About a month ago "Batgirl" writer Gail Simone took to her twitter account, as she often does, to pose a question to her followers. Simone asked in very general terms for her followers to name the last breakout comic book character that was not based on ultra-violent behavior. Her definition of breakthrough was; a top selling book, cultural influence, appearance in films, and other criteria. The masses struggled to say the least. Her reasoning is that the rise of Deadpool, Harley Quinn, and other characters is because of a fundamental change in the people that read comics.
A quick look at books that came out this week alone gives credence to the rise of the anti-hero. Consider the fact that this week "Forever Evil", which is about a group of villains banding together with the expressed purpose of killing the Justice League's evil doppelgangers. This week also saw the launch of "Loki: Agent of Asgard" as a new Marvel Now! title. Loki has gained quite a bit of notoriety from his film outings in "Thor", "The Avengers", and "Thor: The Dark World". Marvel has taken this as a sign that Loki, a trickster god and all around bad guy, should be the protagonist in his own ongoing series. Furthermore, "The Joker's Daughter" made another one-shot appearance at DC, and "Magneto" has his own limited-run series upcoming for Marvel.
As I have written about here several times this past year we watched as eternal villain Doctor Octopus tried his hand at being a "Superior Spider-man" and I have enjoyed every minute of that ride. Hell, even the "All-New X-men" decided to join evil Scott Summers' Xavier School.
What does this say about us? Is the day of a bright and shining superhero passe? Do we crave a finality and resolution to our superhero stories? Have we deemed the use of lethal force necessary?
If the characters that we once identified as villains are now the sort-of good guys who are the new villains?
I have to wonder aloud if this "new" Justice League that has been teased will be the norm going forward. With Black Adam and Luthor as a surrogate Superman, Deathstroke as a lethal justice Batman, and on down the line. I highly doubt it but I suppose it is entirely plausible.
I know that I've asked more questions than usual in this column, but it's more or less a new phenomenon. I would hope when the anti-hero stories become less compelling that things would get back to the norm, but I can't say I don't enjoy some of this storytelling.
If we think about it enough it's pretty easy to see the anti-hero influence in other media. On television for instance we have all of the following: Meth Kingpin Walter White (Breaking Bad), Serial Killer Dexter Morgan (Dexter), all of the gang members (Boardwalk Empire), Sociopathic Status Seeker Frank Underwood (House of Cards), Hannibal (Hannibal), Sgt. Brody (Homeland), and many, many more.
NEWS.....
First....
Big news from DC in that Geoff Johns ("Forever Evil", "Blackest Night", "Aquaman", "Green Lantern", "Flash", "Superman: Secret Origins") will join John Romita Jr. as the new creative team for the publisher's "Superman" title. As readers we have been stuck in Lobdell-hell for far too long, and thankfully his run with the Man of Steel has come to an end. Look for that coming up this spring.
Second....
Ripped from the headlines at Bleeding Cool Evangeline Lilly (Lost) has been cast as the female lead in the "Ant-man" movie. I would have much more to write about this, but I think I'd rather google pictures of Evangeline Lilly........
oh, um anyway Third.....
Allegedly, according to Bleeding Cool, Fox would be open to having a female version of Dr. Doom. Which of course explains why Fox should not make movies. All joking aside I would be open to it as long as we are talking an A list actor, but I think it would be better off having a male actor in the role.
Fourth....
The Super Bowl has come and gone, and was a tremendous waste of time for everyone involved but the Seahawks & their fans. What is newsworthy comics-wise is that we got a glimpse at new trailers for "Trans4mers: Age of Extinction", "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", and "The Amazing Spider-man 2". If you haven't seen them yet check em out over on youtube, and I will try to share the links on my Facebook Page for this site. Just gonna give a quick reaction to all the trailers:
"Trans4mers: Age of Extinction" - While I'm not in love with them making another Baysplosion Transformers movie it was pretty freaking cool to see the Dinobots even though Optimus was riding one for some reason.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" - I loved the graphic novel, and while it looks like this isn't an entirely faithful adaptation it looks like it captures a lot of the espionage and intrigue of the graphic novel of the same name.
"The Amazing Spider-man 2" - This movie's action sequences look absolutely spectacular. I like the villains that they' chose to have in the movie, and the trailer was just a thrill ride. My only gripe is the "dumb Aunt May" routine they seem to be doing it's not funny, and it's wholly unnecessary.
Review-ish...............
As you know from my reviews I'm a big fan of the Marvel books "Superior Spider-man" and "Daredevil". Today I decided to see what was up with the "Trial of Jean Grey" series, and I was blown away by another title in the "All-new X-men" tie in portion of that book. For this "sort of" review I want to group all three together.
The color palette chosen by the inkers on these three books are very similar. Bright and vibrant like what we may have seen in an earlier time in comics. The art is a fun non-realistic style which adds to my personal enjoyment. Finally and most importantly they have writers that really understand the heart of the characters they are crafting. I just had to give a little praise to the Marvel group, because I do not do a great job of doing that on a weekly basis.
That's all for today...Happy Reading....and I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
No comments:
Post a Comment