOOOOOL. THAT MOTHERFUCKER LEFT UNCANNY X-MEN TO WORK ON A COMIC BOOK THAT WAS NEVER RELEASED
At least Wild C.A.T.S. survived. It's good to be Jim Lee.
Just sayin' that it's not so easy with super ultra iconic figures like Spiderman. There's too much going on with Spidey, you get to pick and choose.
Lemme give you a more specific idea of what I'm talking about. In the early 1990s there were four (five if you count Excalibur, which you should whenever Alan Davis was writing / drawing) X-Men titles, and four Spiderman titles. The Uncanny X-Men (gold team), X-Men (blue team), X-Force, and X-Factor. These were completely different characters and super teams, all in related but different comic books.
Spiderman's four comic books were about the same goddamn hero, all concurrent. Spidey could be in a coma in THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN, while running the NY Marathon in SPIDERMAN. And they were all "present" Spiderman.
This happened with a lot of comics, like Batman. It was less deliberate with Spiderman, though. I know. My brother and I used to get every issue of every Spiderman for about five years. We didn't even really like the damn comic but you need something to read when your X-Men fix is up.
I gave up most comics when Image-geddon robbed many of Marvel's best comic writers / artists. Every asshole color artist and copywriter got to make his (and they were all men, down to a fucken man) own comic and run it into the ground in a month.
DO YOU REMEMBER WETWORKS??? LOOOOOOL. THAT MOTHERFUCKER LEFT UNCANNY X-MEN TO WORK ON A COMIC BOOK THAT WAS NEVER RELEASED
At least Wild C.A.T.S. survived. It's good to be Jim Lee.
tobz
is where its at
If I can put my two cents in, even if I haven't always been the avid comic book reader as it would seem some of the rest of you have been/are, I'd just like to say that for my sake, I couldn't care less if the film (any film that is, about any superhero) was based on a certain comic, or if it was a completely original story. Except for origin stories, which should match with the existing work, I think I would even prefer an original story once in a while instead of all the recycling of material. Given that they stay true to the characters and universe of course.
tobz
is where its at
monoxide_child
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i still stand by this
infact you could replace the word "spiderman" with almost any other superhero's name, and i think i would still stand by it
tobz
is where its at
monoxide_child
New Metal Member
- Jul 30, 2008
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