Hello friends and welcome to the 1/14/2014 edition of the Comic Shop....
We have just a couple of news items today
First....
Michael "The Man from Catherine Zeta-Jones's Death Valley" Douglas has signed on to star in the big screen version of "Ant-Man". He will not play a cunning linguist, but rather he will be playing Hank Pym (the original Ant-man). As we already know Paul Rudd ("This is 40", "Knocked Up", "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers") has signed on to star in the Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz", "At the World's End") directed feature. What we now know is that Rudd (of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" fame) will be playing the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. Lang is a wrong-doer turned right, and I think it will be an uplifting story for the big screen adaptation of "Ant-Man". I have noticed that more and more we are seeing comedic actors being cast in dramatic roles to great effect. I think Rudd, who was a classically trained actor and starred in the super smash hit "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" will fit the Marvel movie mode nicely by being an action hero with a smart wit, and a quick sense of humor. The casting of Douglas was a little out of left field, but I would imagine they will be portraying Pym as a retired hero. They could also possibly strip him down to simply being a brilliant scientist. Either way this movie will likely be Marvel's biggest gamble of 2015, and I would argue that "Guardians of the Galaxy" will be their biggest gamble of 2014.
Second....
April solicitations are here and DC has announced that the new Flash creative team will be introducing Wally West to the New 52. It is hard to say where West fits in to the New 52 continuity, but other than Stephanie Brown he has been the character that fans have most been clamoring for to return.
While I'm glad he is back I still wish that DC would take my unsolicited advice and create an Earth 4 where Dick Grayson is Batman, Wally West is Flash, Damien Wayne is still alive, and several other editorial edicts are no longer in place. This would give fans the option to choose between the current New 52 continuity & the pre-New 52 continuity.
Third....
April solicitations have also signaled a likely end to the "Superior Spider-man" title. I will be sad to see the title go, because Spidoc was such a breath of fresh air to the Spider-man character. How often in comics do we see circular storytelling? For instance how many different times will we be presented with "Joker did this awful thing to Batman will Batman kill him? I think he might do it this time? Nope never mind".
I could only hope that the success of "Superior Spider-man" would have the lasting legacy on editors at Marvel & DC. I hope that it will show them that if they are willing to make radical changes it can pay off in the long run.
That's all for news...on to the column!
Comic history is littered with a litany of claims to certain creative properties. Did Bob Kane wholly create Batman or did Bill Finger help? How much of an impact did Kirby, Ditko, and others have on the characters that Lee takes credit for creating?
Getting in to that portion of the argument is a rabbit hole that I, for one, do not want to go down. I would rather talk in general terms about the impact of characters that Lee created or helped to create. Please note when I say "he created" in this blog I am not trying to take credit away from anyone else.
Stan Lee has had a fantastic career in comics. It is easy to be glib about his creations and note that a majority of them have powers bestowed on them by rays, isotopes, and other radioactive materials. The heart of what Lee created; however, was so much more than that.
He created comics that taught kids about science. Think about the concepts introduced with different characters. With the X-men he introduced kids to the concept of evolution. With the Fantastic Four he introduced kids to the concept of cosmic rays. In the pages of the Hulk he introduced the gamma rays. In Spider-man & Daredevil he talked about radiation. Obviously a lot of what he introduced was to an absurd degree, but it was an introduction of concepts that could inspire young minds.
In the documentary "The Men Without Fear", about the character Daredevil, Lee stated that he would purposefully use "big words" to encourage children to either learn them from the context of the story, or to encourage them to look up the words in the dictionary. His thought was that if he told an engaging enough story the child would do everything they could to understand everything about the story.
For my money Lee's greatest contribution to comics and other media has been the character Spider-man. To understand why I say this I will refer to my previous blog post "The Hero's Journey".
In the pages of Daredevil and the Hulk Lee introduced Matt Mourdock & Bruce Banner. Mourdock & Banner were heroes before they were even touched by the warm embrace of radiation. Mourdock leapt to action when he saw that an old man was about to be run down by a truck, and that resulted in his blindness and superpowers. Banner was a scientist that acted heroically when he saw a young man wander onto a gamma radiation test site. Banner saved the young man, but became the living embodiment of the Jekyll/Hyde complex.
With the creation of Peter Parker Lee turned his storytelling paradigm on it's ear. Lee introduced a nerdy, gangly kid that you wouldn't even give a second look. Parker, after being bit by a radioactive spider, chose the path of selfishness. When his selfishness directly led to the death of a beloved family member Parker chose to use his powers for good out of obligation. With this Lee introduced that "with great power comes great responsibility" and through that creed he taught, what I believe, is the greatest moral lesson in comics ever.
In Parker, Lee also introduced a character that was not too dissimilar from the reader of the comic. At his inception Parker was a teenager. He was young and naive, he struggled to make money, had all sorts of trouble with women, and he had many other everyday issues that effected him. This wasn't completely unique in this one character, but it has become the staple for Spider-man storytelling for decades.
Lee may have not been the sole creator of any of these characters, but I think it is impossible to deny his involvement.
I hope to one day meet him so I can thank him for his contributions to the medium that I love so much, and to ask him about superhero genitalia. Just like Brodie in "Mallrats" I often wonder about the Thing, for instance, does he have a rock down there?
That's all for today....see you at the Comic Shop!
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