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This week: Comic Books Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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Words and pictures are yin and yang. Married, they produce a progeny more interesting than either parent.
-Dr. Seuss
Comics are a gateway drug to literacy.
-Art Spiegelman
These characters were like twelve-bar blues or other chord progressions. Given the basic parameters of Batman, different creators could play very different music.
-Grant Morrison |
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I know I've written about comic books before. You try editing a newsletter every month for eight years and not repeating topics. But since that time, there have been new developments in this absurd marriage of fantasy and science fiction, of words and pictures, of innocence and cynicism.
When I was a kid, lo these many years ago, in between wooly mammoth hunts, I, like many other kids, loved to read comic books. My parents, like many other parents, barely tolerated the activity. "At least he's reading," said my mom. "He should be reading Melville," said my dad, ignoring the simple fact that Moby Dick is the third most boring piece of prose ever foisted upon an unsuspecting public, while Spider-Man is fascinating. This guy climbs walls and shoots webbing and makes bad jokes! What's not to like?
The one thing lacking, I thought, was quality comic-book entertainment in other media besides flimsy magazines. Technology at the time had barely mastered the spear and fire; superhero TV shows and movies were... lacking, animated Spider-Man and campy Batman TV shows notwithstanding. And yet, the transition from drawn pictures with word bubbles to moving pictures with spoken words seemed natural, like moving from hunting bison to hunting mammoth. Just a matter of degree.
But creation of the effects necessary for believable flying, asteroid tossing, and high-tech armored suit wearing were nothing but dreams until Star Wars came out, and even then, the tech required some evolutionary changes. For movies - forget about using them for notoriously low-budget television shows. Not that effects are necessary to tell a great story, but we've come to expect to see certain superhuman feats from our superheroes.
Well, no more. We've come a long way, and we're now living in the idyllic future I'd always imagined - not one of flying cars and jetpacks (although that would be sweet), but one where comic book characters and stories are finally able to be brought to life on screens both large and small - a distinction that, itself, is on its way to being lost.
And sure, some of the shows and movies suck. You can't get anywhere without experimentation, and sometimes, experiments fail. You can concentrate too much on the awesome special effects I mentioned, giving short shrift to the character development and plotlines that are crucial to good storytelling. So, yeah, sometimes you'll get a Fantastic Four movie. Or two. Or three. Or four. I've lost track, and stopped even trying to watch them.
But now, finally, they've begun to live up to their potential. So if you haven't seen Jessica Jones, or The Flash, or Daredevil or Legends of Tomorrow or Agent Carter or one of the many other comic-book-character shows out there - give them a try.
Whether you're a comics fan or not, you might be pleasantly surprised. And you might even get some ideas for heroes and villains of your own.
Just don't steal those ideas from Warner or Disney. They have armies of supervillain-level lawyers. |
Let's showcase some science fiction this time.
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Last time, in "A New Force Awakens" , I discussed a personal history of Star Wars.
Quick-Quill  : I grew up with Star Trek, being able to watch only at friend's houses as we had no TV. Star trek became a great Brand just as Star Wars did. GL has the insight to intrigue an audience, just as Rowlings did for this generation. To build a possible brand one needs conflict that builds to the end and characters that grab the attention of the reader. I'm reading a MS that has the skeleton of a good brand, now if she will just write the story with good action and develop her characters. It could be a best seller. Think beyond the book. Build the brand with a lot of back story you can use later. Get Roddenberry and George Lucas mastered the craft of story telling.
Good points. Also, good storytelling isn't limited by genre, but fantasy and science fiction seem to get a lot of it.
speidoman  : Thank you for a well-written article about Star Wars!
I was 16 when it came out and was awestruck as most of the movie attendees were. I am also a big Star Trek fan and your quote made my chuckle....
Oh, good, someone older than I am. Thanks!
That'll do it for me for February - see you next month! Until then,
DREAM ON!!
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Fantasy: February 10, 2016 Issue [#7465]
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