Kolya on 25/7/2012 at 00:57
Superman certainly is an American icon, but America isn't the youthful and naive superpower anymore that he reflected. That's a problem they'd have to tackle, but we all know they will simply ignore it. Instead they'll scale down some real world problem, so it becomes seizable to his simple good natured excess of physical force and let a lot of things explode.
june gloom on 25/7/2012 at 01:07
Nevermind that unlike Marvel they don't actually focus on real-world problems because that would cheapen them compared to the alien invasions et al. that the DCU is constantly dealing with?
Do you even read posts anymore or do you just find sexual gratification in being a know-it-all?
CCCToad on 25/7/2012 at 01:11
One could say much the same about someobody who instantly starts lambasting anyone who disagrees with him as "wrong" and "stupid" or "retarded".
june gloom on 25/7/2012 at 01:14
Maybe if people would be less fucking wrong all the time we wouldn't have this problem.
BrokenArts on 25/7/2012 at 03:25
And one could say you guys need to stop your bitching, ok? K, and thanks. Its a matter of opinion who is right and wrong, how you execute your case is the problem.
Scots Taffer on 25/7/2012 at 03:47
So Clark has gone off to be a salt of the earth guy to understand himself before he becomes Bat Superman... Oh, Nolan's producing you say...? "Gritty", lol.
Kolya on 25/7/2012 at 07:56
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Nevermind that unlike Marvel they don't actually focus on real-world problems because that would cheapen them compared to the alien invasions et al. that the DCU is constantly dealing with?
Do you even read posts anymore or do you just find sexual gratification in being a know-it-all?
Inline Image:
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab312/grimmnoir/ww-bitch-please.gif Enter "superman saves *" into an image search. What do you see? A guy who's pushing cars, planes and rocks and flies around with a woman in his arms. That's superman: A puerile power fantasy.
The abstraction of real world fears and problems into his childish fantasy world is a process of simplification to make them solvable by Superman and cover up everything that's falling by the wayside. An alien invasion with superman will never be a District 9.
The fact that these simplifications don't work anymore has been stressed all throughout the 90s when super heroes became self parodies in their films. (Other movies who harped on that tune were: Last Action Hero, Mars Attacks)
Batman survived this phase and grew up, because he's a real guy who can deal with (half way) real problems. Any writer will tell you that problems are good. What's Superman's problem except getting to screw Lois Lane without her finding out that he secretly likes to wear tights?
The Alchemist on 25/7/2012 at 14:50
Speaking of Marvel, Tony Stark made an appearance at Comicon. Kinda looks like an actor.
(
http://www.wimp.com/comiccon/) http://www.wimp.com/comiccon/
(And yes I agree the second movie was shit.)
DDL on 25/7/2012 at 15:19
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Nevermind that unlike Marvel they don't actually focus on real-world problems because that would cheapen them compared to the alien invasions et al. that the DCU is constantly dealing with?
I'm not entirely sure DC has the monopoly on alien invasions, either. See..well, the avengers movie for a start. Or the whole ludicrous kree/skrull/whatever thing. It's actually fairly hard to draw a clear line between the two in terms of what they do and don't employ as challenges for their protagonists.
(I mean, thanos and darkseid are almost palleteswaps in terms of power, personality and appearance)
I'll be honest, I'm not a
major fan of either...but you're right, I do tend to lean toward marvel just because they seem less..black and white. DC tends to be overly focussed (often to a truly disturbing extent) on "killing and why it is wrong". Batman and supes are particularly egregious exemplars of this, and while it DOES mean they can use recurring villains with much greater frequency than say...the authority comics (where enemies get very, very killed), it's incredibly grating to read. "SHOOT HIM. JUST FUCKING SHOOT HIM NOW"
Marvel is also bad, but seems marginally more tolerant of grey areas. I freely admit I'm less informed of the wider DC pantheon, so by all means enlighten me if this is an incorrect assessment.
Of course, if they were to make a movie of (
http://uk.comics.ign.com/objects/829/829325.html) The Boys..now that would be fun. I suspect it's unfilmable, though.
june gloom on 25/7/2012 at 17:12
sigh
That is not my point.My point is that DC does not, as a rule, focus on real-world disasters such as 9/11 or the tsunami. Because that would cheapen them. Gee, I distinctly recall saying that! I wonder when, or am I simply smoking crack? I must be smoking crack, because it's not like people wouldn't have read it and actually learned from it and I wouldn't have to say it again!
oh. :(
Anyway as to Marvel vs DC, the thing about no-killing is a remnant of the Comics Code Authority. When Batman was first created, he had no qualms about the roughest of justice.
Inline Image:
http://www.shortpacked.com/comics/2010-09-20-thepoorfool.pngWhen the CCA basically put an end to that, DC decided to turn that censorship into character development; Batman's "no kill" policy is now one of his most well-known features (and it's why it's annoying when he actually does kill people, like in the 1989 Batman film where he throws guys off a tall building.) The Joker has been trying to get Batman to break his one rule for ages. Lord knows if anyone deserves it, it's him, but no, Batman insists on bringing him in.
But anyway it's true that DC has always been a little more black and white. Their heroes tend to be more popular and more looked up to -- see the cult of Superman that sprung up around the time of his death.
But don't confuse Marvel's attempt at "grey areas" for superior writing. More often than not, it's executed badly, because Marvel's writing has been more or less shit for
decades. Punisher, IMO the only Marvel comic worth reading, is often either very good, or very bad, and it often changes within individual issues. Likewise, the best Spiderman comic is the one that he doesn't even show up in, though I can't remember specifically what issue that was.
