Chronicles

Gender and Identity in Comics

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 03:41:00 GMT

I was just surfing my daily pages today when I came across this entry in Websnark:

http://www.websnark.com/archives/2006/08/and_crude_euphe.html#comments

The entry and the ensuing debate, for some reason, hit a chord with me. I think it is because I am beginning the odyssey of creating my own comic, which itself is based in the mythic/superhero genre, albiet somewhat tangentially. And really, I'm worried about making the same mistakes.

In a nutshell, the article proposes that there is a sexist bias in superhero comics, and also proposes an experiment to prove it. The experiment goes like this. Take any superhero team comic and switch the genders. Keep the costumes the same, as well as the body types (for example a female Spider-Man would be slender and lithe, a male Wonder Woman would be well-built and scantily clad, a female Cap would be well built, but fully clothed, etc.) The writer surmises that there would be a sexist bias, and the resulting men would be portrayed as sex-objects, just as most females are in superhero comics today. I'm not sure it would be as bad as he mentions, but I do agree, such an experiment would be telling. But it reveals nothing that I didn't know already. That there is a sexist bias in the superhero genre.

Female superheroes, in general, are dressed in tight or revealing outfits, and are always ravishing, and usually underdeveloped characters. This is changing somewhat with new blood in the comics (I think they're trying hard with ultimate Marvel, and some new DC titles are also trying to rectify this situation), but even if the female characters become deeper, they still are somewhat objectified. Some would argue that the men are too, and I would agree. All superheroes are symbols, objects by their very definition, and thus exude physical perfection and beauty. That is the hallmark of the mythic hero's appearance. However, the male heroes seem to subtly exude their sexuality and power, while the female heroes hit the reader over the head with their over-the-top sexuality, often in clothing that one wonders how they even effectively fight in.

So I agree with the premise of the article. But no one really discusses why this is like this. I blame it on two sources.

The first is the writers and artists themselves. This constituency has always been overwhelmingly composed of heterosexual males, and they were essentially creating fantasies for their readers, which is after all what good myths are. Thus, the heroes are the stereotype of who heterosexual males would wish to be. Strong, powerful, decisive, attractive, but in a rough manly way. While females in the comics tended to be the stereotype of what heterosexual males want to sleep with. Slim, buxom, and clad in not much more than swimsuits, in order to accentuate the first two points. They are often athletic, tireless, and enjoy similar activities to the male heroes, and are thus the ultimate playmate, in every sense of the word. This hasn't changed very much, even though the heroines have become deeper, and possess their own wants and needs now. However, feel that we are on the right track for improvement. It is okay for some superheroines to be bombshells. That is part of the whole mythic thing. But they need not all be. And the villains could spread out from the femme fatale mold to encompass other evil archetypes. They could be deformed, or even, yes ugly. They are villains, after all. And male villains shouldn't get all the fun character building deformities and ugly bits. And some female heroes should be average looking, like Peter Parker is an average looking hero. More variety is what we need.

At the same time, I think the male heroes need more variety as well. Yes we have average ones and ugly ones, and attractive ones, but no bombshell males, that exude sexuality. They do exist in the world, and some heroes should fit this mold. We need male physical equivilents of Power Girl and Spider Woman. Female readers should have heroes that appeal to the more "animal" instincts, just as male reader need role models of women who don't necessarily. This I think may be a larger problem. Why? Because, I think our society as a whole has a problem with the erotic depiction of the male form.

We do not have a problem with the erotic depiction of the female form. It is in art throughout the ages. But mention nude males, and people, mostly heterosexual males, get squeamish. I remember taking my figure drawing class in college. The first time, we had a female nude model. This was uncomfortable to no one. However, the male nude was. Surprisingly, I wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought. After the initial shock of seeing the male organ, I was better. He was just another model. Just as the female model was. Neither were sexualized really. They were just drawing experiences. However, i remember some of my heterosexual friends being uncomfortable with the concept, when I showed them the drawings from that night. And I thinks that's just it. Heterosexual males are trained to be revulsed at the male form, and are trained to think and erotic depiction of it as inherently "gay," which for some reason is stigmatized in heterosexual male society. Erotic depictions of females are not stigmatized similarly by females, partly I think, because there is less of a fear of intimacy between females. Even straight females are more physically intimate with each other than straight males, and I don't see a majority of straight females worried about being labeled lesbians for hugging or walking arm in arm. Mostly, I think, because largely the concept of lesbianism for straight females is not seen as being the stigma that being gay is for straight males. And cheers to whatever socialization made this occur in females. Now, I'm not saying there is not uncomfortableness or persecution among straight women and lesbians, but I think the stigma is lower then in men. Which is wonderful, because there is nothing wrong with being gay, lesbian, or straight.
I think heterosexual males as a whole need to be okay with the erotic depiction of the male form. It is not inherently "gay" or "straight," its just the male form. If all women can tolerate the erotic depiction of females nearly everywhere they look, I think its only fair straight males do the same. I think once we can have men and women of ALL body types in superhero comic books and levels of attractiveness, the medium will be much stronger for it.

Which brings me to my next point: fashion in comic books. The clothes heroes wear on their off hours... its bad. Especially for the women. The men at least have male artists who have to dress themselves to dress them. But the women, man the male artists don't seem to have a clue. Especially in the nineties. The artists dressed these women in horrible horrible things that were not only ugly, but sexist as well. I remember some McFarlane and Liefield drawings of off-duty superheroines or female superhero supporting casts, and think "Have these guys ever seen a woman? Have they ever seen a well-dressed one? Or even a decently dressed one?" Because every female they draw looks like they either came out of the circus or off the street. Garish colors and skimpy outfits. That's the norm. If I wore a tight spandex outfit on my job, I'd want to chill in sweats. Only logical. But somehow the artists thought superheroines would like to climb into more outlandish outfits than the ones they wear all the time. Future artists, do me a favor and study a little fashion. practical fashion. Maybe you can clothe your heroes in something better than what your college roommate wore, and your heroines in something that an actual woman might wear.

Which leaves me here. Nervous. Because I don't want to make these mistakes in my comic. I have characters from all walks of life: gay, straight, lesbian, rich, poor, smart, beautiful average, ugly, and those are just the protagonists. I have been worried that I may not be able to write someone that's not a caucasian heterosexual male, problematic because one of my main characters is an asian homosexual female. I'm worried I won't be able to step outside myself enough to make her, or any of my other characters who aren't white, straight, or male real. But I'm trying my best. I'm writing her like a believable person, someone I'd like to now and be friends with and I hope she rings true. And though she's attractive, I'm clothing her in various degrees of armor, because that's what you wear when you fight Demons and the Undead. And off duty she's going to dress in real clothes. Sweats and a t-shirt I think, 'cause armor's kind of uncomfortable.

As Per Command...

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 03:52:59 GMT

Is also Erik de Bie's command.

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

I have four books near me:

(I had to cheat a bit, there are only two sentences on page 123)
Lois: "Thank you."
Jimmy: "Who is that guy?"
(Next Page, New Scene)
Lois: "Now, now, boys... calling this "The Story of the Century" might be a little much... Oh, what the heck, go ahead."

Superman: Birthright- The Origin of the Man of Steel by Mark Waid

Powergirl: I just... I just couldn't think of anything. I thought, eventually, I'd figure it out. And close the hole.

Power Girl by Geoff Johns

Ultimate Extinction by Warren Ellis is not long enough

or if you prefer something that's not a comic book...

Sharon pointed over Clay's shoulder and said "Look! Telepaths!" But when he turned that way, he saw nothing but a flock of crows, one so huge it blotted out the sun. Then a tinkling began.

Cell by Stephen King

The Quiz

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 22:33:13 GMT

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Food Manager at Aramark Pike's Peak
2. Concessionist and Usher at Regal Cinemas
3. Shift Lead at Hollywood Video
4. Quality Assurance Tech at Dalbey Wealth Institute

B) Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Jurassic Park
2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
4. Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

C) Four places you have lived:
1. Northglen, CO (Suburb of Denver)
2. Colorado Springs, CO
3. Salem, OR
4. Arvada, CO (Suburb of Denver)

D) Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Justice League
2. Law and Order
3. Venture Bros.
4. Alias

E) Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Illinois: Chicago
2. France: Paris, Nimes
3. California: Sacramento, Carmichael, San Francisco
4. New Mexico: Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Peralta

F) Websites you visit daily:
1. Questionable Content (www.questionablecontent.net)
2. Penny Arcade (www.penny-arcade.com)
3. PvP (www.pvponline.com)
4. Gmail (www.gmail.com)

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Macaroni and Cheese
2. Thai Food
3. Mexican food
4. Italian Food (Especially Pizza)

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Disney Land/Disney World
2. Somewhere in Europe
3. New York, New York
4. Somewhere in the Caribbean

I) Friends I think will respond:
1.?
2.?
3.?
4.?

Comic Characters

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:48:31 GMT

My entries on thsi blog will always turn back to comics or mythology, or occassionally paleontology. Just warning you...
So anyway, Liz and I are going to New Mexico over the weekend to visit my grandparents, and I wanted new reading material for the trip. So we went to the library. And I got a lot of comic books. Anyway, this combined with conversations with some like-minded comic geeks at work have got my mind thinking.
Anyway, I've been looking into the very obscure reaches of Marvel and also DC, which I am beginning to get into. And I began to wonder, if I ever get to write or draw comics, which characters would I like to write for. Well, obvious ones came to mind, namely Spider-Man or Batman, and they would be fun, but they're not really charactes you can screw around too much with, and thus you can't write amazingly original stories for them. Because if you do, you'll piss off some fanboy/girl in their basement, and they'll start a flame war on the internets aboot you and your story.
But, I don't want a completely obscure character, because there's usually a reason why they're obscure. Ususally because they're a dumb character. Like the Spot, who's ability is to generate... spots.
So, a medium-exposure character, one who's been underused. That's the ticket. So, without further ado I give you my picks for the characters I feel would be cool to write for: for Marvel: Venom and for DC: Power Girl.
First off Venom. Some would say that Spider-Man's dark shadow has been overused. I would say he's been misused, like the fact that the symbiote is currently inhabiting the body of the incompentant Max Gargon aka the Scorpion. It should have stayed with Eddie Brock. His hatred for Peter/Spidey combined with the symbiote's need for Spidey made the character good.
Which is why I like the Ultimate version of the character, and would love to create an Ultimate Venom comic. This is truly a Dark Spider-Man. Whereas Peter is decent and always tries to do the right thing, is kind and usually respectful, Ultimate Eddie is arrogant and opportunistic. He lies to make himself look good. He harasses women. And he's filled with hate over his parent's deaths. You see, both Eddie and Peter's parents died in a plane crash, leaving both orphans. They died because Eddie's father was arrogant enough to try on the portoplasmic suit they were developping, codenamed Venom, and he ended up destroying the plane. And now both son's want to continue their father's work. Both try the suit on. But Peter rejects its horrble power, while Eddie embraces it. And in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, we see that Eddie finally gets control of the suit which boded to him so completely, and uses it to fight what he percieves as evil, on his own very lethal terms.
So I think an Ultimate Venom series, examining the choices an extremely flawed character makes with his awesome power, would be compelling. One could see the character evolve, and become as powerful and renowned as Spider-Man is, and one could watch a decent into madness and misguided violence which would be enthralling to read about.
Which brings me to Power Girl. She has been misused since her inception, where she was the Earth-2 version of Supergirl. Her history has been varied and sordid, in that nearly every writer has misused her, changed her origins from Kryptonian to Atlantean and back to Kryptonian, made her preggers with magical babies, switched her costumes around, etc. Basically, every writer went into the retail store that is the Power Girl character, and ran around screming, knocking mercahndise off the racks and generally messing up the place. I know that's a horrible analogy, but it works. If you want the complete messed up history of the character, including the whole Earth 2 mess, check out Wikipedia's article on her, and follow the external links at the bottom of the page. Seriously, no other comic book character has been through more shit than Power Girl.
Yet, at her inception, she was unique. She appeared during a time when heroines were sterotypically filling 1950's roles of feminity. You know like the Invisable Woman always serving the rest of the Four coffee while they sat around. However, Power Girl was independent and a feminist. Her costume was also unique. Male and female costumes for superheroes ahve always been form fitting and revealing, but hers had some blatant sexuality to it. Again, you can find info about her costume on Wikipedia. Added to this was that she has a very... ahem... curvy figure. Again searches on google will get you reference on this. So what you had was this apparent contradiction, for the early sixties anyway, of sexuality and independence. This is not so odd today, as women can now be sexy and independent, and smart, and its okay. I'm behind the concept. My own girlfiend is all of those, and I love it. Anyway, her very modern sensibilities were unique at the time, and have confounded writers as to what to do with her for nearly half a century.
Meanwhile, heroines evolved. They are now all those things. The Invisible Woman no longer serves coffee, but is a genius, very independent, while still having a close family, and she is oft remarked as being beautiful. Did I mention she's also the most powerful of the Four? Well she is.
So what happened? The Invisible Woman became... Power Girl. And Power Girl is still Power Girl, smart, independent, spunky, beautiful, and very strong. She is a Kryptonian after all.
So what would I do with the character. Well, since her inception, she's always been part of a team. I would give her her own series, with her own city to protect, with her own problems. I'd get away from the off-color jokes that always surround the character, and instead look at her character. Despite her determination and strength, the character is insecure. Insecure because, well, her whole universe no longer exists, and she really doesn't belong in this one. Insecure, because she doesn't know her purpose and is surrounded by a whole slew of supers who do.
So give her her own city, one that doesn't want her, one where she doen't belong, but one that is full of misfits like her. Give her a Hero's Journey, and her her prove her worth to herself, and have her earn a symbol, the hallmark of the DC superhero. Make her a role model for all those young men and women reading comics who fell outta place, and show them that there is a place for everyone, easpecially if you're confidant. Especially if you're strong. Especially if you're spunky and an iconoclast. Especially if you don't quite feel you fit. Especially if you're Power Girl.
At least, that's what I would do.

DDR

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:55:53 GMT

So, its been awhile since I've written, but things are afoot. I finished the first half of my extensive history for my comic and am working on the second half. I am getting into my job now, by which I mean it is becoming routine, which is cool.
Last weekend, Liz and I went to Dave and Buster's. If you do not know, it's basically an adult Chuck E' Cheese's... with alcohol. We didn't have any, cause we're not big drinkers, but we played arcade games for like two and a half hours. And let me say the newest House of the Dead game is absolutely terrifying. The only downside was DDR. Now, I like DDR alright, although I'm not coordinated enough for it, and Liz loves it. However, there was only one DDR machine, and it was a generic brand, with all the buttons in different places. But this I could handle. What I couldn't handle was the DDR squatter: some chick who's entire existance revolves around the game. She basically sat on it, cause the credits at D&B's are on cards, continually starting game after game. When she finally took a breather, we asked if we could play. She said we could, and then proceeded to do the whole thing for us. Now I may be clueles on how to work DDR, but Liz is not, yet still the chick condesceded to us, setting it up like it was her machine, and scowling and shaking her head at us teh whole time we were on the machine. Mostly shaking her head at me, cause I couldn't hit the arrows at the right time to save my life. We left to play something else, feeling that we were chased out. An hour later, when we went to play skee-ball, which is near the DDR, she was still there. I never thought I would be the one to say this to another human being, given that I'm such a geek, but she needs to get a life, preferably one that doesn't involve hogging the only dance machine inthe entire arcade for a fortnight. Plus, she does know that they have home versions right? Sheesh... reminds me of the idiot kids that hogged the X-Men arcade machine for six hours at the Boardwalk arcade when I was a kid. I really wanted to be someone cool like Colossus or Storm, but all I ever got to be was sucky Cyclops or Dazzler... stupid arcade hogs...

On Fiction: Comics, the Multiverse, and thoughts on X3

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:18:06 GMT

Anyone who knows me knows that I like comic books. I like the format, with its intimate combination of written word and art. I like the characters: bold and vibrant, but with concrete cores. I like the stories: tales of myth and legend. In fact, the modern comic book, along with Disney movies (no joking) are, I believe the major purveyors of ancient myth and legend in today's society. But that's for another essay.
So, it might go without saying that I have an opinion on movies derived from comic books. You see, translating comic books to film has always been a dream of filmmakers, and why should it not be? They have colorful characters and fantastic plots which appeal to lucrative population demographics (i.e. usually children and teenage boys and their parent's money) and can bring in fantastic profits, via merchandising (Myths have always been good merchandising: look at the hero studded Greek and Roman vases or current merchandising for Christianity if you do not believe me).
However, there have always been problems, the largest of which are:
1. Superhero comics look absolutely ridiculous in real life, decreasing the believability that such absurdly attired characters can be serious heroic personas.
2. The special effects required to make flying, wall crawling, super-strength and the like believable have not been possible until the early ninties.
3. Moviemakers are not usually comic book fans.
What you got therefore, were movies and television shows that were played as parody. Producers thought comics were just kid's stuff anyway, so why bother with seriousness. Kids won't care, they seemed to think. Plus, the costumes were silly and the special effects corny. Funny stuff!
The problem is kids did and continue to care. Quick testimonial: I was introduced to comics, like many kids my age, by four anthropomorphic reptiles. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were big when I was a kid, and I loved them. I still do, and though I couldn't tell you why then, but I can tell you why now. Anthropomorphic turtles are a little creepy, and thus fun, and ninjitsu has that lure of the mysterious and foreign to a white American kid that is impossible to resist. I watched the show religiously, and before I could get the action figures, since they were as scarce as Power Rangers or Cabbage Patch dolls in the beginning, I made my own out of paper, tape, and colored pencil. They were outrageously crude. Later my mom was lucky enough to be in a department store when they were re-stoking the shelves, and she brought home all four Turtles, which my brother and I split; he got Leo and Don, and I got Mike and Raph. Anyway, after a while, I started to feel that the show and the toys did not take themselves seriously. Which they did not. Then I got some of the original comics at my local library. They were weird and gritty, and I loved them. The Archie comics, which were based on the show were silly and I did not like them near as much. But I loved the movies, seeing as they were based on the original comics, and here's why I loved those two sources: they took themselves seriously. The first Ninja Turtles comics are about what essentially amounts to a large gang war. They are about knowing your family and making your own family, about the choices and sacrifices one makes in a family, whether it be for a spouse, parents, siblings, or a gang. The Turtles, Splinter, April O'Neil, and Casey Jones were a real family. They annoyed the heck out of each other, and were often petty to one another. They disagreed and were mad at one another, but they were always there for each other, and they loved each other, and ultimately respected each other's choices in life. The Foot, in contrast is a street gang, composed of angry youth that have broken families, that made their own. However, their family is not built on repsect aand love, but power and anger. And these two families, led by two characters of similar origin, and initial belief systems, inevitably come into confilct because one leader believes in using his powers for good and for love, and the other uses them for evil and power.
Anyway, the television show completely missed this theme, and made it silly, which cheapened it, and made me want to make something better. The Batman series did the same thing, missing the complicated nuances and tragedy of a chracater and made it a campy parody, a faint shadow of the source. This was because people making comic book movies and television did not take them seriously. In short, they were not fans.
By the by, non-fans seemed to enjoy the belittling approach. Silly comedies and parodies are fun, and have a place, and hey, I love them too, but source material should not parody itself, as the Batman series clearly was.
Curiously enough, all the comics got silly as well. See, comic book chracaters are not usually owned by their creators; they are owned by their publishers. When the creators inevitably move on or pass away, new creators write and draw the characters, and they need to update them somehow, while still staying true to their origins. "Why don't they write brand new stories?" you might ask, and I would say, they did, but here's the thing- Comic book fans were growing up and are notoriously vocal, and any messing about with established plot continuity would meet with vocal and widespread disapproval. As a result, creaors had to work within the confines of every creator before them, which stifles creativity a bit when you have to link your new story to twenty years of other stories. And you need new villians, because although you can bring villains back from the dead with the cunning use of the retcon, old villians get boring. So you need villians and plots, but you can't mess around with the old ones. Writers and artists were backed into a wall, and they needed out.
Enter what I like to call "the silly factor." Heroes are defined by their villains, ergo their villains should be opposites of the heroes. The X-Men are mutants, a persecuted group, who use their powers for peace, they should fight mutants who use their powers for less noble pursuits, or should fight against humans or governments who would seek to persecute them. Spider-Man, a hero who gains his powers through the mis-use of science, and who decides to use them for good, should fight men and women who are simlar scientific monsters, but who use their powers for selfish, evil reasons. The Fantastic Four are a family of heroes who aciidentally obtained powers, and uses them and their family bond as weapons for good, and they should fight similar villains whose lonliness drives them to evil. Superman is of average intelligence but of prodigious body, his arch-nemesis luthor is exactly the opposite. Batman is an obsessive compulsive loner with no powers, just his need for justice and vengeance, and his villains are mostly non-powered persons with mental problems like Batman, who use their problem for evil purposes. You get the idea. Opposites = good storytelling. This is because it brings into stark relief that human choice and free-will is central to our existance, and two people with similar circumstances can be good or evil, depending on the choices they make.
However, creators, trapped by the past, forgot this, I believe. Which is why you have the X-Men fighting aliens. The Avengers should fight aliens. That's their job, to fight threats to Earth and America. The X-Men fighting random aliens means nothing. Oh and because very little research was put into the cultures of the international X-Men members, you have stroylines with the Team visiting Banshee's Irish castle, which, apparently every Irshman has. Oh, and did I mention, it's inhabited by Leprechauns that carry off a wounded Nightcrawler, a point that was brought to my attention by my beautiful and intelligent girlfirend. That's just the tip of the iceberg. As much of a fan I am of Venom, alien symbiotes are not what Spider-Man should be fighting. You see this across the board. Everyone's fighting aliens and subterranean monsters, and not opposing villians that stand for anything. And it got silly, and it's the fan's fault for not accepting anyone messing about with the continuity. We have to own up to it, that we caused the silliness and triviality of comics and their perception for years. The comics got silly. So its little wonder the movies did too.
As I mentioned... all the kids grew up, and they still loved their heroes and villains, and wanted serious takes on them. The first two Superman movies were made, they appealed to longtime fans of the character, and they effectively conveyed the main theme of Superman: that despite all of his great power and morality, he would always be an outsider, which appeals to the outsider in us all. Though I have issues with the first two movies, mostly regarding their now-laughable special effects, I recognize that this was the beginning of the modern era or comic books being taken seroiusly.
Or at least it seemed so. I have never bothered to see the last two Superman movies, but they are reviled by nearly everyone. The first two Batman movies started in the right direction, touching on the tragedy of the character, but the second ones seriously sucked. Oh and Batman coudn't turn his head. Moviemakers still did not get it.
Comic book creators were starting to, however. The fans became creators, and some of them wanted to mess with the continuity. They started new universes and created bold new worlds and stories, and brought the characters back down to earth.
A note on universes. As a result of the opposition to changing the main continuity, both Marvel and DC created alternate universe to place new stories in. Since the stories did not happen in the main continuity, hard-core fans could just say that they did not count and be happy, while creators and more flexible fans could enjoy wonderful new work unfettered by fifty years of convoluted history. A win-win situation for evrybody. Marvel and DC have literally hundreds of separate universes which exist in the same multiverse. This allowed the two companies to cross over from time to time. Each universe is designated with a number. Earth-One is the default DC universe and Earth-616 is the default Marvel universe. alternate DC Universes occupy mostly the lowered numbered designations and some letter designations, while alternate Marvel Universes occupy higher numbered universes. By extension, all fictional universes could be catalogued in this way, creating a multiverse which included every fictional universe ever. By the way, we live on Earth Prime. I once had an impulse to try and actually catalogue the entire multiverse one day, but such an endeavor would be insane, so I quickly dismissed it.
Anyway, then came Blade in 1992. The movie was the first comic book movie in recent memory to take itself completely seriously. Why? Because it was made by fans of the comic, and fans who were willing to mix it up a bit. And it was good. Then came X-Men, made by longtime fan Brian Singer and Spider-Man made by fan Sam Raimi. They were well acted, and had the heroes fighting the right villains for a change. And they were quite serious, thank you very much.
Marvel has a very good track record with this. All of the above named movies are Mravel. Say what you want about Daredevil or the Hulk, but they were fighting the right villians and asking the right questions, just as the first comics did. Fantastic Four met with slightly less successful results, but it too hits mostly all the right notes that the comic did so long ago.
DC got into the act with Batman Begins, which finally got the brooding character right (and he could turn his head without moving his body). Superman Returns seems to be posed to be a decent, modern Superman movie. Not to mention the wonderful independent comic movies V for Vendetta and Sin City, which got it so right.
So finally, the movies got it right. Which brings me to X3 The Last Stand, the latsest X-Men film. It is the first not directed by Singer, who is directing Superman. It is instead directed by Brett Ratner, who is a less skilled director than Singer, who has always made edgy and emotional films. Ratner has made mostly fun blockbusters, and is quite skilled at it. So how did I think he did with X-Men?
I think he did an exceptional job. Look, I knew it wasn't Singer, and it couldn't be, so I didn't expect Singer. Ratner wisely continued the motifs and universe created by Singer, and he brought the trilogy to a good, emotional end.
Why did I need all of those previous paragraphs to say this? Because I have heard massive amounts of bad press being spewed out by hardcore X-Man fans who didn't like the movie. They can not like it, and it's fine, but I take issue with most of their reasoning. They're reasoning is as follows:
It deviated too much from the comics, and wasn't true to the source material...
Which comics? I'm assuming you mean the main comic line, to which I say no it did not. I can point to the comics and garner sources for most incongruities, and if they're not in the main line, they're from the Ultimate line.
The Ultimate Line is Marvels attempt to modernize their stories, much like DC did with their Crisis stroylines which modernized the universe and allowed creators to re-write the histories of the characters, which I'm sure DC recieved much hate-mail from hard-core fans.
Marvel decided to create a new universe, exactly like ours, where Bush is president, we have problems with terrorism, and we fight in expensive foreign wars. However, the terrorist group is not Al-Queda, but the Brotherhood of Mutants, and instead of Bin Laden, you have Magneto and his troops, which each have the powers to knock out entire armies, and are blowing up the Brooklyn Bridge and attacking the White House. Instead of persecuting Muslims, the government persecutes mutants, and instead of worring about WMDs, everyone worries about PMDs, or Persons of Mass Destruction, who are meta-humans. There's an international arms race to develop superhumans, and accidents directly result in creating Spider-Man and his rogues gallery, and the Fantastic Four. Hero and villain genders and races have been changed, sexual orientations have as well. For example, the Mad Thinker is a woman, the Wasp is Asian, Nick Fury is African-American, and Colossus is gay, and had an unrequited crush on Wolverine. Relationships have changed and those who die stay dead, such as Beast. However, they are still the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, and their messages and power are still potent. The series is powerful and deals with real world-issues, and it does not pull any punches. It's also inspired somewhat by the movies.
At first many hard-core fans hated it. I wasn't sure, until I started reading and then I loved it. Superheroes should be tackling politics, civil rights, and homosexual rights. They should deal with mental illness and marital strife and physical abuse. All other fiction does, and the Ultimate Marvel Universe deals with these issues with respect and power.
Anyway, nearly everything in the movies is either based on mainline Marvel or Ultimate Marvel. Some examples (Warning: Spoilers):
1. Professor X and Cyclop's deaths: Both characters have died or ahve been presumed dead many times. Professor X is always leaving, presumed dead, but is revealed to be in outer space or something. Cyclops has been possessed by Apocalypse and was presumed dead in the Ultimate comics, when on a mission, Wolverine let him fall into a ravine, so he might have Jean Grey all to himself. Needless to say Wolverine's evolution from Brotherhood member to heroic X-Men is one of the most interesting in the series. Plus, the mind switching after the credits thing has a precendent too. Psylocke has her conciousness transferred in both the Ultimate comics and the mainstream universe into another's body when her own body is killed.
2. The Pheonix: Jean Grey always becomes the Pheonix, and it was originally inteded by Chris Claremont, the original writer of the Pheonix storyline that the Pheonix persona was a natural extension of Jean's powers- her abilities unleashed. It was a meditation of the power each person has but is afraid to release. It was only later authors who wanted to bring Jean back after the X-Men were forced to kill her to stop her as she was manipulated by villains to slaughter hundreds of people as her powers spun out of control. Editors wouldn't let her come back after killing all those people, as they thought it would set a bad example for kids. Thus, the solution was that it wasn't Jean, it was an alien entity known as the Pheonix that had taken control of Jean. And since it wasn't her fault, Jean could be brought back. So the movie actually used the original intention for the Pheonix story.
3. The Cure: Taken from Joss Whedon's current X-Men storyline
4. Rogue-Iceman-Shadowcat love triangle: From the Ultimate comics
5. Mutant Juggernaut: From the Ultimate comics, as they are attempting in those comics to have the heroes fight the right villains as I described earlier.
6. Bad Madrox/Multiple Man: From the Ultimate Comics
7. Angel's dad being a complete ass: From the Ultimate comics
7. Storm's hair: There is criticism that Storm's hair showed black roots. These black streaks in her hair actually refer to the dark, punk look Storm goes through in both Universes
I could name more examples, but this essay is alrady too long. Suffice it to say, that the movie was very faithful to the source material.
My wonderful girlfriend has already stated this, but the movies should be considered a separate Universe, call it the Marvel Movie Universe. It's an interpretation of two separate Marvel Universe in comics, and you uber-fans shouldn't get all pissy when they alter things. Its a separate interpretation, and it would be impossible to dilute 50 years of history into a two-hour movie. At least the movie wasn't the 60's Batman series... or the Original Captain America movie... or the Catwoman movie... yuck.
The other major criticism is that there were too many mutants. That I think is true. Ratner couldn't spend all the time needed to develop the main story and the Pheonix, Angel, and Rogue subplots. There was too much happening, and it should have been pared down a bit. Thus, the three characters were underused. But overall, I believe the movie was successful, and a good end to the trilogy.
Anyway there's my rant/meditation on movies, comics and mutiverses. I hope you didn't fall asleep.

Testing

Wed, 31 May 2006 23:07:05 GMT

1...2...3...

Testing...

Wed, 31 May 2006 23:03:25 GMT

1...2...3...

Testing...

Wed, 31 May 2006 23:02:27 GMT

Haven't updated in a while, seeing if I remembered my password.

Facebook

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:10:15 GMT

I just discovered Facebook, and I'm having a blast. I'm running into all these people from high school I had let slip away. It's letting me reconnect in some small way, and that's pretty cool.

Black Friday

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:08:31 GMT

So I work in retail, specifically in a video rental shop and in one of the big box retailers. It goes without saying that I had to work on the day after Thanksgiving or Black Friday, so called because it is the day of the year that most retailers' accounts go from the "red" into the "black." Now, keep in mind I had never ventured out before on Black Friday. Up till now I had always been on vacation from school or college, and had stayed in. You see, I had heard stories about the day, about how the mobs of shoppers would devour each other in search of a single sale item. I had always thought it better to stay out of all that. Now, I was forced to confront it. I arrived at the big box early that day, as we opened at 6:00 AM. It was cold, rainy, and foggy. The line went around the building and snaked along the shopping center. Inside, the supervisors and managers were prepping their employees like an army that was just about to undergo a month-long siege. I got to my cash stand and waited. Then the security guard opened the doors. The first people came dashing in, running as fast as their tired, bundled bodies could take them, despite our admonitions against running on the slick floors. They were relatively quiet, but one could see the determination in their cold eyes. They were here for the Sales and they would obtain the Sales no matter what. The line snaked through the store, and I had heard later, that the shoppers' anticipation had put one of their number in a stretcher. At their destinations, there were heated arguments, and a cutthroat, survival of the fittest mentality reigned supreme. Then, they returned to the cash stands, arms full of the Sales, and their eyes looking shiftily around, looking for those who might steal their prizes. The lines at the stands extended a quarter of the way to the back of the store. Then, a few hours later, we were able to clear the lines, and sanity reigned again. The SuperShoppers had left, and all I could think was this: Is this what Christmas had come to? The fact that the every-person-for-themselves mentality has pervaded the holiday that is supposed to be about caring for others is somewhat depressing.

The Second Entry

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 05:53:46 GMT

Here it is the second entry. Just watching Lost and fiddling with my LiveJournal. I know I have not updated in, like, forever, but it has been kind of hectic. Anyway, I promise to update more often.

Truth

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 02:28:17 GMT

Jacob loves Liz.