tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81212504753121584962024-03-20T15:19:35.858-07:00Rainbow CreaturesShade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-63407662094173222082012-07-15T01:25:00.001-07:002012-07-16T18:09:51.218-07:00Of Wolf and GodThis is, and remains primarily, a superhero comics related blog, but that's not to say I can't write about other topics here. Especially if they relate to the things that interest me about about superheroes, in comics or otherwise. With that in mind this post has nothing to do with X-People, Bat people or Spider-people.It has to do with a man, a Wolf Man.<br />
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I watched <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_Man_(1941_film)">The Wolf Man</a> on Netflix instant watch the other morning after a nearly sleepless night. Perhaps it was the sleep deprivation, but it struck me that, for its time, The Wolf Man is a pretty good movie. At just 70 minutes, it doesn't have a chance to overstay its welcome. During that time it packs in several heavy themes and a fairly well constructed plot with admirable economy. It also serves to demonstrate the inherent connection between the movie monster, especially the iconic monsters of the Universal stable, and the superhero.<br />
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Like many films and books featuring monsters of legend the "rules" governing The Wolf Man's werewolves are somewhat different than the rules most people are probably familiar with. There are no silver bullets in the film, though they are mentioned as a method of killing a werewolf along with various other silver weapons.<br />
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The moon, full or otherwise, is never seen once during the film. The full moon doesn't seem to trigger the transformation from man to wolf; being nighttime during the right time of year seems to be enough to do the trick. The basic rules for this version of lycanthropy are laid in a haunting little poem that everybody in the movie, except poor Larry Talbot, seems to know.<div style="text-align: left;">
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As is traditional since this film, werewolfism is transmitted by bite. The afflicted also sees the mark of the five pointed star on whomever his next victim is to be. The film has almost a Hitchcockian tone at times, going back and forth between domestic family drama and supernatural melodrama. Unlike previous Universal monster franchises, Dracula and Frankenstein, The Wolf Man is an original story .</div>
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The Wolf Man carries some fairly heavy themes. From the first scene between Larry Talbot, played by Lon Chaney Jr., and his father Sir John Talbot, played by Claude Rains, to the last frame of the mopvie their is a heavy sense of parental guilt. As the film opens, it reveals to us that Larry is a scion of a noble Welsh family recalled to the family's ancestral home upon his older brother's death in a hunting accident. Sir John expresses regret over Larry's prodigal years in America. In the early scenes between the two it is evident, though underplayed, that the two begin to rewarm to each other. The other figure of parental guilt is Maleva, played by Maria Ouspenskaya, whose son Bela, played by Bela Lugosi, is afflicted by the werewolf curse which he spreads to Larry via bite. (Maleva and Bela are stereotypical Hollywood gypsies, but are perhaps played fairly for the era as neither are particularly sinister or untrustworthy characters.) Maleva carries the weight of caring for her son's affliction which induces him to occasionally murder people through no fault of his own. It is interesting that there isn't really an outright villain in the picture other than abstract fate, more about that in a bit, and the curse of the werewolf. The Gypsies arrive at just about at the same time as Larry and seem to act as an externalization of his status as an outsider. In a way he and Bela are brothers. This is driven home through Maleva's vigil over Larry as his curse takes home, the same care she attempted to give her biological son until Larry beat him to death with silver headed cane. Just before the film's climax Sir John and Maleva meet in the foggy metaphor laden woods and have a brief conversation about their respective inabilities to help their troubled children. </div>
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There is also a strange feeling of predestination about the whole movie. Larry arrives at the manor house and talks with his father about his brother's death in a hunting accident. At the climax of the film the Wolf Man is killed and reverts to his natural form as Larry Talbot, something that, in the context of the scene, could almost be described as a hunting accident. Everywhere Larry goes the symbol of the wolf is waiting for him before he gets there, even before he's bitten. While flirting with a young woman in the village, he buys the wolf headed cane. The werewolves see the sign of the five pointed star in the palm of their next victims. It's like Larry's death cycles back to the start of the film, like nothing that happened could be prevented, because it had already happened in the last iteration of this cycle. Assisting this is the unreal dreamlike nature of the woods where most of the action takes place. This dreamlike quality and Larry's inability to fully remember his actions as the wolf man, make his savage outings seem almost like a case of sleepwalking gone horribly wrong. <div style="text-align: left;">
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There is also the sexual element. Larry find himself attracted to Gwen, the aforementioned shop girl. He first sees her by accident while testing his father's newly installed telescope. This seemingly random event again brings with it the feeling of predestination. It is while going out with her and her friend that he is bitten by Bela. It turns out she has a fiance and the whole thing become's a bit of a scandal, what with Gwen's friend getting her throat torn out by Bela. Angry villagers arrive at her shop and blame the death on Gwen for going out with strange men. As the movie continues and Larry is pulled deeper into his curse, Gwen seems to grow more attracted to him until the end when he transforms and attacks her in the woods. <div style="text-align: left;">
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"What does all this have to do with the superhero?", you may be asking by now. Well, in my view, the monsters of filmland are the shadow brothers to the heroes of the funny book scene. Both the monster and the superhero take these big sometimes abstract concepts and embody them in the form of human sized beings that you can construct a narrative about. The Wolf Man can be a way of talking about the often conjoined drives towards sexuality and violence, and the tragedy of a soul divided against itself. Likewise, say, Batman can embody the unlimited potential of humanity in the material realms. This is particularly evident in supervillains who are often inspired by the themes and tropes of the cinematic monster Even the psycho killer monsters of the 70s and 80s, Jason, Freddy and the like, embody various abstract concepts and fears given human form. Both the heroes and the monsters were born of the Great Depression, though at different ends. Both are the gods of old brought forward to the present in their most unvarnished forms. instead of the natural forces that the likes of Zeus and Odin represented these gods, these new gods, more often represent various internal and existential conditions, the more exalted, in the case of most of the superheroes, and the more inimical in the case of the monsters and supervillains. </div>
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Next: X-Men (the rest)</div>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-55569017230368097332012-07-13T08:49:00.000-07:002012-07-13T14:33:20.348-07:00No One Feels Bad About Decapitating A RobotThe next X-villains are ones that almost everybody of my generation is familiar with. In the animated X-Men series of the early nineties, they were the antagonists of the two part series premiere. I give you the elite robotic mutant hunting force of the world, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel_(comics)">the Sentinels</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/08/30/buster-moody-art/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDmT6DAH8A8148C8ZcB7h_kQ7POPTXmF9TGBtJv974QvWEyDXyGEN2koswZkX_WMD_iN64j0uS1l2Ur-imXH42Q4-8qJD1PRImhVtWgIlmXwneokSo5O0kXxKE5Iv_W99e0q7q1MFAOvI/s400/Sentinels_Print.png" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art by <a href="http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/08/30/buster-moody-art/">Buster Moody</a></td></tr>
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Certain aspects of the sentinels as a concept make them ideal for villains in an early nineties Saturday morning cartoon. They have relatively little individual personality (most of the time) which allows more space to establish the individual X-Men and women's personalities, they let you introduce the idea of non-powered humans hating and fearing mutants in a way that has substantial metaphorical weight, and ,best of all, they are robots. That means you can have Wolverine do whatever you want to them and it's a-okay. Decapitations and eviscerations aplenty are perfectly acceptable, as long as it's happening to a big dumb robot. The title of this debut episode is Night of the Sentinels, a riff on Remero's classic debut that launched a thousand apocalypses. Sentinels tend to be used like the zombie as a creature our heroes can abuse almost anyway they like without moral reservation. Our heroes can't murder the human scientists and politicians and average people on the street who react poorly to their fear of being rendered obsolete by quirks of genetics, but they can abuse the robotic manifestations of that hate and fear all they like. It's a role they play well, but as with the other X-folks I've looked at here, I wonder if the narrow role of a robotic anti-mutant gestapo is really the best that can be done with these guys.<br />
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Both this Alex Ross art and the art above by Buster Moody emphasize the aspect of Sentinels that has been played with the most over the decades. The creepy otherness of their collective uniformity. Like zombies or Klansmen, the Sentinels defy individuation becoming a mass of same over and over again in an eerie presentation of uniformity. As such they become a mechanical stand in for any hate group or oppressive apparatus you like.<br />
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As with the other characters I've profiled, I think this simple comparison sells the Sentinels a bit short.</div>
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The Sentinels may have been devised by small minded men afraid of the future mutants represented, but they quickly evolved beyond their initial programming. In the story that introduces them, the Sentinels almost immediately decide that the best way to follow their mission to safeguard humanity was to take complete control of the planet. In some stories after the first the Sentinels would retain their autonomy and in others they would be controlled to various anti-mutant individuals and concerns. In the dystopic possible future of the Days of Future Past storyline, the Sentinels, in the style of Skynet, had successfully purged the world of every mutant except Wolverine and Kitty Pryde. Like the fascists that inspried their creation, the Sentinels offer protection through domination.</div>
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Like Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Sentinels reflect certain aspects of the X-Men themselves. Both groups are uniform in appearance, though the Sentinels take this to the point of interchangeability. There's also the contrast of the biological with the technological. The Sentinels are feats of engineering and computer science, while the X-Men owe their powers to the flukes of genetic mutation. The Sentinels were built with a purpose, but quickly ran out of control, where the X-Men started untrained, but learned discipline. <br />
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This points to some interesting takes on the concept.One could introduce the idea that although they seem completely uniform, the Sentinels do indeed have subtle variations of personality from unit to unit. This is actually suggested by some of the interactions between individual Sentinels in their original appearance. Given the X-Men's casual use of the most cathartic violence against what seem to be mindless automatons, it could come as a real shock to find Sentinels who have a culture that includes grotesque stories of the cruelties that mutantkind has inflicted upon Sentinels. Perhaps some Sentinels take pride in their fellows heroic sacrifices. Perhaps some swear undying vengeance.<br />
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The Sentinels also make a convenient proxy for mankind's general ambivalence about it's own inventions. With atomic power one can both power and level cities. Perhaps Sentinels could take new innovative forms. Nimrod was a Sentinel from the future and he doesn't look too far away from the iWhatever aesthetic. Maybe the Sentinels could try crippling Cerebra with denial of service attacks. They could integrate themselves into the technological infrastructure so discreetly and covertly becoming so helpful that it's easy to overlook their goal of world domination. I like the idea that to non mutants the Sentinels really do want to be as helpful as they can within the parameters of their "eliminate mutants, protect humans" programming Despite Magneto's desires to the contrary, mutants prove to be quite human at every turn. (In fact, I believe this is why the earthbound soap opera character subplots are so resonant in X-Men. They reiterate the characters' basic humanity in the face of their powers.) Anyone familiar with classic Star Trek shouldn't be surprised that these somewhat paradoxical instructions send the Sentinels a bit mad.<br />
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That's when these big tin cans are at their best. On the outside they're all mechanical precision and uniformity, inside they're all nonsensical genocidal plots and plans for romantic mutant free utopia. The Sentinel should be the beat cop gone a bit barmy and mad with power. The Sentinel should represent absurd power structures and hierarchies of all kinds. They should have convoluted ranking systems and leadership struggles. This isn't some state funded secret police force, this is an ill equipped ragtag militia who would never stand a chance if they weren't big hulking robots. They should be, for the X-Men, a good solid lesson about how a superteam trying to save the world is better run as a character building after school program, and not as some wacky-ass paramilitary force.<br />
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Next: When Howls the Wolf Man<br />
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<br />Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-50704412113917966702012-02-25T13:57:00.407-08:002012-07-01T09:32:00.041-07:00Four Colors in DecayWe live in the declining years of an Age. We have been for about six years, now. It's only in the last six to seven months that the haze started wearing off, and the real evidence began to surface. I give you the last page of the first Detective Comics #1 published since 1937 as my exhibit A.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The face of the Nu-DCU</td></tr>
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Here's exhibit B.</div>
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Not that reliance on gruesome imagery and pandering to fanboys too cheap or timid to buy their comics and pornography separately are exactly new phenomena. So many characters in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_52">Nu 52</a> are so angsty or vapid or <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2011/11/14/what-cruel-fate-awaits-the-dainty-spartan-skirt-of-darkseid/">overdesigned</a>, it almost reminds me of... of... OH NO! It's back.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGH1WkL_eiOIBcQGdFWESUS8bR3B0_MpVGKwkGRyQfd9LPPzn0y_7Cr9tKU5NCpZFgtS9AzeRrlINNER71t-KVbFzqHUMZ6IwgAJSTYMRb4gDd2xseO79cEiWYE3VIxnVC_Qep-vzRto/s1600/Youngblood1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGH1WkL_eiOIBcQGdFWESUS8bR3B0_MpVGKwkGRyQfd9LPPzn0y_7Cr9tKU5NCpZFgtS9AzeRrlINNER71t-KVbFzqHUMZ6IwgAJSTYMRb4gDd2xseO79cEiWYE3VIxnVC_Qep-vzRto/s320/Youngblood1.jpg" width="207" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bwglaEm7ANkQ9xhMXFfRqfbsqiH4_2fG-DFv_MjYPS83w-5lmV6tM-N9O0PbjcMVfFiUwJJllR3dhtsD5FZzUI6zetoissWcvuS2jsyUCUU6O6p3vPt9BL_PD_on4GnN9ufENATW0UI/s1600/WildCats-1-Jim-Lee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bwglaEm7ANkQ9xhMXFfRqfbsqiH4_2fG-DFv_MjYPS83w-5lmV6tM-N9O0PbjcMVfFiUwJJllR3dhtsD5FZzUI6zetoissWcvuS2jsyUCUU6O6p3vPt9BL_PD_on4GnN9ufENATW0UI/s320/WildCats-1-Jim-Lee.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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It's a sad fact of reality folks. The early nineties are back. Really though, it shouldn't be too surprising. Since our current age has been built so much on recapitulation of the concepts of past eras, it makes sense that our decedent years look something like those of the preceding <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks">Dark Age</a>. However, this isn't the first time, and I expect it wont be the last, assuming superhero comics survive in some form beyond 2015. In fact all superhero comics Ages so far have followed a similar arc of initiation, pinnacle, and decadence leading to the initiation of the next age. Likewise each period of decadence is marked by some common features, among them, increase in visible genre variety beyond superheroes, exploitative excess in terms of violence and fanservice related content, and the expression of the given Age's tropes taken to their most extreme and absurd level.</div>
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Most people date the start of the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks">Golden Age of comics</a> to the publication of Action Comics #1 featuring the first appearance of Superman in 1938, but comics had been around in a recognizable form since 1933 with the publication of Famous Funnies (A collection of reprinted newspaper comic strips.) and in 1935 National Allied Publications (Later to become DC Comics.) published New Fun #1, the first comic book to consist entirely of original material. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMU1cir2eLQBUbO1Zjj3vDbAhlUCRjwGap5HtZHO4Xn5UzDWIOrTuLAYwKo_82vIW1njBGZwT8wKtbdlyY_SWrvmLTqog56G8g6-O91iZZPbHRsWKPa8DkYeH5xJOBBSoknUkqn1CYCg/s1600/New+Fun+%231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMU1cir2eLQBUbO1Zjj3vDbAhlUCRjwGap5HtZHO4Xn5UzDWIOrTuLAYwKo_82vIW1njBGZwT8wKtbdlyY_SWrvmLTqog56G8g6-O91iZZPbHRsWKPa8DkYeH5xJOBBSoknUkqn1CYCg/s400/New+Fun+%231.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>
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This is the real start of the Golden Age. A cheap content rich piece of escape for country ravaged by the Great Depression. This starting period of 1933-35 as opposed to '38 is important, because it allows us to set up the Golden Age and the Ages that follow in a series of twenty years cycles. In this reckoning the Golden Age goes from about 1933-35 to 1954-55, the Silver Age goes from 1955-56 to 1974-75, the Dark Age goes from 1974-1994-95, and the current (Prismatic or Renascence or whatever we end up calling it.) age started around 1994-95 and is ongoing. Some may note that I have skipped over the Bronze Age here. Usually a Bronze Age is posited as existing from the early seventies to mid eighties. Basically from O'Neil and Adams's Batman to Watchmen/Dark Knight Returns. I however, along with a few others, think that ten years isn't really long enough for a proper Age. I do think that 'Bronze Age' or something like that term is useful for talking about the unique qualities of that period when late Silver Age and early Dark Age sensibilities were blending in exciting ways. Of course, you can call these periods anything you like. History is a chaos. These terms and structures merely tools like maps to give us points of reference useful for human discussion.</div>
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As said, the Golden Age starts in the mid thirties. In 1938 we get Superman the first definitively super superhero. He has predecessors such as Doc Savage, the Shadow, and the Phantom, but in the popular imagination he is the seminal being of the superset. As the US is drawn closer and closer to war, the heroes thrive and multiply. Then in 1945, a decade after the advent of the comic book, the war ends. For the Golden Age, the apex of the age is the sustained interest in superheroes in and of itself. The first supervillains, the first sidekicks, the first super hero teams. All develop within a span of less than five years. The apex around 1944-45 is the establishment of the basic genre conventions of the superhero story. Then the war ends. Interest in musclemen and women in tights fades with it. These thing are hard to pinpoint, but perhaps this is the most poignant example of the decline of the superhero in the late Golden Age.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJ61ECS6RADT_mgHaDf2yO_rgXuH3_oInyCdu-XPc5eOsmEP2tJnxFgUfW9CTd1Rhg2BiUUOllQf6BexxuanoTCGaIqKwFhQzaQZ5unyD-MtWvpXEPc5aqpeqxB5O8-9154JaZQPS2us/s1600/Green_Lantern_Vol_1_38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJ61ECS6RADT_mgHaDf2yO_rgXuH3_oInyCdu-XPc5eOsmEP2tJnxFgUfW9CTd1Rhg2BiUUOllQf6BexxuanoTCGaIqKwFhQzaQZ5unyD-MtWvpXEPc5aqpeqxB5O8-9154JaZQPS2us/s400/Green_Lantern_Vol_1_38.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
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Green Lantern is displaced from the cover of his own book by his canine sidekick, Streak, the Wonder Dog, who would go on to displace Green Lantern completely as the star of the book. During this period of the late forties early fifties publishers would resort to any gimmick that might sell a superhero book. This is not to run those gimmicks down. Some of these gimmicks went on to become classic elements of the individual characters' books.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfr4jBKFb9WEDY35pHSCS0NjE3REsVRCMeA1BjHckEwJN5Pu7UNqEyrCF5nC0Qy72b_pfff66B_n0fOUKX-O5TpoLC9c4M-mkuk7mIlSg8Vn7NNyb33issiSaT_DJkLnzf4mx0CrXjmDs/s1600/adv103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfr4jBKFb9WEDY35pHSCS0NjE3REsVRCMeA1BjHckEwJN5Pu7UNqEyrCF5nC0Qy72b_pfff66B_n0fOUKX-O5TpoLC9c4M-mkuk7mIlSg8Vn7NNyb33issiSaT_DJkLnzf4mx0CrXjmDs/s320/adv103.jpg" width="219" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bXVmSTaKFAlHHiVOWki4TGa4ydQ40chWNN07yqD8KqO9YtLo8rW5nleMbVCWD9L5enXNqhPa0chQGJ8hv4UEnMDRXVverIAX6rs-Ozfgaz2NXDFXdJt5Bpf8FRxfoRGJzt34MgI7FNw/s1600/02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bXVmSTaKFAlHHiVOWki4TGa4ydQ40chWNN07yqD8KqO9YtLo8rW5nleMbVCWD9L5enXNqhPa0chQGJ8hv4UEnMDRXVverIAX6rs-Ozfgaz2NXDFXdJt5Bpf8FRxfoRGJzt34MgI7FNw/s320/02.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>
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The demise of the superhero left the field open for many other genres of funnybook. Best remembered today are the Crime comics published by Lev Gleason and the Horror and Science Fiction and Horror comics of EC, but romance, war stories, westerns, and cartoon animals all stepped into the void, as the would during the declining years of subsequent superhero comic Ages. Another feature of the late Golden Age was the so-called 'Good Girl Art' not a reflection of the virtue of the ladies depicted, but a descriptor of the art itself being good. Phantom Lady covers of the late forties tend to be the prime example. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeLoVubpY1HBODJf40oYf_QTEpc-mbV1KXPio47Qy0iIJsL_QlnTU8QoIFbU4I-CMZB8qIK_vnWJy8q6BBU6ZiRDH6FAnJ-k3e2ZhZLZ8SX_kHPpfSNxb5AHxyo9oTYtnshfwTy7RpExs/s1600/PhantomLady%2323Med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeLoVubpY1HBODJf40oYf_QTEpc-mbV1KXPio47Qy0iIJsL_QlnTU8QoIFbU4I-CMZB8qIK_vnWJy8q6BBU6ZiRDH6FAnJ-k3e2ZhZLZ8SX_kHPpfSNxb5AHxyo9oTYtnshfwTy7RpExs/s400/PhantomLady%2323Med.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
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By way of comparison, here's how she appeared during the earlier years of her existence.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Zr8K0GR0JVGD_4M5fUlgVpXfe8njePX4-xQTuBHuLMspP1n05SPR3-0sX2WRaiQBHvfVFgdGx6KKdkkwUB4u9ElbNomPXgZSQ7PVWp4vRSv_uArGQfUDguQi-cWY2X3AFmaeBrdYVIY/s1600/phantomLady_Police_7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Zr8K0GR0JVGD_4M5fUlgVpXfe8njePX4-xQTuBHuLMspP1n05SPR3-0sX2WRaiQBHvfVFgdGx6KKdkkwUB4u9ElbNomPXgZSQ7PVWp4vRSv_uArGQfUDguQi-cWY2X3AFmaeBrdYVIY/s320/phantomLady_Police_7.png" width="242" /></a></div>
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We will find that this drive toward exploiting female characters mostly for titillation of a readership presumed to consist mostly or entirely of men and boys a defining characteristic of the decadent years in an Age. Not that depictions of super-heroines and other women in comic books don't often tend toward the exploitative and the cheesecake at other times, but I think these tendencies become particularly notable during these so-called decedent periods. This is presumably because these are also times when the financial fortunes of super-books seem to be fading, and it's decided that sexy ladies are the answer to these woes. </div>
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All of this sexiness, horror, and crime eventually led to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Subcommittee_on_Juvenile_Delinquency#1954_comic_book_hearings">Senate hearings</a> linking comic books to juvenile delinquency and the self-imposition of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority">comics code authority</a> by the industry in 1954. This self-censorship group banned from comics the more lurid horror, romance, and crime stories that had come to dominate comics in the late Golden Age. Out Of the main comic book genres of the Golden Age, pretty much all that was left for publishers to rely on were nonthreatening funny animal comics, westerns, science fiction monsters in the style of King Kong or Godzilla, and superheroes. This would turn out to be a boon to superheroes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDbaSaMgzChU6EHMcUWrQs9U_KPvIzI9gTZIOe70-kJZy9SIAdCFp4GFm3hBxxh8isOAC7uHuBkxtRMhnUwjLmJAem9elWmiiJVr898IEaYOJuPxLeC3UJg3-53FD928QBrUyYcfrCEW8/s1600/Showcase_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDbaSaMgzChU6EHMcUWrQs9U_KPvIzI9gTZIOe70-kJZy9SIAdCFp4GFm3hBxxh8isOAC7uHuBkxtRMhnUwjLmJAem9elWmiiJVr898IEaYOJuPxLeC3UJg3-53FD928QBrUyYcfrCEW8/s320/Showcase_4.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>
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The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Age_of_Comic_Books">Silver Age of comics</a> was launched in 1956 with the wholesale re-invention of a Golden Age superhero, The Flash. Follwing this success, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom were also re-invented for the cold war era. Superman spent the time developing into something akin to its own separate comic book universe running on a story logic entirely its own in Superman, Action, Adventure, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen comics. Batman languished in sci-fi silliness until the early sixties when Julius Schwartz, the editor behind the reinvention of all of those Golden Age heroes, revamped the Caped Crusader's book back into a book focused on action, adventure, and mystery. In 1960 the high Silver Age began when flailing Marvel Comics's publisher Martin Goodman charged his nephew Stan Lee with creating a superhero book to compete with the Justice League of America. With few Golden Age characters well remembered enough to revive, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby produced something original. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4YDOEW2YEfbtDdD9m1rSG7RpIMUrENRV5jZ9FXvxLf-b3jCpbQ7sTVlRt3GbgC27DDe8dxhg7uwBRq1Ssihtquk55UiykXoprzkbtGw337XTylsrIdYoRDX4C6lefTJQVE_91TZKVXlw/s1600/Fantastic_Four_Vol_1_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4YDOEW2YEfbtDdD9m1rSG7RpIMUrENRV5jZ9FXvxLf-b3jCpbQ7sTVlRt3GbgC27DDe8dxhg7uwBRq1Ssihtquk55UiykXoprzkbtGw337XTylsrIdYoRDX4C6lefTJQVE_91TZKVXlw/s320/Fantastic_Four_Vol_1_1.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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It should come as no surprise that the high point of the silver Age is then a classic Fantastic Four story. One that neatly encapsulates Silver Age Marvel's sense of cosmic cold war paranoia.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzgwaOCrJosyRArLPMmr0-7HBFLzXUg4mu7jcAL5Kg6QELeQn0OHbp61Jz-NANnzLjFeDB4TIKnXMw_iido0e2ErrcHJVQgr723CYFOojoaq4eUzvrJ2SGZyi4NjBRKjPlb4w6fqDEt0/s1600/Fantastic+Four+49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzgwaOCrJosyRArLPMmr0-7HBFLzXUg4mu7jcAL5Kg6QELeQn0OHbp61Jz-NANnzLjFeDB4TIKnXMw_iido0e2ErrcHJVQgr723CYFOojoaq4eUzvrJ2SGZyi4NjBRKjPlb4w6fqDEt0/s400/Fantastic+Four+49.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
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On the DC side this high point comes in a story that solidified the new continuity heavy characterization focused style of Marvel and DC comics as a sort of soap opera in tights.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0w4WEhF3kzOQjStf77f31TZahWVd5vMGVb9jpOedapvJmqSpEIIGLo_ikKBz3KrQsIWwBzT_dYUy0dh3RCYoBf5ix_-XlozbXrVXRtcXLRJ5-o0PozeGkLehDoGevEPTKIkOyfMHNg4/s1600/adventure346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0w4WEhF3kzOQjStf77f31TZahWVd5vMGVb9jpOedapvJmqSpEIIGLo_ikKBz3KrQsIWwBzT_dYUy0dh3RCYoBf5ix_-XlozbXrVXRtcXLRJ5-o0PozeGkLehDoGevEPTKIkOyfMHNg4/s400/adventure346.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
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I submit that it is from the success of this story that the likes of the 'Titan Traitor', 'Days of Future Past', and even Marvel's 'Civil War' storylines descend. </div>
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After this comes the decadence. The likes of Jacjk Kirby and Steve Ditko seek increasingly pure expressions of their superhero stories. Kirby would persue this in his "Fourth World" saga at DC, and Ditko would with increasingly didactic stories featuring original creations such as Hawk and Dove and reaching their culmination in his objectivist champion Mr. A.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcaiINCTlwFrgV7bcuzno1x7JT7dbObRLes7g4gnRibaLT0u8mkrfzSQgzYGG-TuqUd-QawQgPekbjjsp-lzMemaDWUt1-M7IMLPVFDD8byHKt-amnPTdLrgou1KLN0pqOu8GOT4-XF_4/s1600/mr_a1_1973-756424.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcaiINCTlwFrgV7bcuzno1x7JT7dbObRLes7g4gnRibaLT0u8mkrfzSQgzYGG-TuqUd-QawQgPekbjjsp-lzMemaDWUt1-M7IMLPVFDD8byHKt-amnPTdLrgou1KLN0pqOu8GOT4-XF_4/s400/mr_a1_1973-756424.gif" width="308" /></a></div>
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Other examples include the Byzantine plotting of the Kree-Skrull War storyline in the Avengers, and Stan Lee's propensity for overwritten monologues reaching its zenith in Silver Surfer's first solo series.</div>
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As in the late 40s-early 50s the late 60s-early 70s saw an expansion of genres beyond the superhero. This was possible, because of loosening of restrictions by the CCA in regards to horror content. The starting point for this was, in my opinion, the success <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Publishing">Warren Publishing</a> was having with it's black and white horror magazines such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampirella">Vampirella</a>. By publishing in a large magazine format Warren circumvented the content restrictions of the CCA.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieZ9lOUf-aybrr6UJEnJ8Ndb2ep6zdIoU0K8ZPjPCuETceWQGsz1QIEpgys25DTXUWpMegZ_KnbYyfxFTQrYgq9KbYz3MOaaMyZ3r6K9vLUR_3Dkdk7ie9BGXbc2c7gV7hcDYd8VeQP8/s1600/vampirella-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieZ9lOUf-aybrr6UJEnJ8Ndb2ep6zdIoU0K8ZPjPCuETceWQGsz1QIEpgys25DTXUWpMegZ_KnbYyfxFTQrYgq9KbYz3MOaaMyZ3r6K9vLUR_3Dkdk7ie9BGXbc2c7gV7hcDYd8VeQP8/s400/vampirella-1.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
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Around this time DC and Marvel started experimenting with horror tinged concepts of their own such as Deadman and a revival of the Golden Age character the Spectre. Marvel took a bit, but started testing the waters with semi-supernatural characters like Morbius, the Living Vampire and Man-Wolf in the Amazing Spider-Man.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMarxUonXT7cX6Swq-VkbwPfFrPw5oJMBFmS6SVFKfUVDiYOIxbfxoUE2daVjWpA06EMMMx1PtE7KINecl1GZLjjt0Jt-_zcuGE2-9IEz82rTP6HXMRETeI1JNQLoU0naAIo2OOXSWnw/s1600/Amazing_Spidy_101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMarxUonXT7cX6Swq-VkbwPfFrPw5oJMBFmS6SVFKfUVDiYOIxbfxoUE2daVjWpA06EMMMx1PtE7KINecl1GZLjjt0Jt-_zcuGE2-9IEz82rTP6HXMRETeI1JNQLoU0naAIo2OOXSWnw/s320/Amazing_Spidy_101.jpg" width="209" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d5Obj5AhQxgmUNfmJz1tABS4jEbYma7JmNj_NS9QTvqF6p-z-mHyngevosL1D7wc72j56w8huIaoc-wplOZBgVhvooFdNUT8hlm8jViwbEuqtvlLssueshQuBKiVu6ur3KNCzDx-cqg/s1600/Man-Wolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d5Obj5AhQxgmUNfmJz1tABS4jEbYma7JmNj_NS9QTvqF6p-z-mHyngevosL1D7wc72j56w8huIaoc-wplOZBgVhvooFdNUT8hlm8jViwbEuqtvlLssueshQuBKiVu6ur3KNCzDx-cqg/s320/Man-Wolf.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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This set the stage for monsters who would star in their own series such as Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, and Tomb of Dracula. These characters often either were superheroes themselves or because of shared fictional universes often encountered superheroic characters.</div>
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This time around the titilating sexual objectification aspect was less wholly blatant than it once was or would become again, largely because of the continued strength of the CCA in keeping unsavory content off the racks. It was still around, though.</div>
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Despite the obvious exploitative nature of constantly bursting out of ones clothes or incorporating a boob window into a costume. This period is also notable for introducing some of the strongest female characters around today. Although still often derivative of a pre-existing male character, as at the dawn of the Silver Age, characters like Power Girl, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk are a notable step up from the female character's who inhabited super-comics up to that point.<br />
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This leads into the Dark Age where the humanizing of the super hero begun by Marvel would reach it's peak. Characters like the Punisher and Wolverine with gritty backgrounds and a willingness to kill became possible with the aforementioned loosening of CCA restrictions.</div>
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If Vampirella and the horror wave she launched were the conception of the Dark Age, this is it's birth. Marvel may given this age its precursory push with its emphasis on 'relatable heroes with problems' but DC eventually took it to its apex in 1986.</div>
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Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are often cited as the beginning of the Dark Age of comics, but as far as I'm concerned they are only the culmination of the self deconstruction of the superhero already in motion when Wolverine kills that mook up above.</div>
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After Watchmen and Dark knight the decadence begins. The themes Miller and Moore explore artfully are exploited for sensationalism. The Comedian's comments above are taken not as criticism but as directive. 'This IS what you LIKE!. This IS what gets you HOT!' And did it ever get people hot. The decadent period of the Dark Age is best remembered for ignoring the deconstructionist satirical elements of these works. The critiques on the violent, fascist, and patriarchal nature of the classic superheroes (RE: Superman.) were ignored for the sensate materialist pleasure of violence, lust, and over-designed costumes. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMN3-Ct5uEqsB0TI5C_JxsP7_M1SYO_GvNOSjKO4DtviRS-bsZK7QRteJDKdF0UGXSS4mhZvb3hEk20ijLoncz9_UDQtW1OzefKwIPNHssUTZucPb3m4wiGKlTWXba_cStHmoHHWpifM/s1600/spawn-1+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMN3-Ct5uEqsB0TI5C_JxsP7_M1SYO_GvNOSjKO4DtviRS-bsZK7QRteJDKdF0UGXSS4mhZvb3hEk20ijLoncz9_UDQtW1OzefKwIPNHssUTZucPb3m4wiGKlTWXba_cStHmoHHWpifM/s320/spawn-1+(1).jpg" width="212" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaQ2S9s-p4ZEwzRd0Hr5RAhbTLioLdQTMsYm-COjxsP4TpV2iQU5I6w7bFkKHsNi1hG9mNS0u47Nd8PWHiLPQRNVlbiQcDxVueBMnsGGjhHv9wwX1Y5lWF27K_EPXcuV8n5-Nc191i9o/s1600/Death+of+Billy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaQ2S9s-p4ZEwzRd0Hr5RAhbTLioLdQTMsYm-COjxsP4TpV2iQU5I6w7bFkKHsNi1hG9mNS0u47Nd8PWHiLPQRNVlbiQcDxVueBMnsGGjhHv9wwX1Y5lWF27K_EPXcuV8n5-Nc191i9o/s320/Death+of+Billy.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Spawn is pretty much the poster boy for this era in terms of solo heroes.</div>
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As before, genre proliferation began in the late eighties. This time, however, the big two stayed away, and the non-super books were part of the Black and White indie glut of the late 80s early nineties spurred on by the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.</div>
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As for the sexploitation angle the early to mid nineties was one of the ripest times for nearly pornographic superheroine and supervillainess wank material. Jim Balent and Brian Pulido lead the way.</div>
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As the excesses of the Dark Age continued aided by a boom in speculator investment in any comic book with varient covers or a big #1 plastered on it, the tendency toward grand guignol culminated in the destruction and rebirth of the two most iconic superheroes in the world.</div>
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In 1993, however, the precursors of the next age were already in place. Creators nostalgic for the superheroes of their youth began to produce comic books that reflected this nostalgia. Prominent among these visions of the coming age were Marvels by Kurt Buisiek and Alex Ross and The Golden Age by James Robinson and Paul Smith. </div>
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This brings us to the current Age of superhero comics. Primed by the success of Marvels the pump flowed forth with comics such as Kingdom Come and Starman from DC, and Kurt Busiek's run on Avengers and Brian Micheal Bendis's Ultimate Spider-Man from Marvel. Something all of these comics, and many others from this period, share is a certain reverence and lionization of the Golden and Silver Ages. There seems to be a longing for a time before superheroes got complicated, a desire for a type of super-purity. There is also a return to bright primary colors and solid lines as opposed to the darker costuming and scratchy seas of crosshatching that dominated early nineties superhero design. This age really hit its stride as computer animation and special effects technologies became sophisticated enough to make superhero movies where the heroes displayed their powers nearly seamlessly. </div>
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However, that was about ten years ago. This age has since hit whatever it's peak was. My personal guess is All-Star Superman, which seems to perfectly sum up the things that are enjoyable about the Age. At the same time, going back to the Silver and Golden Ages has also served to cover up some of the very accurate critiques that led to the excesses of the Dark Age. A generation of interesting Dark Age scions (Wally West, Kyle Rayner for example.) have been swept aside so that the 'real' versions of those heroes can come back. In recent years this has led to things like the serious de-diversification of much of DC Comics's line, a general lack of criticism of the more unsavory aspects of the superheroic genre within the superhero books, and the simplification of superhero comics in the attempt to be as movie friendly as possible. </div>
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This is not an apology for the missteps of our current age, or previous ages, but it is an attempt to offer some perspective. Current Starfire, as bad as she and her anatomically impossible kin are, is a symptom of a greater disease. The gore-sploitation and sexploitation of current comics comes out of a climate of fear that's led to shuffle after shuffle until DC decided to throw the deck to the ground and play new 52 pick up. </div>
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Next: The Sentinels</div>
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<br /></div>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-78897246983207845492012-02-18T01:44:00.003-08:002012-02-21T17:23:19.584-08:00Wolvie and Cyke: A Love StoryWell, here we are Valentine's Day week. What better time to discuss our favorite mutant twosome? True they have there occasional conflict. What long term couple doesn't? At the moment they are experiencing a pronounced '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Schism">schism</a>'. One of them has been around since the very beginning of the series, and the other is the most popular thing in yellow and blue spandex ever conceived. With the X-franchises general focus on adolescence and adolescent drama it makes a lot of since to have a couple of guys around to represent adolescent angst about hair growing in odd places and 'power' spurting out of control. They also speak to a classic pairing that's come down through the millennia: the man of the city and the man of the wilderness. Yup, they're quite the pair.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiasmj1R6xbPW4JdZtiUuYJISg3hDGXxWVew10-NEubFUvMHGsFL0VLyMbRdENKmw0XVA3z8MnFFV16ijV0jrqXbSvtICM2Qp8SWTFKd8HAuh0YPHKWuQF1LmVr4U-vz_F4bQ1-ziYD2Kk/s1600/wolverine-and-cyclops-switch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiasmj1R6xbPW4JdZtiUuYJISg3hDGXxWVew10-NEubFUvMHGsFL0VLyMbRdENKmw0XVA3z8MnFFV16ijV0jrqXbSvtICM2Qp8SWTFKd8HAuh0YPHKWuQF1LmVr4U-vz_F4bQ1-ziYD2Kk/s320/wolverine-and-cyclops-switch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="http://thoughtfaucet.blogspot.com/2009/05/monthly-wolverine-cyclops-switch-powers.html">Thought Faucet</a></td></tr>
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By the way, my new-ish (Two and a half months in at the moment.) job has gotten in the way of consistent comics reading and analysis, but this is where I try to regain my momentum. By the way, for those of you keeping track, last month's Juggernaut centered post now has the most page views of anything I've ever posted. It mostly seems to be from folks looking for pictures of Juggernaut, but I'll take what I can get. Now, on to the goods.<br />
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It's interesting that Wolverine and Cyclops have been so frequently at odds over the years. Rough rugged guy vs. smooth sort of uptight guy is an easy dynamic to use for drama, but when considered as individual characters Cyclops and Wolverine's in story backgrounds have a lot of similarities. Both are orphans who lived somewhere in the north after the death/alien abduction of their respective parents. Both spent most of their time until joining the X-Men as loners, worried about what could happen if they went out of control. True, Wolverine tends to be <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpotlightStealingSquad">a little more sociable</a>, <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WolverinePublicity">a little less insular</a>, but the two men were not all that different until they get X'ed. Mostly their dynamic functions something like this.<br />
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Or this:<br />
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You get the picture. Scott's been leading the X-Men from the start. Logan feels like he has more experience and that Scott's a dick. Then there's the other <a href="http://rainbow-creatures.blogspot.com/2011/11/from-her-ashes-risen.html">source of conflict</a>.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">It's unfair and sexist and all those other negative things that Jean is so often reduced to a chit in the conflict between these two, but at the same time it's been a major defining aspect of Wolverine and Cyclops's characters. It's an adolescent conflict, but that's also probably part of the point. Wolverine and Cyclops's respective traumas have left both slightly arrested in adolescence. Maybe when she comes back to life she could suggest they grow up and try out some kind of triad arrangement.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Cyclops fulfills an important role in the X-Men, and the Marvel Universe as a whole. He's probably the universe's second best field leader, after Captain America, and is excellent at recognizing potential synergies between various teammates' powers. The DC character I often find myself comparing him to the most is Dick Greyson/Nightwing. Both represent the consummate professional superhero. Both were trained by stern, but fair taskmasters. Both led teams of young people who engaged in soap opera-esque antics, and tended to be more like a family than a professional level super-team, i. e. the JLAvengers. That both the Teen Titans and the X-Men have operated in fairly unprofessional ways throws both men's professionalism into stark relief. Both are orphans. (At least Cyclops always thought he was until he learned that his dad was abducted by aliens and became a space pirate.) Cyclops embodies a stiff awkward adolescence focused on keeping immense potential for destruction under control.<br />
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Wolverine is a professional too, but a different kind of professional. For Cyclops one always senses that superheroics and leadership of the mutant population is a sort of calling, the only thing he really knows how to do. Wolverine on the other hand seems to view superheroics as a type of job. That's why he's so willing to hang out with other teams like the Avengers and do solo work on the side. It's good job for him too. He gets to use his skills and natural talents to their fullest potential without having to do too much of the thing he's the best there is at doing. After years of working for governments and being a wetworks guy, Wolverine must have found working for such a loosely governed team quite liberating. No wonder there's friction with Cyclops. Even without the conflict over Jean Grey's affections, Wolverine gets to be on a team where he's free from government regulations and restrictions, but there's this young weinery guy always trying to tell him what to do. In a way the relationship between the two of them tends to be more interesting than either of their relationship's with Jean. Sometimes it's almost like they're long estranged brothers in a sibling rivalry. This despite being generations apart in age, and Cyclops's literal brothers Havok and Vulcan.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkClTj-4bfzz_sWVuCDzMxV4AAjmclKcVa4s6w2O-SNWBANlu9UsluwpFGk4Xm1RAhJWDY8T18FHeh2D-aq7AjLEu8iQVPvRJomf_zb4PX024Io9JdUV41TPSxZZ7K25yoNJR1wKUmgE/s1600/X-Men+%231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkClTj-4bfzz_sWVuCDzMxV4AAjmclKcVa4s6w2O-SNWBANlu9UsluwpFGk4Xm1RAhJWDY8T18FHeh2D-aq7AjLEu8iQVPvRJomf_zb4PX024Io9JdUV41TPSxZZ7K25yoNJR1wKUmgE/s320/X-Men+%231.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br />
Then there's the fact that both Cyclops and Wolverines most visible powers bear more than a little phallic connotation. Letting loose with an eye-blast or popping a claw both have a connection to the archtypal sexual frustration of adolescent boys. I know things kind of keep coming round to sex in these posts, but I think that there is something subconsciously, yet inherently fetishistic in the very existence of the superhero and the supervillain. Both in the more common modern sexual sense and in the mythical, totemic sense. The whole play of power and domination inherent to super-conflicts adds to this. Cyclops and Wolverine are markedly different, but fundamentally similar powerful totems for maturing bodies and minds. Cyclops's usual costumes make him resemble tall blue penis-man to an extent, as do Wolverine's unbreakable bones. Both men gained something similar from Professor X's mentorship. Control and eventual mastery of their innate destructive power. Cyclops learned how to turn his uncontrollable vision into a precisely refined tool. Wolverine learned how to control his rage and channel towards those who would violently oppose Xavier's dream. Next to Jean Grey they are his top disciples.<br />
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The two also evoke comparison to the most seminal heroic duo of western culture: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh">Gilgamesh and Enkidu</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiieU8jsWqxst2F_5YwX3zQSEyrFU7Lixj8wp_xgxNVIjBJz67Fx2S7Wp7uL2U5TnfuhBXRVGsVceS_UYD_zduvunzPf3oVPqdxfVMWiMwDiNg2orGvsJuZcWOloaYqKn6e9CX6vILgI/s1600/gilgamesh+and+enkidu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiieU8jsWqxst2F_5YwX3zQSEyrFU7Lixj8wp_xgxNVIjBJz67Fx2S7Wp7uL2U5TnfuhBXRVGsVceS_UYD_zduvunzPf3oVPqdxfVMWiMwDiNg2orGvsJuZcWOloaYqKn6e9CX6vILgI/s320/gilgamesh+and+enkidu.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enkidu's the one with the horn.</td></tr>
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Gilgamesh is the refined warrior-champion of his city-state. Enkidu is a being of the wilderness. When they first meet they battle, only to end up the best of friends. The wild man and the civilized man. It's easy to see this dynamic in the Cyclops-Wolverine rivalry/partnership.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP90duWGR5y-oDITln977GzNf2S2pw0IjhuSG82OyDaIP55klasIT6450Md96QfHzjGSvIFjU2Ky9nWz0S_x47yLSp_RDaYIHBQFihbesgVp_uxDUMZNPy1a4nmWIkZ2OydPGr9k5MVZw/s1600/CyclopsUXM1p18frm8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP90duWGR5y-oDITln977GzNf2S2pw0IjhuSG82OyDaIP55klasIT6450Md96QfHzjGSvIFjU2Ky9nWz0S_x47yLSp_RDaYIHBQFihbesgVp_uxDUMZNPy1a4nmWIkZ2OydPGr9k5MVZw/s320/CyclopsUXM1p18frm8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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It's easier to like Wolverine. He's freer with his emotions and doesn't separate himself from his tea mates the way Cyclops often does. He doesn't have too many real responsibilities. Cyclops often get's labelled "the dick", but I don't think this is really fair. Cyclops usually has the most experience as a superhero on any incarnation of the X-Men he's leading. Also a lot of the other X-men have been on non 'X' teams over the years, but not Cyclops. His devotion to Xavier's dream and mission is commendable, but at the same time I think there's something sort of sad and insular about it. I think that's a side of Cyclops we don't really get to see enough. It wouldn't be that hard. Just show the problems he has trying to interface with other Marvel superteams when joint efforts are called for. Also, Wolverine is really kind of a dick too, he's just a dick in a way that's more charming and palatable to the media consuming public. He's a hairy, anti-social dwarf prone to fits of blinding rage and killing frenzies. By comparison Cyclops is just kind of bossy, which is less palatable when your a kid reading comics, because it's harder to identify with someone whose in charge of things when you, yourself have had very little time spent in that role. Furthermore Cyclops is actually freer to do interesting character driven arcs than Wolverine is in a way. Wolverine is a Marvel-Disney cash cow property and they can't afford to relinquish too much control over his depiction. Thus, it's harder to take riskier character moves with him or doing anything that risks him appearing less than an icon of adolescent cynicism and rebellion.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjomSmgTagPdK8cnovtSWE4PAkLBMAOBrtru8hEJYAKOLFULDDRlTtnpRD6lYuIKpvHeVVhiwNEkqYAghJuQUrSPEzcvjuyM55XxX_59cgCldp6ZGUCKpXf41eiyQegh1Wh3Tv286u0V1s/s1600/Wolverine+Miller+style.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjomSmgTagPdK8cnovtSWE4PAkLBMAOBrtru8hEJYAKOLFULDDRlTtnpRD6lYuIKpvHeVVhiwNEkqYAghJuQUrSPEzcvjuyM55XxX_59cgCldp6ZGUCKpXf41eiyQegh1Wh3Tv286u0V1s/s320/Wolverine+Miller+style.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I often get the impression form online fandom, that Wolverine is one of those character's like Batman. People don't always like to think of them as superheroes. Superheroes are Superman flying around 'do-gooding', Kids' stuff. I think this goes to show Wolverine's very direct connection to a state of adolescence. Wolverine is who you get into to see claws and ninjas and revenge as a motivating factor for action. Unlike Cyclops, Wolverine usually has few responsibilities other than keeping his rage in check and taking apart foes. That's all well and good, but I'd sort of like to see him played up 'as' a superhero a bit more. also I feel his rage has been downplayed in recent years. I'd like to see him struggle with it a little more. Like I wrote at the end of the last paragraph, because of his huge popularity, it'sa tough to see Marvel doing anything truly groundbreaking with the Canadian runt. He's over a century old, how about some steampunk adventures for young Wolverine?<br />
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As with Jean Grey I think both character's powers could stand to be creepier and more off-putting. Wolverine's whole setup is a natural for various kinds of body horror. Super healing, metal bones, even enahnced senses are all fertile ground for this approach. As for Cyclops, too often his eyeblasts are reduced to stock energy blasts. Really, I'd be more interested to see an interpretation where we don't actually see the beams, just the effect they have on things in their way. A sort of powerful reverse vacuum that erupts from Scott Summers eyes, organs normally oriented to perception rather than projection. Really there could be an element of cosmic horror in there as well. Imagine if the Phoenix Force, as I discussed it in my post on Jean Grey, decided that Cyclops's inexplicable ability to generate force using nothing but solar energy and his own metabolism represented a cosmic aberration too great to be allowed to remain unchecked. What if that force had been subtly manipulating Jean so that she would be in a position to eliminate that aberration if need be?<br />
What if she might have left Scott for Logan without that manipulation. It's the sort of soap operatics on a cosmic scale that X-Men is excellent at exploring.<br />
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As adepts of Xavier, Cyclops and Wolverine represent the two most prominent foot-soldiers in his crusade for a more enlightened world. Both utilize traditionally masculine destructive energies in service to higher ideals about freedom and the future. Since both men have spent a good portion of their lives 'caged' in one way or another it makes sense that their powers are manifested in blasting and cutting. Cyclops is the ultimate ranged combatant paired with Wolverine, the melee specialist. They show us that both the rational Apollonian side of humanity and the wilder Dionysian side can work together for the common good, despite personality conflicts. This is the strength of Xavier's vision where such conflicts are overcome through cooperation and team work in contrast to, say, Magneto who often merely tries to dominate such problems on his own teams out of existence, or the gospel of Apocalypse, more on which you will read when we get to ol' blue lips. As far as designs go, one could do worse than look at Alex Ross's X-Men redesigns from Years ago.<br />
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Cyclops's design here has a monastic tone, that is appropriate to Scott's personality, and also reiterates the idea of the X-Men as a spiritual/philosophical movement as well as a superhero team. The Wolverine redesign gives him that earthier feel he needs, but possibly goes too far in incorporating the "X" into the design.<br />
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They're splitsville at the moment, but I hope that when it all blows over we'll get back to comics' favorite bickering duo. For an extra heartwarming look at where their friendship could end up, check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_X#Paradise_X">Paradise X</a> for the only panel you'll ever see of late middle-aged Cyclops and Wolverine <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hug%20it%20out%2C%20bitch">hugging it out, bitch</a>.<br />
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Next: Four Color Life in Decay</div>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-2125140139349754832012-01-07T23:48:00.000-08:002012-02-11T12:55:51.110-08:00An Uncle Telling That Embarrassing Story About You When You Were Five - Forever.I think we all have at least one. Some person, maybe an uncle or aunt or cousin, maybe a parent or sibling if you're particularly unlucky, who has this one very fixed impression of you as a person. That impression doesn't change no matter what you accomplish and no matter the opinions of those who know you best. Maybe they see you as the baby, or the slacker, or just the one who doesn't like peas. They will continue to believe these things about you regardless of how many plates of peas you shovel down in front of them. No matter where your life takes you, this person will insist on dragging you back to the moment at which they've decided you live. Professor X has someone like that too.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU76q6wOmzw_57FnW3c8FUfFKVEB2vCHlxTf-LBjYA6QqdQlQ0Y15SIvEso9KcB6Trb-t-Kd9n_sX2usVrDqHEJnaxt5o7hnfg7P_kDaI_YZqXG4mg-votDiUXEwhs8natyLaIoc4HQE/s1600/Juggernaut+and+Prof.+X%2527s+childhood.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU76q6wOmzw_57FnW3c8FUfFKVEB2vCHlxTf-LBjYA6QqdQlQ0Y15SIvEso9KcB6Trb-t-Kd9n_sX2usVrDqHEJnaxt5o7hnfg7P_kDaI_YZqXG4mg-votDiUXEwhs8natyLaIoc4HQE/s400/Juggernaut+and+Prof.+X%2527s+childhood.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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So Cain Marko's dad worked with Xavier's. Mr. Xavier died, Marko married Charles's mother,who herself died in turn. Cain was at boarding school for most of this . Years later the stepbrothers serve together in Korea and Cain's life has never been the same since.<br />
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Or maybe it's always been the same since. Whenever <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut_(comics)">Juggernaut</a> comes back into Charles Xavier's life, he sees Charles as the blonde kid he's smacking in the face. What he wants is nothing more or less than to drag Professor X kicking and screaming back to the past. Luckily, Charles has his X-Men, the manifest evidence that it is no longer the past, and that Xavier is no longer a frail boy, alone in the world.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_e5jwhJbZNiVaqnBPeJ7Jr8sRDD7sG9v2cJnGRHmduXl8yHFbZD2uWWnnBk7zOj8QtKAoIgDCg6LwNp30v41qdX4kuShpodRIn0O2qxginfQsLq05A5dkiyJpmG5baMCsx1zfdjXeIIA/s1600/Juggernaut+gets+pwned.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_e5jwhJbZNiVaqnBPeJ7Jr8sRDD7sG9v2cJnGRHmduXl8yHFbZD2uWWnnBk7zOj8QtKAoIgDCg6LwNp30v41qdX4kuShpodRIn0O2qxginfQsLq05A5dkiyJpmG5baMCsx1zfdjXeIIA/s1600/Juggernaut+gets+pwned.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Professor X left his empowered brother buried beneath a mountain and Korea. It took Juggernaut at least the better part of a decade (In Silver Age time) to dig himself out. It's understandable that he might be upset about that. His response is to attempt to drag Charles back to a state of childhood helplessness and presumably murder him. In any appearance of Juggernaut in an X-Men comic this is the most important dynamic at play. Juggernaut's assaults on the X-Men or on other things that represent Xavier's ideals are merely extensions of his long smoldering rage at his stepbrother. And what is the source of that rage? In depictions of their childhood it seems to be Xavier's very existence. The radiation that killed Charles's father is also implied to have triggered Professor X's mutation. When Charles's mother and Cain's father die too, they are left alone. Mutual orphan-hood didn't bring them closer together though, if anything being two beings connected by nothing but now deceased parents deepened Cain's resentment towards a brother he never asked for. The ways in which both men have changed by the time they meet again for the first time in the Silver Age complete their existences as warped reflections of each other. By that time Cain Marko had become the unstoppable Juggernaut a being of incalculable strength and near invulnerability, but also of unquenchable murderous rage. Charles Xavier has become Professor X, a man possessing the most powerful mind on Earth, but with a relatively frail body.<br />
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To the X-Men themselves, Juggernaut should represent the greatest test of their ability to function as a team in the field. If there's currently acrimony between team mates (When isn't there?) then it should come up as an issue during the fight. In light of the X-Men's focus on school and the future, it is often appropriate to view each X-Men rogue as embodying some broad lesson or test. Magneto, for example, may be seen as a lesson on letting oneself continue to be mired in past tragedies, regardless of the scope of that tragedy. Juggernaut, on the other hand, can be seen as a lesson on the ultimate limits of self sufficiency. No matter how strong or invincible he is, Cain Marko doesn't stand a chance once the X-Men get their collective shit together. This is even emphasized in the X-Men animated series of the nineties. It's depiction of the first X-Men/Juggernaut fight makes Colossus, a citizen of a then recently communist country, play a pivotal role in stopping Juggernaut's rampage. Of course, the team usually struggles a bit in the early stages of a fight with him.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VAf_a4ZFBcGtjxIjPt0Wx8ji_DcUafOyxQuXBfGhzCKuiTFT1VCN9iY7PqgKgGJHW943cpza6FZCcOncdCOKNsyF5GqE5bXnQFMuwjS-cmsVloV55_2lIovNkPf5xNfQ1CaBT5XddLY/s1600/Juggernaut+kicks+X-Asses.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VAf_a4ZFBcGtjxIjPt0Wx8ji_DcUafOyxQuXBfGhzCKuiTFT1VCN9iY7PqgKgGJHW943cpza6FZCcOncdCOKNsyF5GqE5bXnQFMuwjS-cmsVloV55_2lIovNkPf5xNfQ1CaBT5XddLY/s400/Juggernaut+kicks+X-Asses.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Juggernaut doesn't just hang out beating up teenagers though. His strength and powers have made him a popular foil for quite a few non mutant heroes. In the late sixties his mystical origins (More about which in a moment.) led to a confrontations Dr. Strange.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhD6wJD7bQXrYvMy3XTGonl73YLwmSZicdpJm-8x5cdOdWKW47AfjdRbZnQbcjHk65TKxba0Od59xQ-utwqaMSco3afQ6IqJC6nczCcRHq6tLJp_CROul9MriKgcYc0cnr4Gmh8xU_2M/s1600/Juggernaut+vs.+Dr.+Strange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhD6wJD7bQXrYvMy3XTGonl73YLwmSZicdpJm-8x5cdOdWKW47AfjdRbZnQbcjHk65TKxba0Od59xQ-utwqaMSco3afQ6IqJC6nczCcRHq6tLJp_CROul9MriKgcYc0cnr4Gmh8xU_2M/s320/Juggernaut+vs.+Dr.+Strange.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
He has also fought Spider-Man a number of times. These fights have the particularly fun element of Spidey's speed, agility and brains verses Juggernaut's strength, stamina, and brawn.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For similar reasons, indestructable man vs. man with healing factor stalemate, he makes an interesting solo enemy for Wolverine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1a2purcILRdVMPwxJOFW8CZUo9k5aUTRSkSS5RXG9JMV9R54cys6fUNyvjrr078BuVxPKlPKFtiqv30oVPVy_scohMikQKu1xeCuPUGuRe1Y-EvvNJoJz1ygq4LB4mlVv120f4QKccKc/s1600/Juggernaut+vs.+Wolvie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1a2purcILRdVMPwxJOFW8CZUo9k5aUTRSkSS5RXG9JMV9R54cys6fUNyvjrr078BuVxPKlPKFtiqv30oVPVy_scohMikQKu1xeCuPUGuRe1Y-EvvNJoJz1ygq4LB4mlVv120f4QKccKc/s320/Juggernaut+vs.+Wolvie.png" width="209" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Juggernaut's non X-men appearances have an odd tendency to both round and flatten his character at the same time. They round it, in the sense that they show him capable of motives beyond 'kill my stepbrother and everything he believes in'. They flatten it in that said other motive is usually just 'do mercenary work for money' and 'walk through anything that dares get in my way'. Oddly enough, for a man so consumed by essentially self-centered issues relating to his childhood and proving himself superior to Charles Xavier, he actually has managed to make and maintain one significant friendship of sorts down through the years.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNT985R4YkqjizYTRVvldIie5VNg7ScVfR5tjcpoOj87a26axSDpUeV5sHRYskeF8Bn3TKm43Giisj5QOEn7OS4zIyJrhD1ruPc_ZnS8umvsi7JfqBf82umRJE8OBj3VGX0bY6o_7-T4/s1600/Juggernaut+and+Black+Tom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNT985R4YkqjizYTRVvldIie5VNg7ScVfR5tjcpoOj87a26axSDpUeV5sHRYskeF8Bn3TKm43Giisj5QOEn7OS4zIyJrhD1ruPc_ZnS8umvsi7JfqBf82umRJE8OBj3VGX0bY6o_7-T4/s400/Juggernaut+and+Black+Tom.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They were apparently drawn together out of a mutual loathing of relatives, as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_Cassidy">Black Tom Cassidy</a> is primarily interested in revenge on his cousin <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banshee_(comics)">Banshee</a>. He's a mutant who's power is the ability to shoot energy blasts out of anything made of wood that he's touching. Their partnership has gone back and forth over the years. Here they are celebrating a small victory over the X-Men.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6D12NzlBqw9AUaWCJMU4hKy5hWiNIjwPTxBZRrcP5E51wkaY3Sqs-Dn1MaquY83vJWz4hUEZuSiXrSDtYEcBvgWH2gkPt9HdoFQL5-5lC6Zm_o7ITO2OS1FsHygBNAA-9829az6___A/s1600/Juggernaut+and+Black+Tom+after.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6D12NzlBqw9AUaWCJMU4hKy5hWiNIjwPTxBZRrcP5E51wkaY3Sqs-Dn1MaquY83vJWz4hUEZuSiXrSDtYEcBvgWH2gkPt9HdoFQL5-5lC6Zm_o7ITO2OS1FsHygBNAA-9829az6___A/s320/Juggernaut+and+Black+Tom+after.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>It's nice to have a friend. He also had a team up, of sorts, with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She-Hulk">She-Hulk</a> at one point.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLjXjusjStZFw0NuO_c_Lg7AfZvskkNZVp0wSLJyAlmst5XtjeYmvM0g-nV-OW0W6NEQp_teLvgR4LzQCjC6pa463opIeHUvsdu0FxXTh0WKWZzMH8YCRQwvOYd8gcULalOYUS6COdVY/s1600/Juggernat+vs.+She-Hulk.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLjXjusjStZFw0NuO_c_Lg7AfZvskkNZVp0wSLJyAlmst5XtjeYmvM0g-nV-OW0W6NEQp_teLvgR4LzQCjC6pa463opIeHUvsdu0FxXTh0WKWZzMH8YCRQwvOYd8gcULalOYUS6COdVY/s400/Juggernat+vs.+She-Hulk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Try not to feel bad for Jen's dignity. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-A">It turns out that it was a version of her from an alternate universe.</a> <br />
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At the time he was attempting to reform as a member of the X-Men. All villains who get popular enough, except maybe the <a href="http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/b/bc/Joker_0004.jpg">J-man</a>, tend to get a run at redemption and a spot on a super team, eventually. The same is true of Juggey here who was on the team during the often reviled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Austen">Chuck Austin</a> Uncanny X-Men run of the early aughts. As with Magneto, I think this is wrong headed, even more in this case, Magneto at least had ideals at one point, Juggernaut's really never done anything but brutalize and bully everybody who isn't Black Tom. Also like Magneto, it's a case where the established iconography of villainy and outright monstrosity is so powerful that trying to tame him really dilutes his power.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlfy63ZtLSozOUw8L6rHq5tkZL6pT8iVbinQfH-s62n6I3nndHYV9QxANgvxW_nR9ljOPhAgPBGEpqiNLwPdto7uHqarB8lgoLzFRcw2OpTpQP5nezA43weNEqTROQWBlbAgjgC4gX7o/s1600/Juggernaut_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlfy63ZtLSozOUw8L6rHq5tkZL6pT8iVbinQfH-s62n6I3nndHYV9QxANgvxW_nR9ljOPhAgPBGEpqiNLwPdto7uHqarB8lgoLzFRcw2OpTpQP5nezA43weNEqTROQWBlbAgjgC4gX7o/s400/Juggernaut_2.jpg" width="387" /></a></div><br />
The most important visual element of Juggernaut's design is the helmet. It gives hims a smooth round head, like Xavier has naturally, and and also like Magneto has given himself artificially with his own helmet. Like Magneto's helmet, Juggernaut's speaks of closing off ones mind to the outside world. Also like Magneto's helmet, there is a connotation of a past world. However, where Magneto's helmet reminds one of the ancient warriors of classical Greece and Rome, Juggernaut's seems to have connotations leading one to the superstitions of the Dark and Middle Ages. The helmet, again like Magneto's, leaves Juggernaut one of the few beings on earth that Xavier's mind cannot effect. The helmet also functions like Magneto's in that it visually and symbolically dehumanizes the appearance of the villain. The helmets mark both of them as people who have chosen to divorce themselves from the human race, albeit in different ways and for different reasons.<br />
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There's a word pivotal to understanding Juggernaut's iconic power that I've been saving until now: Bondage. There is a heavy undercurrent of bondage and fetishism in the depiction of Juggernaut. It has to do with the sort of rude sexual nature of massively muscled male figures in western culture. Amy Poodle of the Mindless Ones writes about it in the Rogues Review focused on <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2011/01/25/rogues-review-3-bane/">Bane</a>. Given that his most important relationships are with a slightly fay Irish mutant of ill repute, and his bald slightly fay stepbrother, it is easy to make the jump and talk about Cain Marko in terms of the fetishistic and homoerotic. His relationship with his brother is driven by his desire to re-establish the old order and place Xavier under total domination, by killing him we assume. His powers are mystical in nature. This places him at odds with Xavier's gospel of scientific and social enlightenment, but also places Juggernaut in the service of an other worldly demon/god, <a href="http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/cyttor.htm">Cyttorak</a>.<br />
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Cyttorak appears in many incantations performed by various Marvel magic characters. When invoked, Cyttorak provides those who call upon him with the power of both containment and protection. The god Juggernaut owes his powers to is one of protective domination. Any Juggernaut story that isn't about Juggernaut trying to kill Charles Xavier or doing mercenary work tends to be about him performing tasks for the god that empowers him. The price for the power that Juggernaut wishes to use in domination of Xavier leaves him, in turn dominated by Cyttorak. The red bands on Juggernaut's arms are a reminder that, unlike a mutant, his powers are not his own. Then there's the design of his incarnation in the Ultimate marvel universe.<br />
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Looks a bit like another symbol of dominating male eroticism.<br />
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But even more-so it gives the impression of that icon of fetish wear, the gimp suit.<br />
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I'm not, of course saying that any of this is, or should be, overt, but there's no denying that his self-dehumanizing super-masculine desire for domination is a strong aspect of Juggernaut as a villain.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGm6Kz1yO1upK1MFnd_Fz37N6zwFYDPJ6lbJgYBm998YJ634E7enP7RuC2_pLleCU5beKrFVzqWfXe7_9wXP3jVWutWRd75m-4vqMNNwAkDXGIgOue6Kr8A7hyphenhyphenDwJMn5ygyn7sdrukrCY/s1600/Juggernaut+brick+and+mud.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGm6Kz1yO1upK1MFnd_Fz37N6zwFYDPJ6lbJgYBm998YJ634E7enP7RuC2_pLleCU5beKrFVzqWfXe7_9wXP3jVWutWRd75m-4vqMNNwAkDXGIgOue6Kr8A7hyphenhyphenDwJMn5ygyn7sdrukrCY/s320/Juggernaut+brick+and+mud.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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When I think of Juggernaut, I think of a chthonic force looking to drag an individual's progress back under the mountain. Juggernaut comes from the mountain and he is the mountain. He's a creature of extreme self-sufficiency, but relies on an outside power for that self-sufficiency. He's dark age magic in an age of scientific reason. He's the cruel relative writ large. He's a hurtling chunk of muscle waiting for you to sacrifice yourself beneath his tread. He's the red helmet battering down your walls. He's the earthiest of the X-Men's foes with a costume colored brown and red to match, and motives rooted in family life, looking mainly for revenge and creature comforts between looking for revenge. He's your past insisting that nothing's changed and you're as pitiful as ever. The X-Men is a fight for the future to exist the way it wants to exist. If you want to know Juggernaut's vision of the future imagine the title of this post - forever.Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-84285341058041889072011-12-13T15:30:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:30:22.390-08:00Idea for a New FeatureI'm getting a little tired of just bouncing back and forth between X-Men and Batman as I have been for awhile now. I still plan on finishing up my X-Men analyses. Juggernaut is next, then Wolverine and Cyclops, the Sentinels, The rest of the more minor X-Men, and finishing up with Apocalypse. I've been thinking of a new running feature I could do between those articles, Lame Hero/Rogue Reclamation. Readers could send me examples of characters who they feel are too losery or lame or just plain boring to function properly in their roles, and I will think about the character and see if I can think of a way they could be rehabilitated. Ideas will be accepted here, on my twitter and Facebook accounts, and at my e-mail address if you have it. The only ones I wont do are Aquaman, because I'm bored with hearing reasons why Aquaman is lame (He's currently getting a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryan-young/making-aquaman-cool-again_b_1108263.html">revamp</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Johns">Geoff Johns</a> anyway.), and Wonder Woman characters, because I plan on tackling Wonder Woman as a whole after I'm done with X-Men.Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-24771199132284282972011-12-09T02:26:00.001-08:002012-02-25T11:15:55.161-08:00The Bat Symbol Throughout the Ages: A Visual History.Some time ago I read <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2010/09/26/building-a-better-batsignal/">this post</a> about the ways that the Bat-signal has changed over time. It's an interesting meditation on the uses of said signal over the decades, and now in a time when its function could easily be replaced by the Bat-beeper or the b-Phone. In particular, I'm like the portions of the above article that discuss the way that the bat-signal of years past has functioned as an almost physical object symbolising Batman's dominance whereever it's projected. You see, I've been playing Arkham Asylum off and on since I got it in October. This may spoil part of the game for some people, but it came out in 2009, so yeah, spoilers away. Early on, Batman is exposed to Scarecrow's fear gas and experiences vivid hallucinations. This culminates in a platforming section, where the player is stalked by a gigantic manifestation of the Scarecrow whose gaze will kill you if he sees you. How this is relevant is that after reaching the top of a tower of ruins Batman defeats giant Scarecrow, for the moment. How? By shining Bat-signal onto Scarecrow that blasts him like a big freakin' laser beam.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eL7E3m9d9xU" width="420"></iframe>\<br />
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In the spirit of that article I linked to before the nightmares started, though with less analysis and sophistication, I present: The Bat Symbol<br />
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Join me, won't you, as we journey into the heart of Batman iconography.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfH4bpB480Y_m7GMho2V7IvgOIW8TYiVDNY_0BUZN7BgPYWl2ARtp629Sh1wKy09vDbNJsHO-Knoj3zDBmqR_S4muiq4-tqngpiHBrHqzdek_aidCoYkYMTaGbmdlvb8pbqdGXl7MHSq0/s1600/Batman+1939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfH4bpB480Y_m7GMho2V7IvgOIW8TYiVDNY_0BUZN7BgPYWl2ARtp629Sh1wKy09vDbNJsHO-Knoj3zDBmqR_S4muiq4-tqngpiHBrHqzdek_aidCoYkYMTaGbmdlvb8pbqdGXl7MHSq0/s320/Batman+1939.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bat Logo at its birth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>At Batman's point of origin, the Bat symbol is a small black design that conveys a simple message. This guy identifies with bats. Batman was a big hit and within a decade of his creation, his story escaped the confines of the second dimension and joined us in the third.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5ZJZAbvNK5vLc6Oft9CQ2Ngit61frtMlONPIkP1NS5ibcmdUjUumzpWqt3A1TRgjuOpmcVxnIYvbyvOv-WpCd6ZfbOllF2JVnb5kMS9AgVCoRSK7T4N6Hb285c34h-CEni3WpxuXaDA/s1600/Batman+1949.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5ZJZAbvNK5vLc6Oft9CQ2Ngit61frtMlONPIkP1NS5ibcmdUjUumzpWqt3A1TRgjuOpmcVxnIYvbyvOv-WpCd6ZfbOllF2JVnb5kMS9AgVCoRSK7T4N6Hb285c34h-CEni3WpxuXaDA/s320/Batman+1949.png" width="240" /></a></div><br />
This one has a bit more detail. A little too much if you ask me. There were two Batman film serials produced in the forties. Ironic screenings of these films at the Playboy Club in the sixties would inspire the Batman series starring Adam West, and its general attitude towards the subject matter. Batman's series continued on to the fifties. Superhero comics suffered a sharp decline in popularity when World war Two ended and only the most popular survived. Batman was among them, but as with his stablemates Superman and Wonder Woman many things were tried to inject some novelty into the series.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2nJ5Oa10QQc0hAm_CZ0tQFg5mgsL5tir1exVY5UgR86k8q6RKKyzFdw4VsHLrj0ZybvKSR1ws9OvsWjrfroESG6OjtNl7101qJxzr2ntkOsK6IrhdS4cRkz7ypTNW_W_JoBlogZoZIU/s1600/Batman+1959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2nJ5Oa10QQc0hAm_CZ0tQFg5mgsL5tir1exVY5UgR86k8q6RKKyzFdw4VsHLrj0ZybvKSR1ws9OvsWjrfroESG6OjtNl7101qJxzr2ntkOsK6IrhdS4cRkz7ypTNW_W_JoBlogZoZIU/s320/Batman+1959.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 1964 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Schwartz">Julius Schwartz</a> attempted to inject new life into Batman by veering away from the novelty and science-fictional stories that dominated Batman in the fifties. Batman and Robin went back to their detective roots, solving mysteries and fighting crooks. Along with this new direction came a new look for the bat symbol.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbCqfBv1U7GAc9NG2QpMSFMoBRlLxu1ZdRw0CfTHXJscd5BZo-x0WQda4_IrsZjFM7Sq4GdrrvZA7eWkNjv3jDGCtxYmBNj4rKHYf9Qd_un2CI3q0jINylZJP6AlBoxQSQGLwvivZvpk/s1600/Batman-1964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbCqfBv1U7GAc9NG2QpMSFMoBRlLxu1ZdRw0CfTHXJscd5BZo-x0WQda4_IrsZjFM7Sq4GdrrvZA7eWkNjv3jDGCtxYmBNj4rKHYf9Qd_un2CI3q0jINylZJP6AlBoxQSQGLwvivZvpk/s320/Batman-1964.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A yellow ellipse meant, as I understand, to give the symbol a more modern design. Of course, this back to basics approach only lasted until a certain Bat-channel decided it was Bat-time for Batman to receive a shot at the big time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2AmM45vyCL0gSCP8Wvygsg7EvC_TxZ2hKC0vMhZUL-VEPTyJXX1Zi-awqe0WXi18vOUNqYAEu8LZ3lczRBT5aOlx3vrbditiAHqtVwb5uxwFojObsT0cHJd0kWfOLqIpRZgfO0eF1Oc/s1600/Batman+1960s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="504" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2AmM45vyCL0gSCP8Wvygsg7EvC_TxZ2hKC0vMhZUL-VEPTyJXX1Zi-awqe0WXi18vOUNqYAEu8LZ3lczRBT5aOlx3vrbditiAHqtVwb5uxwFojObsT0cHJd0kWfOLqIpRZgfO0eF1Oc/s640/Batman+1960s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is the image of Batman and his attendant icons that would dominate the popular imagination at least until the mid to late eighties.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cyR4o2Ajc2AGqpjNUW6z0WS09j8j703Rg7D48ryHGEgvCn5tigEaJ6laVfRqWJbFQe_x4YMHArnxuw1TlyUb2u7T5N1tA1BJwI_Njhq-OCwWKgoKTfS1UQCGrT53ipydfzjkpf5_V0s/s1600/batman+1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cyR4o2Ajc2AGqpjNUW6z0WS09j8j703Rg7D48ryHGEgvCn5tigEaJ6laVfRqWJbFQe_x4YMHArnxuw1TlyUb2u7T5N1tA1BJwI_Njhq-OCwWKgoKTfS1UQCGrT53ipydfzjkpf5_V0s/s400/batman+1979.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After the television series ended, Batman sped back to his dark, mysterious roots. Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams led the way, and by 1979 Batman had a flavor fairly similar to what readers and viewers today expect. In 1986 The Dark Knight Returns would teach everyone that comics weren't just for kids anymore, but, for the most part, the image of Batman in popular consciousness wouldn't really change until 1989.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctoNuiEIgvUUHbmzJETw94rEBe0JpIbYXWCw-UYhRfgVe9wFO5GkNcKxikj7OveeZ6ez3G_BLUx7gjnKOG5eFF9fClR1Xr7YQY5Nn51rSyiifv4HsEoO836zWqlFto6vqEM8lCHiOjVc/s1600/Batman+1989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctoNuiEIgvUUHbmzJETw94rEBe0JpIbYXWCw-UYhRfgVe9wFO5GkNcKxikj7OveeZ6ez3G_BLUx7gjnKOG5eFF9fClR1Xr7YQY5Nn51rSyiifv4HsEoO836zWqlFto6vqEM8lCHiOjVc/s640/Batman+1989.jpg" width="432" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I remember Batmania. It's probably the earliest Batman related thing that I consciously remember. Scratch that, I remember a Batman coloring book that featured Two-Face, Catwoman, the Joker, and maybe the Riddler, though I'm not sure about that last one. Then came the classic Animated Series.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRrY4_hX_E7OOtnC_t8ArDXJd14gAzCUeZY1ptRKA9Wzc-ptxCw6wvoLqn9tGgpOcxbcIt1onA1GcLSQhQdX_my8mbacbzztIYIcaMO8YgPV2X4Lwu2lXh6fZMYVJ1DuoTL5w-pKBq2w/s1600/Batman+1997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRrY4_hX_E7OOtnC_t8ArDXJd14gAzCUeZY1ptRKA9Wzc-ptxCw6wvoLqn9tGgpOcxbcIt1onA1GcLSQhQdX_my8mbacbzztIYIcaMO8YgPV2X4Lwu2lXh6fZMYVJ1DuoTL5w-pKBq2w/s320/Batman+1997.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the Animated Series and all, but I thought I'd take the oppurtunity presented by this caption to express my annoyance with the art shift after the show channel jumped to the WB, which this picture is an example of.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Notice what's gone missing? Where'd the little yellow circle go? I haven't read or heard what anyone else on Earth has to say on the matter, so this is pure speculation, but I think it has to do with Alex Ross's design for the character in his painted comics.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCfVblMGTalrC8X54wQENXvoe3z35khszyvvjRSCzzMzKiu18zM_qMbQZfwLC6iUY2NTN-CBQlbdDcMz7rkzaSTXjj4ItLx1MZu9CwrcEoFLz29LZRdyx20WP3dJTvgPlQ6N2j-E0q4XI/s1600/Batman+1999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCfVblMGTalrC8X54wQENXvoe3z35khszyvvjRSCzzMzKiu18zM_qMbQZfwLC6iUY2NTN-CBQlbdDcMz7rkzaSTXjj4ItLx1MZu9CwrcEoFLz29LZRdyx20WP3dJTvgPlQ6N2j-E0q4XI/s400/Batman+1999.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alex Ross's streamlined designs of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Bats here have influenced most depictions of those characters since the late nineties/early aughts. For Batman, apparently, streamlining meant going back to the Golden Age style circle-less Bat-symbol.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Which brings us up to about this moment in time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-qipj1NpK9hQK9vRNGrUfJJGF7NWPxZzTX8jBs99Ww9sMl65Ha4tYuTjgd6xtpcH1u1gZb8bC4Lx7l8OnMcvb21418rEBDz9c3n0FETGuAeLCQM7r8q1P5HPPT1GZH09GCi7Re60BL4/s1600/Batman+20004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-qipj1NpK9hQK9vRNGrUfJJGF7NWPxZzTX8jBs99Ww9sMl65Ha4tYuTjgd6xtpcH1u1gZb8bC4Lx7l8OnMcvb21418rEBDz9c3n0FETGuAeLCQM7r8q1P5HPPT1GZH09GCi7Re60BL4/s640/Batman+20004.jpg" width="516" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I know they're going for some sort of gritty utilitarian realism with the Nolan-Bats Bats-suit, but I'm just not feeling it. The Symbol is almost subsumed by the costume. If I was a crook who got in a fight with this Batman, the symbol probably wouldn't even read to me as a symbol. It would just look like another odd flap on his body armor. This is a problem. Batman's logo is there on his chest to be seen. Why else put it there when the whole ensemble already screams BAT? It announces, "I am Batman, run for your wretched lives."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyway, as popular as the Nolan movies are, I think they've already been outdone in the arena of popular consciousness.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kIFx3pVOZDjXEc49gpLpKgoafbfpVOgkxSkByGLl0HOW1zQQpYBYA9Zy998_MlDvRWWY-ayhXY7skQko4HBpSiZ438sCkgjbtGWUPXaXE3EN-HWrTz32pzQMy5xy5VuepbUjGHubr3E/s1600/Batman+2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kIFx3pVOZDjXEc49gpLpKgoafbfpVOgkxSkByGLl0HOW1zQQpYBYA9Zy998_MlDvRWWY-ayhXY7skQko4HBpSiZ438sCkgjbtGWUPXaXE3EN-HWrTz32pzQMy5xy5VuepbUjGHubr3E/s640/Batman+2009.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There's a Bat-symbol you can see clear as an unnatural shadow passing in front of a full moon. I'm not happy with every aspect of the game, and I did more or less like 'The Dark Knight', but if I had to chose between this and the collective bat-reboot movies for the popular idea of the Bat-franchise, it's this game by a country mile. (Though i'm less than thrilled by the trailers I've seen for the next installment of both.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next: the Unstoppable</div>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-88842534984702026162011-11-21T01:58:00.000-08:002012-02-11T12:26:31.608-08:00"From Her Ashes Risen"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>While she's been part of the X-Men books from the beginning, she rarely gets stories or treatment in general to match her teammates. She doesn't make an easy metaphor for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine_(comics)">male adolescent aggression</a>, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclops_(comics)">struggles with relinquishing a sense of control</a>. In fact, for most of her history she's been relegated to facilitating those metaphors. There's really only one <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Saga">big story</a> she's known for, granted it's one of the two or three most important storylines in the history of the series. Still, Jean Grey, or Marvel Girl, or Phoenix is mostly known for being the rope in a romantic tug of war. Like most Marvel heroines of the Silver Age she was subjected to unfortunate moments like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-RloC1RoroSZm_G-FkUp5hHZiZKK5JS11goUthxesLUOw_FGyF3FV_zhofEgRCmC-5xDdMPaQvEavmZwvU6T11LDrojn6_tF-dFgkp2UNCMEDeYhwVkswqI5UUuGEIhms9nEo8G-RjY/s1600/X-men+meet+Jean.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-RloC1RoroSZm_G-FkUp5hHZiZKK5JS11goUthxesLUOw_FGyF3FV_zhofEgRCmC-5xDdMPaQvEavmZwvU6T11LDrojn6_tF-dFgkp2UNCMEDeYhwVkswqI5UUuGEIhms9nEo8G-RjY/s320/X-men+meet+Jean.png" width="269" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Note that Professor X has his hands in the pimpin' formation. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<a name='more'></a>I think it's fair to say that Jean probably get's it the worst in terms of Silver Age sexual harassment. Professor X's tacit approval of the boys behavior is the icing on the fucked up cake. Of course, we all know what he thought of Jean at the time, at least we do if we read my <a href="http://rainbow-creatures.blogspot.com/2011/10/professor-x-savior.html">essay on the Prof</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKEaYafYB7f4sII3pAXz7TZxjZZo8xAiDwGGlGKR8ziN5FeafosDdwpHzGqHkwPr3aZhqYGPKalNKSAW6v7VBGrg6ZVmeEQN4HNSaAyQNUM73Frv8XCPAf3oSC6c8OQyvPx3sbKPF5LK8/s1600/Professor+Squick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKEaYafYB7f4sII3pAXz7TZxjZZo8xAiDwGGlGKR8ziN5FeafosDdwpHzGqHkwPr3aZhqYGPKalNKSAW6v7VBGrg6ZVmeEQN4HNSaAyQNUM73Frv8XCPAf3oSC6c8OQyvPx3sbKPF5LK8/s320/Professor+Squick.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So, if you wanted to read the X-males behavior as the manifestation of Professor X's own repressed desires, well you'd have grounds for it. Luckily Jean's a bit more assertive than the Invisible Girl or the Wasp, so she does get the occasional scene like this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsdxSQmT_7PZapo-hafQ-itC1RPRk0c17EtyZQfCVjZZgFIEQbrPdBl7i_rSqGbVhYWKYNdOXcMW_095soGM94V5vjnZuLHP9CjfnrW0Tisq0FgBDjIUIsuQsOlnxrKzyeRzmqu0LVg28/s1600/Jean+responds+accordingly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsdxSQmT_7PZapo-hafQ-itC1RPRk0c17EtyZQfCVjZZgFIEQbrPdBl7i_rSqGbVhYWKYNdOXcMW_095soGM94V5vjnZuLHP9CjfnrW0Tisq0FgBDjIUIsuQsOlnxrKzyeRzmqu0LVg28/s400/Jean+responds+accordingly.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The rest of the team's behavior improves as the sixties wear on, though Cyclops's wasn't as bad to begin with. The point is that before she was linked to primordial cosmic power, Jean was mostly defined by the men whose attraction to her generated conflict. She's still pretty ill defined, if you ask me. The fact that they can never settle on a good superhero name for her is evidence of that, from Marvel Girl to Phoenix to just her civilian name. However, I think there is another way to look at her, and the nature of her changing names and costumes. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutatis_mutandis">Mutatis mutandis</a> is often given as the school motto of the Xavier Institute, and with her ever changing nature Jean Grey is best positioned to personify that motto. She died as part of Marvel's <a href="http://www.toonzone.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-236194.html">red head purge of the aughts</a>, but given she's been the Phoenix (And that this is a superhero comic.) her return is all, but inevitable.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAoEq9oZtSweceb7f5SBDeMRk3GOxlTx3FYd-XmY0WUdKAg5XslqgmMxe1VqkJd0hc6bleeNZIHEbUIlzyQcV2QqvMALGpyGL4a9MvA6CsV9RZLS7Vu1EP-S3oUiojXZcSuqs-vAvvyiI/s1600/Marvel_Girl_SilverAge.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAoEq9oZtSweceb7f5SBDeMRk3GOxlTx3FYd-XmY0WUdKAg5XslqgmMxe1VqkJd0hc6bleeNZIHEbUIlzyQcV2QqvMALGpyGL4a9MvA6CsV9RZLS7Vu1EP-S3oUiojXZcSuqs-vAvvyiI/s320/Marvel_Girl_SilverAge.gif" width="314" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">If we are to take Jean as a sort of personification of change, it makes sense that she should be a character who's completely at ease with her powers and their occasional fluctuations. Cyclops and Wolverine may stress about keeping their eyes covered or their rage sheathed, but having died and returned two times, it makes sense that when Jean gets back she should have a lack of fear regarding her powers, or much of anything, and a desire to further explore them. I wrote in their respective profiles about how Professor Xavier is someone with great power over the invisible, while Magneto has great power over the material, but Jean has the best of both. Telepathy to know peoples hearts and minds, and telekinesis to rearrange the world around her. Jean's powers mean that she has the potential to change everything around her. She has the potential to create the worlds that Magneto and Xavier can only dream about. At the same time her powers should be at least little bit creepy, as should most mutant powers in my opinion. Maybe in the morning Jean could take the occasional early stroll through her friends and teammates dream lives. Her deaths and resurrections could have left her with a slightly <i>off</i> sense of other people's personal psychic space. Jean is often written in a way where her powers seem to be growing, and she worries about going the way of the Dark Phoenix. I would like to see a version of Jean who has overcome that sort of self-limitation. One that enjoys using her powers just for the enjoyment of using them. Even to the point of making her teammates a bit uncomfortable about the other wise good news of her return to physical life.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">There's one role that this re-positioning of Jean as a changer and personification of change makes her perfect for, teacher. During Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, he had a way of making Jean sort of a mama bear super teacher. As a teacher Jean can express her potential to change the world in the most useful place, possible, in the minds of those to come. It's cliche to have the most prominent female character as the "heart" of a super-team, but I think that in this case it's warranted, because Jeans powers make her one of the few people on earth suitable to the task. Jean isn't just the heart of the X-Men, she's the core. She doesn't hold the team together because she has stereotypical female qualities (compassion, empathy, etc...) that the guys lack, it's because she more than anyone is like Professor X in personality and ability. She much more than, say, Cyclops, is the protege come into their own. Frank Quitely's depiction of Jean during Morrison's run even gives her a look that, to me, greatly resembles <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128445/">another teacher featured in popular art</a> back at the turn of the century.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9ID6pZea4Uj84hzOD4p5UhbUP_XBcht3-qE7xDamlB14GmVkTEgQ5dUj6L5buGnznQDIIigWUIy6HQMOIfNFT5NahQWftxUL3-R9Y6sEDp1amVNG9QLoxT9ymC_XfpqEPdcbboQch70/s1600/Jean-Quitely.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9ID6pZea4Uj84hzOD4p5UhbUP_XBcht3-qE7xDamlB14GmVkTEgQ5dUj6L5buGnznQDIIigWUIy6HQMOIfNFT5NahQWftxUL3-R9Y6sEDp1amVNG9QLoxT9ymC_XfpqEPdcbboQch70/s320/Jean-Quitely.jpg" width="197" /> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL66gmzsoNUh3r4FibHCRTVxp6fcD7s8q7htGuZLHh5mlnj1h0sNrCoT2uLCakvM4fheOnoPIvAjXd9opGAWJ59uDvmrM1FNd2tiSP6bUETx7fszsHf7xckr7oIaacXJd9LuV1njsj0Yc/s1600/olivia_williams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL66gmzsoNUh3r4FibHCRTVxp6fcD7s8q7htGuZLHh5mlnj1h0sNrCoT2uLCakvM4fheOnoPIvAjXd9opGAWJ59uDvmrM1FNd2tiSP6bUETx7fszsHf7xckr7oIaacXJd9LuV1njsj0Yc/s320/olivia_williams.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">It's not that Quitely's Jean and Olivia Williams look like each other exactly. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">resemblance</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> is more in the way they carry themselves. It could even just be because I think Williams seems like an interesting point of departure for Jean's general look and body language. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5N-DKdflhr2WI7NnAvdNtnlSK4fSYype2rl0POM7cib5xLuUn62kZ_box4OAA25pBPiMiUXfJsWo9r3Xl6T2GAyqpd-g9YJS_KU4NlAKSYbUyrfg_07pJbwbR4u0d2q6SQ7-R6-DzGM/s1600/EnterthePheonix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5N-DKdflhr2WI7NnAvdNtnlSK4fSYype2rl0POM7cib5xLuUn62kZ_box4OAA25pBPiMiUXfJsWo9r3Xl6T2GAyqpd-g9YJS_KU4NlAKSYbUyrfg_07pJbwbR4u0d2q6SQ7-R6-DzGM/s320/EnterthePheonix.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Jean Grey's, or her duplicate's or whoever it was's, experience as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Force_(comics)">the Phoenix</a> is the subject of the best remembered (Only remembered?) story focusing on Jean. Unfortunately, what began as an attempt to vitalize the character ended in her turn to the dark side.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_xX9E6nExfgLqoRqcV6LFJtfcMRVvofzHpW1PyR-gd8DFbRXPtAfJ8RSE8TXCv2IZZfG_awKH-fGXLGBdmx9KdbzZ2yXlMtwjNBP_nqDRs51gSSgzkOOpTZDnvfavbrECzf1ihUmglg/s1600/250px-XMen135-Dark+Pheonix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_xX9E6nExfgLqoRqcV6LFJtfcMRVvofzHpW1PyR-gd8DFbRXPtAfJ8RSE8TXCv2IZZfG_awKH-fGXLGBdmx9KdbzZ2yXlMtwjNBP_nqDRs51gSSgzkOOpTZDnvfavbrECzf1ihUmglg/s320/250px-XMen135-Dark+Pheonix.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice boyfriend Cyclops's symbolic positioning?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Ultimately she goes mad with power, kills an entire inhabited planet and dies by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Phoenix_Saga#Editorial_controversy">editorial mandate</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Claremont">Chris Claremont</a> is remembered as one of the more progressive writers of the eighties when it comes to gender politics, but this is a story that could be uncharitably boiled down to a woman achieving a power boost, going mad with it, and turning into the biggest bitch in the galaxy. Dark Phoenix's visual elements even echo those of the other great female symbol of telekinetic menstrual fury from the same era. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudqF7uXETVkQQWqo1ORqo6NWKRAwHmAKudD1xu6Aa9f1VjDiVjkdpNu4HdA0OHPp_mKbQWiv4QcXAiFRU2vV2LkocmyB9XXM-dRymdNVejSCV0kNbdFF9gR9lpCiqQNSHW3FcIqQ0DnM/s1600/Dark_Phoenix_%2528by_Julie_Bell%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAlqvjXfgpYZXYi1KctzPwPuk2IMB6IJphCQkIfSZ8l4A2DBLG01mLOdzMK0EMxcRXQV5DNWlUVrjDBvFIHTWO8xiWoTCNOvqPbQ3TTl6CxcnjJvS2ULsAF7MOyhWG5mnc7T9PlemAfKE/s1600/carrie-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAlqvjXfgpYZXYi1KctzPwPuk2IMB6IJphCQkIfSZ8l4A2DBLG01mLOdzMK0EMxcRXQV5DNWlUVrjDBvFIHTWO8xiWoTCNOvqPbQ3TTl6CxcnjJvS2ULsAF7MOyhWG5mnc7T9PlemAfKE/s320/carrie-movie-poster.jpg" width="220" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudqF7uXETVkQQWqo1ORqo6NWKRAwHmAKudD1xu6Aa9f1VjDiVjkdpNu4HdA0OHPp_mKbQWiv4QcXAiFRU2vV2LkocmyB9XXM-dRymdNVejSCV0kNbdFF9gR9lpCiqQNSHW3FcIqQ0DnM/s320/Dark_Phoenix_%2528by_Julie_Bell%2529.jpg" width="214" /></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I do like the Phoenix force as a concept though. I like the idea that it had been waiting for Jean for its entire existence. That it needed an individual with potential to master the invisible and visible worlds as Jean does. It could be somewhat like a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou" style="line-height: 19px;">lwa from vodu</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">. A spiritual representative of the heart, or core, of creation that rides Jean at times when cosmic business needs attending to. Unlike Jean, this force might have a complete lack of, or a completely alien, moral compass. The Phoenix force also brings a fire motif to Jean, well suited for a personification of change which fire, as a classical element, often represents. The Phoenix should be identifiable as a separate entity from Jean, somewhat like Spider-Man and Eddie Brock's relationships to the Venom Symbiote. It should be an almost overpowering</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> force that promotes renewal and change in the universe, while burning away the stagnant possibly cosmically infectious or cancerous bits. In fact the Phoenix Force played up as a cosmic immune system just makes too much sense to me. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPKT0bnLtnoy2Kz_8tN52wAKSkkDqrlwR23unfkF-Bdv1pZLBnmuc67v2KDc0tVon0aTvusiRb8AuY4vxD4sOWWEkuPjJzm1Qrx2PvJ_enJCE_0LEXqLsDw4yTr1bwI1bf7FsQyVUNMw/s1600/Jean-Grey-VanScriver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPKT0bnLtnoy2Kz_8tN52wAKSkkDqrlwR23unfkF-Bdv1pZLBnmuc67v2KDc0tVon0aTvusiRb8AuY4vxD4sOWWEkuPjJzm1Qrx2PvJ_enJCE_0LEXqLsDw4yTr1bwI1bf7FsQyVUNMw/s400/Jean-Grey-VanScriver.jpg" width="260" /></a></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">In some ways this points to a version of Jean who is more or less overall leader of the X-Men, a position I think she's a better pick for than, say, Cyclops, who's always been better as a field commander anyway. (Pretty much the role she played during Morrison's run, really.) When Jean comes back I would love to see her both crackling with power, and filled with the confidence to keep her power in her service, rather than her being in service to it. A few solo stories where she and the Phoenix force tackle cosmic issues would be nice. Whatever they do, I would beg them not to give her back the nineties costume, which has to be one of the blandest designs ever. </span></span><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGehjw9wXPSVanbNks8fYrFMiKx7864Z9mePrSGmENJzcD9kDcn0i9IVZOY1dg3O9tZwRvLMRQuIR0YkKAFBHSg6DPft-6Q4pfzSNooyb5-hI1rdc8k8mzXSD_VhKDQIc9LAet-SKVyfw/s1600/Jean-Grey-90s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGehjw9wXPSVanbNks8fYrFMiKx7864Z9mePrSGmENJzcD9kDcn0i9IVZOY1dg3O9tZwRvLMRQuIR0YkKAFBHSg6DPft-6Q4pfzSNooyb5-hI1rdc8k8mzXSD_VhKDQIc9LAet-SKVyfw/s320/Jean-Grey-90s.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Instead, I'd hope they would hark back to the designs of the late sixties through the eighties that use green and yellow, perhaps some red, colors that suggest rebirth and vitality. After dying twice, Jean should erupt back into life as the mutant most celebratory of vitality, perhaps even on the verge of hedonism. With a wry disposition and an unbreakable bond to her teammates and students, Jean's the most mutable mutant and plans to be out and proud about it. Marvel will naturally want to make a big deal out of her return, probably an entire event, but I think the moment would be best underplayed. Like, for example, sundry X-Men are hanging out in Manhattan, they turn a corner and find Jean there, right at the spot she died on at the end of Planet X, with little to no initial explanation. Whatever caused it could take up a story arc later. The important part is that Jean has returned, but seems changed by whatever happened, and how the X-Men react to this, which forces them to change in turn. If X-Men is the story of learning to embrace the future and the changes it brings, Jean should be the vital and occasionally terrifying harbinger of that future. The Mutant Woman who teaches how to face death, embrace the fire, and lift oneself from the ashes stronger for it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Next: The history of the Bat-logo. </span></div>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-41983799880213735832011-11-13T05:41:00.000-08:002012-02-07T01:02:15.458-08:00"Back to the Batnipples" or "The Neon of Batman" If anything or things are remembered about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Schumacher">Joel Schumacher</a>'s oeuvre in the Bat-movies, they tend to be these.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwWS4bXnj9YGmIqVgCtrdGuhltnjdHnc9PGMAA3uzuls-EV6ApVM7dTx3ZtR5oxhjUkTEejWAnKA2W6AMRIQBfwyl09dN6Ek-bZUq2_tdgcspHx1uQq8sOnREHr-_77DDpTUkhr6_0S4/s1600/Male+Hetero+Sex-Fear+Kills+Franchise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwWS4bXnj9YGmIqVgCtrdGuhltnjdHnc9PGMAA3uzuls-EV6ApVM7dTx3ZtR5oxhjUkTEejWAnKA2W6AMRIQBfwyl09dN6Ek-bZUq2_tdgcspHx1uQq8sOnREHr-_77DDpTUkhr6_0S4/s1600/Male+Hetero+Sex-Fear+Kills+Franchise.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Thus begins our descent into the underworld.<br />
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As much as mainstream bat-fans treat the 60's series as a memory best repressed, they'd probably, given the choice, reserve the brain bleach and mindscrubbers for the late nineties films, "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin". In the context of the the mid-nineties Schumacher actually makes perfect sense as a director to take up where Tim Burton left off. After all, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Boys">The Lost Boys</a> he shows a love for comics and mid-century youth culture in general, and in 1993 he released <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Down">Falling Down</a> which comes pretty close to being the cinematic equivalent of a Frank Miller comic, albeit with less satire, pulp, and prostitution. Unfortunately <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19920619/REVIEWS/206190301/1023">filmgoers</a> had reacted poorly to the semi-sour cynicism of Batman Returns. (Probably my favorite of the nineties films, by the way.) The studio wanted Schumacher to take things in a more family friendly, less grotesque direction. Makes perfect sense that they chose Two-Face to be the first villain we see in Batman Forever, huh? Anyway, this is the milieu that led to the creation of these films. Keep Batman full of action and gadgets, maybe fewer birdmen drooling bile and trying to drown babies. These movies are easy to make fun of. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_TLpszdNcME">Many</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcY90fQm18E">people</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9zg4ETuKTI">on</a> <a href="http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/234-batman-and-robin">the</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6gACml4h0">internet</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEgI6gzl1o&feature=related">do</a>. I have to admit I haven't seen either movie in ages. I tried watching Forever for this post, but the onslaught of light and sound gave my brother a headache, and I'm not going to watch Batman and Robin just for this. However, this is not a mere attempt to heap more derision upon a franchise that spent itself more than a decade ago. This is an exploratory expedition to see if anything useful can be dredged up from the wreckage. Despite the weak plots, over the top 'acting', and a fetishization of gadgetry (in some cases to make the movies more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyetic">toyetic</a>) there are certain aspects of these films that capture an oft neglected element of the Bat-verse.Though he turned it up too loud, way too loud, Schumacher showed us all the Neon element of Batman's world.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUH2zst_8FvUwqNv_FrPPsrtvBNc6HVWN57P6XnKeh8Qcg6hVXHaH-wBuN8XkZsGPWNvwZvT4TiwGiGq06uSVF0fjg2mavf7ANoxzv_M2_g1MJXba0iPYK5UN3jqwjtjNIt53Ch7t-_bM/s1600/batman+forever+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUH2zst_8FvUwqNv_FrPPsrtvBNc6HVWN57P6XnKeh8Qcg6hVXHaH-wBuN8XkZsGPWNvwZvT4TiwGiGq06uSVF0fjg2mavf7ANoxzv_M2_g1MJXba0iPYK5UN3jqwjtjNIt53Ch7t-_bM/s320/batman+forever+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Let's start with the heroes of these pictures.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwPbea0eKYhXiq-2Ab6sdA_JNpNtqNm5Eit9PtwEIFxHCUjjMoEPeJyW4v6ya0DNMnh2GfPnTpt9y_nd_Il5cF092fab6i38aAZswi9Fz-qPY5nr-hRzcSqqHcu1tmztmRSnQ56H_zVA/s1600/batnipples2sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwPbea0eKYhXiq-2Ab6sdA_JNpNtqNm5Eit9PtwEIFxHCUjjMoEPeJyW4v6ya0DNMnh2GfPnTpt9y_nd_Il5cF092fab6i38aAZswi9Fz-qPY5nr-hRzcSqqHcu1tmztmRSnQ56H_zVA/s320/batnipples2sm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So, yeah. We've got nipples and Bat-cods. On one level though, the color scheme here brings to the surface the drab by contrast, color schemes of the heroes in contrast with the villains. In Forever Val Kilmer played Bats. Not a bad choice, I usually like Kilmer in movies, but I don't think Batman is quite the right hero for him. I almost wouldn't have minded seeing him in a faithful adaptation of a lesser known character, say Booster Gold or Animal Man, something like that. I did notice that in scenes where he plays Bruce Wayne, Kilmer plays the role with a good dose of Adam West style in terms of delivery and attitude. As for Robin and Batgirl, it's Clueless and that guy who didn't do much anything after playing Robin. In Batman and Robin George Clooney takes on the cowl, but it turned out he made a better escaped convict than a superhero. The heroes aren't whats important here anyway.<br />
<br />
The villains were the most important part of Batman on film from the sixties until Batman began again. In Batman Nicholson got top billing, after all. So let's have a run down. The first villain we meet in Forever is Two-Face.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5_We3ZGXIcwPjJG82mhPgo5kB5CyiqOSuenqRNi0fCeXE4m6HUv3r3Ld-UxtL2JXkRiTUouwQpXSrcQPLMjsFTLRWE_K7PY5EtMhuvmOYEufC9m3SDpej6r8p-7KN5J_r_CuEr7PehQ/s1600/Two-Face+Neon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5_We3ZGXIcwPjJG82mhPgo5kB5CyiqOSuenqRNi0fCeXE4m6HUv3r3Ld-UxtL2JXkRiTUouwQpXSrcQPLMjsFTLRWE_K7PY5EtMhuvmOYEufC9m3SDpej6r8p-7KN5J_r_CuEr7PehQ/s320/Two-Face+Neon.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>A rather Technicolor Two-Face to be sure.The purple-red of his bad side almost radiates into the air around him. Compare to our last onscreen Harvy Dent.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwwDE_51fPOy5rdi5eSWGkqb5-WmuxkjMUTpOBq5sR8NlkTDmI0o9q8KcChSqQocTium0BiQcphuOmTMMQGQycvMbDek63qq0xTI23E6j05O8WMc7fQY7kfj9T84WA-RbmeDpmviI438/s1600/Eckhaert-2face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwwDE_51fPOy5rdi5eSWGkqb5-WmuxkjMUTpOBq5sR8NlkTDmI0o9q8KcChSqQocTium0BiQcphuOmTMMQGQycvMbDek63qq0xTI23E6j05O8WMc7fQY7kfj9T84WA-RbmeDpmviI438/s320/Eckhaert-2face.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Grey and pink in place of glaring violet. I'm not completely against some level of 'realism' in a Batman story. I just think it doesn't take that much of a dose to make it work, and if there's an overdose it can get just as ugly as the overdose of neon and camp in these films. As much as I like Eckhart's portrayal of Two-Face in Dark Knight as an almost sort of avenging crime spirit, there <i>is</i> something about Tommy Lee Jones's performance that rings true in a different way. In Dark Knight we're seeing one of the moments in which a Harvy Dent becomes a Two-Face and it's immediate aftermath. In Forever, this is a Two-Face who's been on the job for more than two years. This is the Two-Face who is completely at home with his life as a supercrook. Jones plays it a little too wacky, but all we really needed was one or two small moments of pathos to make it more workable.<br />
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Then there's Riddler.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBtM0WdHW6_eUVw94sD9NM8kgK1EOgQtw5aXZ3PubHOAKjXPcx0-dho13Qb7q6IkpbA1-cJ36pykyEIx6f59TOA-dR9eniTamxRUSgcyeozb4CllGgn8IjTYK9vQuHh8DesNbZ5akxJHQ/s1600/DCUC+The+Riddler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-HEJYvJJuH9nIWD4vSIrrpp8IU0K3UyRWBdsKh4VqKfByli6-12HqAr_2xLj474Uc3YkcVAYOTaIogUHRrQjbQ05QBBFrjuvdc8YcCpH5mTgh1u-SChLlFN0V4bjrzakMXpy7KbWXWA/s1600/Riddler-carrey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-HEJYvJJuH9nIWD4vSIrrpp8IU0K3UyRWBdsKh4VqKfByli6-12HqAr_2xLj474Uc3YkcVAYOTaIogUHRrQjbQ05QBBFrjuvdc8YcCpH5mTgh1u-SChLlFN0V4bjrzakMXpy7KbWXWA/s1600/Riddler-carrey.jpg" /></a><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBtM0WdHW6_eUVw94sD9NM8kgK1EOgQtw5aXZ3PubHOAKjXPcx0-dho13Qb7q6IkpbA1-cJ36pykyEIx6f59TOA-dR9eniTamxRUSgcyeozb4CllGgn8IjTYK9vQuHh8DesNbZ5akxJHQ/s1600/DCUC+The+Riddler.jpg" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's hard to believe they found a way to have Ol' Eddie Nygma more garishly dressed than he is on the left, but they found one. Several times over in fact. Jim Carrey as Riddler is basically a Jim Carrey character in a Riddler costume. In the comics Riddler is like the Joker in that he's a sort of vicious sprite who seems to ultimately come from nowhere. In both the acclaimed Animated Series and Batman Forever, however, they make him a disgruntled employee who strikes back at an uncaring boss and world. The animated series is good, but I have to question this a little. If any character, besides the J-man, benefits from being kind of origin-less it's Riddler, who has taken the question mark itself as his personal brand. Anyway, in Forever Riddler and Two-Face get along famously.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKa41xAlb7QtwzBLowsl7CUuCLKzsStgzSMT9wRb_3wNj6JHy76k41nIkIrRr5EIdjaS3vOGokaOPw_8IMlHuSgOBR1BO8KJejsTqCwGcrhJKcI21fHkUFtp08-pY_5zlXT7XG7ItKa4/s1600/Two-Face+and+Riddler+have+a+gay+old+time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKa41xAlb7QtwzBLowsl7CUuCLKzsStgzSMT9wRb_3wNj6JHy76k41nIkIrRr5EIdjaS3vOGokaOPw_8IMlHuSgOBR1BO8KJejsTqCwGcrhJKcI21fHkUFtp08-pY_5zlXT7XG7ItKa4/s400/Two-Face+and+Riddler+have+a+gay+old+time.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Which is as good an excuse as any to bring up the '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_(style)">camp</a>' aspect of Batman. It sort of fits alongside the Neon aspect I'm exploring here. A lot of people are uncomfortable with the camp aspects of Batman. I dpn't entirely get it, but I guess they feel that it doesn't take the character as seriously as they would prefer, or it shatters the illusion of a fourth wall, in some way it ruins the escapism. As I said above, I don't entirely understand the enmity, which is funny in a way, because if you had talked to me in the late nineties early aughts, I'd have felt much the same way. I submit that just as deconstruction can be said to be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction#The_Yale_School">a demonstration that the text has already dismantled itself</a>, camp could be said to be a demonstration that the text has already distanced itself through irony. Even the Dark Knight, as concerned as the movie is with making the audience take it seriously, gives us this.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2LG2-aPBxgX2Evo0kLVh8sqZyVfjFehUZ-isr6vhdsNz6JH_KdtggHSaf7y-HBchn2I_bVhsiTHCHuXPeDfdSXIpbZfjrQBdU38yRwfDl-3-FEMwhxSWTzcvXQN1RP2j34IC6jZ2q-s/s1600/Nurse-Joker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2LG2-aPBxgX2Evo0kLVh8sqZyVfjFehUZ-isr6vhdsNz6JH_KdtggHSaf7y-HBchn2I_bVhsiTHCHuXPeDfdSXIpbZfjrQBdU38yRwfDl-3-FEMwhxSWTzcvXQN1RP2j34IC6jZ2q-s/s320/Nurse-Joker.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Back to the bad guys.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNMJNJvt3YgfGEjAZzhJDhcl00jJYozdIQhpw5dMz0s7cKZNt7gssa2zniRtDOPK0v523T6AGPui5UDi8X9M_TLU08GQzwCnKKAfI1IUj0GjfdW2TISB-oD_HH10xgxBCrG9agqfkles/s1600/freeze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNMJNJvt3YgfGEjAZzhJDhcl00jJYozdIQhpw5dMz0s7cKZNt7gssa2zniRtDOPK0v523T6AGPui5UDi8X9M_TLU08GQzwCnKKAfI1IUj0GjfdW2TISB-oD_HH10xgxBCrG9agqfkles/s320/freeze.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There's Arnie all lit up. It's a sad thing. After being rescued from obscurity by the </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Animated Series, it's a shame to see Victor Fries reduced to a pun spouting mad science buffoon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9o67-JLYLsDvG0I1iDQm_6lQU8L1_vkb51uNTQ8lGdnD5PURevZvWXr00MBko7NSV_Cr6UN4b_jVOZFaQE21I9d2bSSj98BqI4jKdU1PZeFQB3bGTwfEqpK6u_s6mO9AQm26_AV0TB6A/s1600/mr-freeze-gun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9o67-JLYLsDvG0I1iDQm_6lQU8L1_vkb51uNTQ8lGdnD5PURevZvWXr00MBko7NSV_Cr6UN4b_jVOZFaQE21I9d2bSSj98BqI4jKdU1PZeFQB3bGTwfEqpK6u_s6mO9AQm26_AV0TB6A/s320/mr-freeze-gun.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He and Bane probably suffer the most in terms of being made to look dumber than words. And then there's Ivy. Uma Thurman would be a logical choice in a better movie. Here we get a near repeat of Catwoman's origin from Batman Returns, except with plants.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMJ9WNNW-7uYB9TeWNf9S_m9LTcflFIdrB9nOd9e6WhJtx4nG7wLjeQfWXb4aNGpUuen_mZQVKsK95gZfJagQgBGlO8xI9RcROZj6sBjIIFRgbasW7o644hm0SAfy3meLsQcK7zuPRaA/s1600/Poison-ivy-uma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMJ9WNNW-7uYB9TeWNf9S_m9LTcflFIdrB9nOd9e6WhJtx4nG7wLjeQfWXb4aNGpUuen_mZQVKsK95gZfJagQgBGlO8xI9RcROZj6sBjIIFRgbasW7o644hm0SAfy3meLsQcK7zuPRaA/s320/Poison-ivy-uma.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As usual, Ivy is reduced to being a tawdry temptress threatening to split up Batman and Robin's bro-mance. There are more <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/08/11/rogues-review-6-poison-ivy/">interesting and original possibilities</a> for Ivy than tend to be explored in the comics or, well, anywhere. Her transformation is played in the usual science-rape style. Personally my favorite depiction of her has to be the "Hothouse" two parter in Legends of the Dark Knight illustrated by P. Craig Russell. At one point Ivy delivers her kiss to Batman which drags him into a hallucinogenic underworld where Ivy reigns as a psychedelic May queen goddess. Here's a taste:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxlRYZ1UuzqAhmK8Vc44ppvmj5rtLclzgex-aOLON-0Ckpm_Hk1RfWDq1WdJm0OJv7Ssw-6yp-MtQ-mLSOH4i5eJFLhN1vj5A5bVJiy0a9vXWyXXt4LQnCHKY8IuxAddm_RTBvN12oezA/s1600/Poison+ivy+Hothouse+lotdk43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxlRYZ1UuzqAhmK8Vc44ppvmj5rtLclzgex-aOLON-0Ckpm_Hk1RfWDq1WdJm0OJv7Ssw-6yp-MtQ-mLSOH4i5eJFLhN1vj5A5bVJiy0a9vXWyXXt4LQnCHKY8IuxAddm_RTBvN12oezA/s400/Poison+ivy+Hothouse+lotdk43.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Which brings me to my main point. Since the beginning Batman has had a neon element to it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7dVpICNK_Jh0jjxZRyjmspMMnIFpG87WlpGBHpDBW7jsgeJaeWt-U4iVv5_gTFlUzlQjAVF9q9v6_Scy3MkOJHu42ZCZohYkJLysDTs1tmVpGffpzhbTBgRPYZq670vCFBBQiD3AESs/s1600/Batman+1939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7dVpICNK_Jh0jjxZRyjmspMMnIFpG87WlpGBHpDBW7jsgeJaeWt-U4iVv5_gTFlUzlQjAVF9q9v6_Scy3MkOJHu42ZCZohYkJLysDTs1tmVpGffpzhbTBgRPYZq670vCFBBQiD3AESs/s320/Batman+1939.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 1938 Batman prepares for battle as a starburst of red explodes behind him. Batman's brightness has been lost somewhat in recent years.I've been playing Arkham Asylum and, although the game is enjoyable, I have to admit that the art direction has a certain joylessness to it. It's saving grace, visually, is that detective mode turns everyone into glowy skeletons. It makes me think about the last Batman video game I played before Arkham, Lego Batman. Lego Batman is, oddly enough, one of the few things Batman I've read, seen, or played that gets the the visual balance between dark and gloomy, and raving loony neon almost perfect. It is right that Bat-villains and the environments they inhabit should give off a mind breaking glare. It is right that evil and madness are accompanied by a miasma of threatening colors.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9qGXLvnnWo-mTOq_CQUBLqOoeB6HemZd3vbcAiGl-0-hv0eI5Cnno78jdxHAU2UbuQtfqyabG4oPFoKeRlm1GGQI1tgK2BJtXG3iABAlu9mb5qMfaSuKLBFGS3gK1wGoOEBSMZ-Qz-0/s1600/batman_and_robin_cv3-psychadelicstew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9qGXLvnnWo-mTOq_CQUBLqOoeB6HemZd3vbcAiGl-0-hv0eI5Cnno78jdxHAU2UbuQtfqyabG4oPFoKeRlm1GGQI1tgK2BJtXG3iABAlu9mb5qMfaSuKLBFGS3gK1wGoOEBSMZ-Qz-0/s320/batman_and_robin_cv3-psychadelicstew.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Batman snuffs the glow that threatens to send the city spiraling into the villain of the week's power trip by countering with reason and subdued blue and grey, maybe a touch of yellow for hope. When that's not enough, he glows back as fiercely as anyone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLconK5988GNPDunNGhsG4GgiYxLP8vEmPqPVO97OIYr_waQra7RnzieCbYVGtktU_pVWaHzGDPhkf5XYmygnmx4uGHzRhbwLxRX96VrAiF7qXACyv5OcaS7NwrqRCb57P84VmFCm9H20/s1600/Batman_Zur_En_Arrh_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLconK5988GNPDunNGhsG4GgiYxLP8vEmPqPVO97OIYr_waQra7RnzieCbYVGtktU_pVWaHzGDPhkf5XYmygnmx4uGHzRhbwLxRX96VrAiF7qXACyv5OcaS7NwrqRCb57P84VmFCm9H20/s640/Batman_Zur_En_Arrh_001.jpg" width="492" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Schumacher's movies are a place where this guy can exist:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJ-ujh4Z93pUVKrVUEnqynoIKMCBg5j6Tn4tazDFYKYvoOBwwnbwWdOGgz7HFZzEOXUcwyshJ5FpQ1ZLNi96TM0Svr3GzdctGffzWM0j4oD4YKli7tylztDr31NHfn3OBXhUqkAdA7bA/s1600/Batman-Forever-Neon-Gang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJ-ujh4Z93pUVKrVUEnqynoIKMCBg5j6Tn4tazDFYKYvoOBwwnbwWdOGgz7HFZzEOXUcwyshJ5FpQ1ZLNi96TM0Svr3GzdctGffzWM0j4oD4YKli7tylztDr31NHfn3OBXhUqkAdA7bA/s320/Batman-Forever-Neon-Gang.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I heartily endorse this guy. This is what lower level Gotham mooks ought to look like at times. It makes sense that less creative small fry crooks would attempt to emulate the gaudy aesthetics of their underworld betters.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to condemn the Schumacher films entirely. True they're not good, or in the case of Batman and Robin watchable, movies, but some would argue they served a <a href="http://geektwins.blogspot.com/2011/09/six-reasons-why-batman-and-robin-was.html">function</a> beyond being enjoyable entertainment. At least Schumacher apologized for the whole fiasco:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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Now more of what I'm sure you came here to see:<br />
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Next: Jean Grey (I know I promised Cyclops and Wolverine, but I decided to do Jean first.)Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-69572155110435563152011-11-05T01:28:00.000-07:002013-04-04T15:21:08.114-07:00Magneto, and How He Works.So we talked about <a href="http://rainbow-creatures.blogspot.com/2011/10/professor-x-savior.html">Professor X</a>. I outlined the various reasons I, and <a href="http://www.playahata.com/pages/morpheus/xmen.htm">others</a>, find the comparisons between Professor Xavier and Magneto, and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X problematic. This isn't to say that it is entirely a mistake to evoke historical figures in the construction of the two characters. I linked Professor X to the likes St. Francis Xavier, and people like Carl Sagen who preached a "gospel" of secular humanism and scientific progress. Likewise, I do think there are a number of historical figures that can be drawn upon to inform Magneto's character.<br />
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That guy for example. For those of you familiar with Magneto's back-story, it may seem like a stretch, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch. They both ran cults in the 1960's after all, the Brotherhood and the Family. They bear a certain resemblance name-wise. Both worked on their plots in obscure locations, Magneto on Asteroid M, Manson at Myers Ranch near Death's Valley. They also share similar goals, i.e. starting a 'race war' with the goal of coming out of said war as the dominate political force on Earth. Which is to say that both Manson and Magneto believe that they should eventually come to dominate a lesser race. In Magneto's case it's humans, in Manson's it's black people.<br />
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If historical figures don't grab you, how about mythical figures?<br />
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As mythical comparison's go, we could do far worse than compare Magneto to a Miltonian Satan. Both are villains who tend to get a loyal fanbase by portraying themselves as underdogs and the more earthy and sensible when compared with their counterparts. Actually, this is a bit of a tangent, I've noticed that Marvel villains in general, more so than DC villains, tend to have an air of the demonic about them.<br />
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Only two (or three depending on how you feel about Galactus) of the people in that picture are actual demons, yet we've got horns and capes and pointed ears all over the place. Magneto's demonic air is only heightened by his visual presentation in the comics.<br />
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Maybe not the devil himself, but just as Professor X can be seen as the leading priest for one version of the gospel of tomorrow, Magneto can be seen as a counterpart. A satanic priest who preaches enlightenment via domination over the material world. It shouldn't be surprising that having survived hell, some of it would stuck to the guy, magnetic and all, you know.<br />
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Which brings us to the "H" word. I know it's played a pivotal role in deepening the character over the decades, but I think that linking Magneto's origin to the holocaust is a mistake. For one thing, it places Magneto's origin in an event that within this or the next decade will be completely removed from living memory. For another it means that whatever awful thing he does, it's kind of hard for a rational western audience not to feel sympathy for him. In this case, I think the 90's animated series was on the right track. They linked Magneto's origin to unspecified Eastern European ethnic cleansing. It makes that 'something' like that happened in Magneto's past, but again, making the tragedy of Magneto's back story the Holocaust gives it too much historical weight. Especially compared to Professor X who, bullying stepbrother and being orphaned aside, had a pretty cushy upbringing in comparison. That fixed point of the Holocaust in Magneto's origin effects Professor X's relationship to him in other ways. Usually they are depicted as meeting as peers, but as the Holocaust falls further and further behind us and Professor X, I assume, continues to not age, it becomes harder to see the two men meeting and each seeing his equal in the other.<br />
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A lot of <a href="http://geoffklock.blogspot.com/2006/07/why-grant-morrisons-magneto-sucks.html">folks</a> don't like the more monstrous portrayals of Magneto. Maybe they're <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Claremont">Claremont</a> purists or were charmed by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.mckellen.com/">Ian McKellen</a>'s</span> Magneto (I liked him better in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods_and_Monsters">Gods and Monsters</a> personally.). Many have complained about Magneto's treatment during the penultimate storyline of <a href="http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/mid-life-crisis/">Grant</a> <a href="http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2257892.html">Morrison</a>'s New X-Men, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_X_(comics)">Planet X</a>. To me, the idea that because Magneto suffered at the hands of the Third Reich, that he would never act as they had, is baloney. If anything the fact that he unconsciously imitates their tactics and aesthetic underlines how much of a threat Magneto really is. (Seriously the guy looks like a living authoritarian propaganda poster.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiV49h1wMiN0YJoTB-lykMJB384chiQGSySrdA5-vgRF7gB5G6VJ-5ZFDIPUiCYns6mmwTP3Ms4AnPQzihcofDsrgGuKx3_rPw6_No88k6ZKicVHkQVBNxoeEwpCZboN2fIh3WWVEZAGw/s1600/soviet-space-program-propaganda-poster-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiV49h1wMiN0YJoTB-lykMJB384chiQGSySrdA5-vgRF7gB5G6VJ-5ZFDIPUiCYns6mmwTP3Ms4AnPQzihcofDsrgGuKx3_rPw6_No88k6ZKicVHkQVBNxoeEwpCZboN2fIh3WWVEZAGw/s320/soviet-space-program-propaganda-poster-10.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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I detect some family resemblance. Magneto chose the costume, Magneto chose the helmet, more about which in a moment. Red for strength, an advertisement of his power. Purple the classic color of kings. Everything about the suit screams authority, and Magneto's the fellow who designed it. The fact that he is so weighted down by the past, Holocaust or otherwise, makes him the natural foil of the X-Men when viewed in terms of a battle for the shape of the future. Despite "good" intentions how can Magneto bring his people forward when he's so mired in reaction to and imitation of his past. Magneto's past isn't dead, it isn't even past. Additionally, for all his talk of "Brotherhood" and saving the mutant race from the human's fear and haatred, the actual means he uses tend to place him in a position of domination over his supposed brethren.<br />
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And then there's what he did to Wolverine.<br />
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While asking my friends about what aspects of Magneto's character they'd like to see explored, one person asked whether Magneto was a top or a bottom. I think it's pretty clear that Magneto's a top.<br />
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Then there's the most Iconic element of Magneto's character design.<br />
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In a way the helmet tells you all you need to know about Magneto's mindset.Professor X has a helmet too.<br />
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However, Professor X's helmet is an extension of his Cerebra computer which allows him to detect and contact mutants all over the globe. It's a helmet designed to open Xavier's mind to the world around him. Magneto's helmet has a function too. It's designed to block out telepathic communication or attack. It's designed to keep the thoughts of anyone who's not Magneto from getting inside Magneto's head. An echo chamber repeating the same coercive, brutal ideas every time. It's fair to say that almost any time we see Magneto acting like a reasonable person, he's not wearing the helmet. It emphasizes Magneto's, subconscious or otherwise, complete refusal to advance beyond the cycle of violence he engages in. The helmet is so iconic, and says so much about who Magneto is without words, that I feel it undercuts almost any attempt to make Magneto a more morally grey or more sympathetic character. I mean, look at it again.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSq3P7GvHhc5HNm87hDYV15VNri6aE1LEzloX1wULO_BL3hs4R5cNCfxscBjfHtTMBuGmvqP-MW5G4tQwvZ7_n-z1wAHz8hrR8VRzMjXf4hS1W2xoBbE4_4bk1WVWz3_ZYXbusxYHGy4/s1600/Magneto+Animated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSq3P7GvHhc5HNm87hDYV15VNri6aE1LEzloX1wULO_BL3hs4R5cNCfxscBjfHtTMBuGmvqP-MW5G4tQwvZ7_n-z1wAHz8hrR8VRzMjXf4hS1W2xoBbE4_4bk1WVWz3_ZYXbusxYHGy4/s320/Magneto+Animated.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Whatever is human and relatable in Magneto's character, it's completely swallowed by that horned red wang helmet. The helmet is Magneto. It reminds me of something of something <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin">Lenin</a> said that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Gorky">Gorky</a> quoted:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;">"But I can't listen to music very often, it affects my nerves. I want to say sweet, silly things and pat the heads of people who, living in a filthy hell, can create such beauty. One can't pat anyone on the head nowadays, they might bite your hand off. They ought to be beaten on the head, beaten mercilessly, although ideally we are against doing any violence to people. Hm-what a hellishly difficult job!"</span></blockquote>
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Magneto with the helmet on is Lenin with the music off.<br />
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Finally we come to Magneto in relation to his adversary, Charles Xavier. In the essay I linked to concerning the writer's disapproval of Morrison's Magneto, he claims that unlike, say, Reed Richards and Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor and Superman, Professor X and Magneto are oddly asymmetrical arch enemies. I'm not sure that's justified. In my view they are quite symmetrical when one looks at their powers. Professor X's powers effect internal worlds, his own and pretty much anybody else's. They are entirely internal powers. Magneto's powers seem able to effect almost any matter around him, but they never really succeed in changing other people's minds. Not for long, anyway.<br />
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With his links to the earth through his powers, and the chains binding him to his tragic past, Magneto actually reminds me of a devil besides Milton's.<br />
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A being in bondage to the material who in turn finds ways to place others in bondage to itself. Xavier creates a school to prepare the world for the future. Magneto creates brotherhoods so he has someone to look down upon. Some have argued that making Magneto such a sort of impotent character lacking in self knowledge makes the character weaker, however I feel it makes perfect sense, and makes the character scarier, as an arch villain should be, and more human for his human frailties. When the X-Men banish this Magneto they are banishing the bonds that would drag them into a world where one man's trauma is reciprocated to an entire species. They are banishing the hypocrite who promises radical change, and spends his potency murdering pregnant movie stars. They are banishing the land where some mutants are more brotherly than others.<br />
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There is one positive thing to say about Magneto, he does not tolerate drama.<br />
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Claremont and McKellen's Magnetos may have been a comforting moral shade of grey, but they lack the crazy eyes that defined Silver Age Mags.<br />
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Next: Something, probably a Bat-something. (Eventually a Cyclops/Wolverine double profile.)Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-10240688321334054102011-10-27T23:21:00.000-07:002011-10-27T23:29:02.632-07:00Back to the Batcave Part 2And we're back.<br />
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When we <a href="http://rainbow-creatures.blogspot.com/2011/10/space-medicine-back-to-batcave.html">left off</a>, Batman was drugged at the wheel, and Robin's demise seemed eminent.<br />
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Now the concluding episode: Smack in the Middle<br />
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Act I<br />
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So it begins. Batman resorts to deceiving his and Robin's mother figure. The Riddler, it turns out, only wants to use Robin as a mechanism to give Batman further clues, so as to lure Batman into the real trap. When Riddler believes that Robin is afraid, he specifically says that the fear is that he will "outwit" Batman. This is a dual of intellects, as it always is with the Riddler. I believe that this is an aspect of Batman stories that this show defines as well as it is defined anywhere. Batman and his foes, at their best, don't just trade blows and one liners. They engage in grand duels of body, mind, and soul. The point of Riddler crimes, and Joker and even Two-Face crimes needn't have anything to do with their explicitly literal financial or even psychological ends. The supercrook's true calling is, as often, to enjoy the ride while forcing Batman and by extension Gotham City to dance to the beat they set. Batman's strength, as we'll see, is to understand where that beat is going and covertly replace it with his own. Also, Riddler sure has prepared some handy sprays. With his lovely female assistant ready to insinuate herself as a faux Robin, he almost has Batman in the snare. The Riddler's plan so far employs bondage and transvestism, let's see where things go from here. How many bends will this labyrinth throw at our heroes?<br />
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Personal favorite riddle this two-parter: What was Joan of Arc made of?<br />
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Act II<br />
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Just when Riddler and Molly think they have Batman, he proves to have had it figured out all along, though in this case he might wish he hadn't. What do you call a heap of uranium? Atomic pile. And what's this? Batman uses actual detective skills to figure out where Robin's being held, or at least the Batmobile does. It does it via wireless even. I guess Riddler's plan was to murder Batman after all, but humiliation is still an important part of his scheme. Being shot in your own Batcave by a woman disguised as your sidekick is an end no superhero would desire. The riddles Robin overhears while captive were, no doubt, intended precisely to confound Batman and Robin, should Robin have escaped, or Batman have avoided death. Once again Riddler's most jubilant emotional responses occur in due to Batman's humiliation or embarrassment rather than concrete physical harm done.<br />
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Act III<br />
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Once again we see that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ble1Zeb7N8k">it's what's inside that counts</a>. We see Riddler, in a suggestive elephant mask and a nice tartan jacket, transforming a dignified soiree into a vulger vaudeville vantage for his great heist. In the <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/07/24/gotham-by-gasoline-or-why-i-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-the-jokercopter/">vehicular</a> Mindless Ones post linked to in the last episode, there is some thought given to the idea that Batman and his foes, to some extent all superfolks, project<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=temporary%20autonomous%20zone"> TAZ</a>'s, and I tend to agree. In one fell swoop the Riddler has taken his identity and transmitted it into the outside world, stealing the mammoth may be the frosting, but knocking out the crowd with his act is the Riddler's cake. Then, just as the Riddler thinks he's sidestepped Batman's box, he finds he's actually Smack! Pow! in the middle of it. Batman and Robin's re-breathers almost mask the fact that West and Ward have been replaced by stuntmen, as does the Riddler's elephant mask. Batman and Robin win, and the Riddler is foiled, but they can't be entirely satisfied. The Riddler has left them with nothing but a huge question mark, and Bruce pines over Molly's tragic end, caused by the Bat-reactor, in an almost light noir scene.<br />
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The elements that can be found in most any Batman story are found in this show. They're just present at different volumes and frequencies than most modern Bat-fans expect, or are prepared to engage with. Which is too bad, because they so often perfectly demonstrate the thrill of that moment when Batman reveals that he's turned the tables on an adversary during that split second that they let their guard down. My only disappointment with this episode is the lack of an out and out death trap, but we can talk about those some other day.<br />
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Next: Beneath the helmet of the most magnetic mutant of all.Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-68514325928243052142011-10-27T00:53:00.000-07:002011-11-05T02:22:30.179-07:00Space Medicine: Back to the BatcaveSince 1938 Batman has been adapted to the changing tastes of pop culture. In the thirties and forties he was a pulp detective/vigilante, in the eighties he was the reactionary answer to crime and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_decay">urban blight</a>, and in the late sixties he adapted to the tastes of that generation as well. In 1966 ABC began airing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(TV_series)">Batman</a> two nights a week. Unfortunately, for complicated legal reasons, none of the series has been released in a home video format. Fortunately, some guy on YouTube called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/FanOfBats">FanOfBats</a> has a bunch of episodes online. Many people object to the series for not taking Batman seriously or just for being silly. Silly is a matter of taste. As for not taking Batman seriously, I suspect it's really a fairly recent phenomena for fans <i>to</i> take Batman seriously. It probably doesn't go much further back than the mid to late seventies. However, even if we are taking Batman seriously, it's a mistake to try and act like such a significant portion of Batman's cultural history just didn't happen. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvefDmiVvrcChFCqU8lUIdxNHYkNSAC4sCv7Hc1QaWwTxMJxgJnwZXnGuNz9NK64xG9Y8ewEpPVCa7PIMzKR_nX3rhTnWLTDjSyDiVvmEiQQG8Bkhi6tI5gG8LFdetW0vZomTFUii7EY/s400/Morrison+made+me+a+loony.png">No matter what box one tries to fit Batman into he's bound to escape sooner or later, and then you find that you've been in his box all along</a>.<br />
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Instead of selective amnesia, as if there's been some kind of traumatic Bat-molestation that can't, musn't, be remembered, I propose embracing the thing with all its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_(style)">campy</a> deconstruction of the super hero story and off-putting attempt to be humorous, and seeing if there's actually anything we can learn from the thing.<br />
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Thus I present the full pilot episode Hi Diddle Riddle.<br />
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Act I<br />
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It looks like its a <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/07/05/rogues-review-5-the-riddler/">Riddler</a> episode, though we could have deduced as much from the title. One thing I'm struck by is the portrayal of Gotham City. This was a time when the city could get away with not constantly looking like a Gothic filth hole. Also, the Gotham City police seem to have pitiably low collective self esteem. As square as Batman is the cops are amazingly, ridiculously even squarer. They know that to catch someone like the Riddler, it will take people dressed nearly as garishly as he is. Another interesting aspect, no matter how lighthearted a version of Batman this is, the point of origin is still murdered parents.<br />
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A stray note: Does Bruce ever accidentally slide down Dick's Bat-pole, and Dick Bruce's?<br />
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Also: "Plots like artichokes" or more appropriately labyrinths.<br />
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I'm a big booster for the idea of Gotham's super criminal elite seeing themselves as artists of a sort. A lot of fans talk about Riddler being laughable because he leaves clues and dresses funny, but I feel that the line "strange artistic compulsion" is really all the justification needed for his behavior. The goal isn't cash or revenge or even a death toll, as with other more "realistic" supercrooks (The subset of supervillain that most Batman Rogue's tend to fall under.), but the satisfaction of having led Batman around on a leash, and generally feeling superior to him.<br />
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Act II<br />
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When Batman prepares for everything, places to hang detached gratings are always part of the preparation. When Batman attacks the Riddler physically, it turns out it was just what the Riddler had in mind. It's all very inline with the Rogue review of Riddler linked to in the analysis of Act I. The Riddler has built a labyrinth. When Batman rushes to take out his foe, he rushes straight in. As pointed out, Riddler's plan so far is as much about humiliating Batman as the successful completion of his endgame. The Riddler's jubilation when he catches Batman out has an almost obscene quality to it. I almost wonder if Gene Wilder's performance as Willy Wonka owes something to Gorshin's Riddler.<br />
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Also: "If poor Mrs. Cooper were to find out what master Dick has been doing on these supposed 'fishing trips' of yours..."<br />
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The Molehill Mob's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ostentatious jewelry and caviar by the jarful speaks of their status as the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">nouveau rich, in contrast the old money that built stately Wayne Manor. In fact, and i'm not the first to type this, most of the classic Bat-villains can be read as newly rich crime barons spending money on reinforcing their various personality trips. More on which <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/07/24/gotham-by-gasoline-or-why-i-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-the-jokercopter/">here</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Act III</span></span><br />
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The Batman dances. Right when Batman enters the club the camera is off kilter in the same way it was at the crooks hideout. This is a clue to the viewer that Batman has fallen into the next bend of Riddler's labyrinth. Batman gives into the temptations of the flesh, orange juice and, gasp, dancing. He is punished almost immediately. This leads into what might be my favorite sequence here: Riddler's attempt at carjacking the Batmobile. The Batmobile proves to be an extension of Batman's personality, prepared for anything, and more effective at thwarting Riddler than either Batman or Robin have been thus far. This failure is the first hint that Riddler might not have outsmarted Batman as thoroughly as he wants to have. He reacts accordingly. We leave our heroes with Batman drugged at the wheel, once again humiliation takes precedence over physical harm, and the Boy Wonder held in bondage in the Riddler's underworld. There's something about the Riddler posed over Robin, giggling like a maniac, with a scalpel, prepared to do who knows what, that is effectively sinister, even amid the goofier elements.<br />
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For the conclusion, tune in tomorrow. Not the same time though, because I intend to post earlier in the evening.<br />
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Odd Note: Robin's costume design may be as unrealistic and unbadass as it has been these last 60-70 years, but for some reason I really like the way this Robin's cape looks.Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-72845020586261258012011-10-25T15:36:00.000-07:002011-10-25T15:36:05.285-07:00More Thoughts on ThoughtsJust noticed a blog entry by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Campbell">Eddie Campbell</a> from about four months back with some similar thoughts about the dearth of thought balloons in modern comics.<br />
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<a href="http://eddiecampbell.blogspot.com/2011/07/fter-yesterdays-post-about-upcoming.html">http://eddiecampbell.blogspot.com/2011/07/fter-yesterdays-post-about-upcoming.html</a>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-5288202270600022312011-10-19T21:07:00.000-07:002011-11-21T18:23:58.126-08:00Professor X-savior?<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Everyone knows the head, and we do mean head, honcho of the X-Men. Professor X is the ultimate teacher/mentor. We know he's a benevolent tyrant at the head of all X related projects, when he isn't presumed dead or on sabbatical. He has to be a goodie, Patrick Stewart played him for gosh sake. A lot of people, Stan Lee among them, make a natural leap and paint the Professor as a Martin Luther King Jr. stand in. It's a bit <a href="http://www.playahata.com/pages/morpheus/xmen.htm">problematic</a>, especially when you take into account who his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto_%28comics%29">opposite number</a> is supposedly meant to stand in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X">for</a>. It may be more useful to think of Xavier and that other guy (More on him at a later date.) along religious lines, rather than as a stand ins for real historical figures. Xavier representing a gospel of accord, mutual benefit, and belief in the invisible world that links all be they mutant, human, or alien, as for Magneto, well, we'll get to him when we get to him. It's right there in his title, he professes.</div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhae0ivp_3ekhtk8DH_Yu65Ou9TFcNEkbgyX4ltBR9xOg7SKDefczuqNX7kp_9rUCRCz67TXpQCpL3qobZ43sFhiEDtKPHCFi0pmqgpcYYohjKzsi1iepr0IV-FAGk2NbobzTozCDujOro/s320/st_francis_xavier.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Heck Xavier, mutant not saint, already sports a halo of sorts in quite a bit of the promotional art.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFs6epzojkMC-NVpxqg8L-HO7RdVkPi8qz73Y6L4HPP6MU84Gvh0L8imd3_9CswcP1tK8orSikx2GwCuDNmYpHYOsv5fGAWIcWsUAhlzDvzwOy0ddfpnF5BRZq8C_794-waXeeZlX2VcA/s200/professor+X+halo.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_City">Kurt Busiek's Astro City</a> he introduced a group of characters called the Crossbreed, whose name brings to mind both biology via 'breed' and religion. They are a group who believe their powers are gifts from god and hand out pamphlets. With the X logos everywhere, the high minded, non-government backed missions, and contact with celestial beings, it's easy to see how giving the X-Men a secular religious feel fits in. (Think in terms of Carl Sagen's role i.e. science and I don't think you're too far off.) If the X-men are an argument for the progress and worth of all the children of tomorrow, then it makes a certain sense that part of their mission is preaching the gospel of tomorrow. As their teacher and leader, Professor X is the head preacher of tomorrow. He's even got a few scandals in his past. In his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602">1602</a> series, Neil Gaiman made Professor X into Carlos Javier, a teacher of "witchbreed" who also has a priestly air about him. Couple that with St. Francis Xavier's co founding of the Jesuits, and the general cultural association between the Jesuits and education, and we just might have some thing here.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5NpnRCAxrM9bHMI7TNk9nHFp_GVib8jyevmB9UrF_T0TGI_H9SaXZO7KH_YNreBfvKxioQ0pc_Ys10TW3R-Y8AX_qnSoloW0v9WGeNQKfuS5mSu-vkHvmPTlCNPYKvfU3PdguiVrsGQ/s400/Professor+Squick+extended.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">So he's not perfect. (Notice that Cyclops's "grim look" is focused right on Xavier? Scott knows the score.) It's not that Professor X should be a directly analogous Christ-like figure. Instead, I'm saying that, like a priest, Professor X tries to hold himself to a higher moral standard, not that he always succeeds. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Xavier's formation and guiding philosophy has a lot to do with his childhood. He spent the years after his father's death, in an atomic blast by the way, being bullied by his step brother <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut_%28comics%29">Cain</a>. Peter Parker learned that with great power comes great responsibility, Xavier learned that power without responsibility or discipline produces bullies, and can end up producing <a href="http://www.culturamix.com/wp-content/gallery/juggernaut-da-marvel/juggernaut-da-marvel-2.jpg">monsters</a>. So it makes total sense that the guy would start a school designed to teach the young and powerful how not to become monsters and bullies. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Maybe you've wondered how Xavier lost the use of his legs. In the 90's Animated series it was due to a car accident caused by his step brother. That's not quite how it happened in the comics, instead he was attacked while foiling a plot by an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_%28Marvel_Comics%29">alien spy</a>. Since the beginning Xavier's chair has been as much an extension of the character as Cyclops' visor or Magneto's helmet.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCQTR5NP9j2TlPWXYAUrvmlcnKq2fxIbNhFhcMKA3QWEDzt9Dr7VwEe_1sddqIALya49aykl6cGQHZJ9GxIscdU6-q1W807iXF1-P-4b3-ohQ2fh9bQTRDVWAwZveUHSzileo77YM6Lg/s320/Professor+X+on+the+chair.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The X logo is even incorporated into the design of the chair in the above picture. In the early days he had a pimped out chair designed, so that he could have occasional solo adventures. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lwSCxiIRxH_JkLp9lAIXJdjOImpmlAHF3kDjZI9NiwdOAHPVGKlNKZmqmAk-r_4gq099iAwpbu-J8wcXHI2SWyj1Ll8XVBeQ-OrZM51VvGYLlFy6FUGNM87lkQsayXLhi33IvCJlfaI/s320/PROFESSOR_X_explorer_chair.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Frickin' tank treads and shit. Notice the gun? Another place comparisons with Martin Luther King fall down, Professor X really isn't a pacifist. Viewers of the animated series will remember the hover chair incarnation. The thematic reason for Professor X's paraplegia is to contrast his supremely powerful mind with his comparatively frail body, but over time the chair has more or less become his Batmobile. Like the Batmobile it serves as an almost living extension of the character's personality in a given era. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">That stuff about Professor X's mind contrasted with his body. How about this, and this harks back to that unfortunate Silver Age sequence up around the second paragraph, the real conflict for Professor X is between his public role as the savior of mutant and humankind, and the fact that he is, at heart, a sneaky manipulative bastard. Here's a snippet of his school days.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw__Kdpbfip8eouNIVB0RgOHkKoSnz1EgubVUCQJH8VkdmLkFWRVZrfEohSeeDOSWWwaNsTWBchOOWABHZoEuUZ8u_7seNYDiE_HLRC5KcpmhsHar9p7CUmbSf6Mw3n2IST0X0EGkw-Zg/s400/Professor+X%2527s+school+days.PNG" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">In the same origin story, he goes on to use his powers to become a football star in college, so he's not really averse to using his powers to give himself an advantage. This is precisely what give the humans anxiety regarding mutants in the early days of the series. That the powers result in an advantage that will soon render normal humans useless as anything more than some mutant's pet or slave. It was definitely what Bolivar Trask was worried about when he created the Sentinels. Professor X's powers alone can have a disconcerting Big Brother feel to them. Even at his most benevolent, in the X-Men movies, Xavier is perfectly willing to mentally freeze an entire building of people. The guy tries to be so above it all, and at peace with his earthier needs, and you just know that underneath it somewhere is the repressed desire to jerk around with people's minds just because he can. in fact, in the 90's marvel featured his id unleashed in the form of Onslaught. Professor X tries to bring out the potential in everyone, but what's the potential in him?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">What do I want to see in a Professor X? I want to see the conflict between being an icon and being a mortal. I want to see the saintly tempted by the unholy. I really want to see more thwarted alien invasions. I definitely want a combat rated chair somewhere in the equation. I want to see a mostly good man who occasionally thinks or does (Really the same thing for someone like ol' Chuck.) the wrong thing, like lusting after someone he shouldn't or enjoying using his powers in ways he has forbidden himself to. Most of all, I want someone other than a mutant whitewash of a figure who receives enough of such treatment already.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">P.S. Really, if someone has to be Malcolm X to the Professor's MLK, I'd argue it makes more sense for it to be Wolverine, just saying.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Next: Something (Probably 60's Batman, or something like that.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">It's been awhile, but here's something to chew on.</div><br />
There are a few ways to indicate a character's interior thoughts and feelings in the comics medium. They can remain silent, expressed entirely through the way an artist chooses to portray a character. In that case all one would have to go on is dialogue, and facial/bodily expressions. Another way of showing a character's interior life is through narrative captioning. In this form, thoughts are expressed directly in text narrated by a character itself or perhaps by some unseen omniscient narrator. This method has gained great popularity in superhero comics over the last twenty to thirty years. There is however one very classic method of depicting a character's thoughts that seems to have fallen out of favor as narrative captions have come to dominate: thought balloons.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMkI7wKrIpvv7YHFXoxdNuH5OVnDoTk_u2FHKETjTUu2f_2G9mMGSdxcy_Zw8zOHdgIxtGxyyaywOGxZDwRtGQ5DUWGS5rndEnqBL3QXAAIQo4w7xmRdlZzotIdKnPSFJwpE9M3ok-KoI/s200/thought_balloon_blank_hg_clr.gif" /></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">In fact thought balloons were the predominate form of depicting a character's internal life up until about the early to mid eighties. What changed? As with most things in comics in the last two decades it boils down to the two 'M's. Misters Moore and Miller. In Watchmen Moore does away with thought balloons entirely. Instead we get Rorschach's journal. (As a side not I think this is the main contributor to reader's identifying with Rorschach more than Moore claims he intended. Moore underestimated the audience's ability to identify with a character when given an internal monologue. Rorschach's directness in the journal undercuts Moore's intended irony.) Miller's contribution is, of course, The Dark Knight Returns. In Dark Knight Miller makes extensive use of captions for most of the characters. Batman, Joker, Superman, and even Green Arrow all get little captions rather than thought balloons. Since Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns are often seen as ground zero for <a href="http://articles.philly.com/1988-12-04/business/26227484_1_comic-book-publishers-comics-buyer-s-guide-comic-books">"BAM! POW! Comics are growing up"</a>, it stands to reason that their mutual abandonment of the thought balloon was seen as part of this growing up process. This was the starting point of superhero comics deciding that the way to be mature was to make the characters as hard and full of badassitude as possible. In come orderly square captions, out go fluffy puffy thought balloons.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">However, there is one character, oddly enough created during the same period as Watchmen/Dark Knight Returns, whose comics not only didn't eschew thought balloons, but makes extensive use of them to this day.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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Paul Chadwick's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_(comics)">Concrete</a> makes extensive use of the main character's internal world through thought balloons, but also uses captions featuring some unknown omniscient third person narrator, as demonstrated in this page from a fairly recent Concrete story:</div><div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN83fquiesWdRAhmgzpx8IfYrKWps8a_rzSNJnmgN3uUTN5mWxalXAk_Wj1PRHeNtl7bYxVvmJBKTLNn3TnpPNxiYicObjU7kG_Y3stV3S-8uDXBPgQPGupzLzTV19WNutp12Tirjc1wA/s400/DHP2_1-INTERSECTION-_01.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Of course Concrete also lack some of the other hallmarks of traditional 'mature' superhero comics, like masked broody guys beating the shit out of people. Some debate remains whether Concrete counts as a superhero comic or is more of a sort of science fiction comic. I tend to fall on the superhero side although he's a very different sort of superhero. Perhaps, a sort of superhero comics could do with more of. A gentle, interior creature who uses his enhanced abilities for exploration and advocacy of various sorts. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Thought balloons allow the reader dip in and out of a character's interior reactions without the structural necessities that come with using captions for a internal narration. Caption narration turns the main character into the narrator of the story as well as the main character, and that's not necessarily desirable depending on the type of story being told. I would definitely welcome a return of thought balloons to stories featuring gentle stories centered around figures of great power. Character's like Superman and Captain Marvel come to mind as immediate examples of character's that might benefit from this approach.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The other place where such a device could prove useful is with character's such as Martian Manhunter and Professor where thought is an integral parts of the character's powers and skills. With such characters thought balloons could be used in conjunction with speech balloons to show a character saying one thing while thinking another. This puts us in the same position as the character always aware of duplicity on the parts of others. In fact, telepathy might be the one place where a caption box would just be too jarring since telepathy is direct communication from one character to another, like speech. Speech balloons do have their utilities and a better understanding of these utilities would, one hopes, contribute to better comics all around.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Next: More thoughts on thought when we discuss Professor X-savior!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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Still I have some issues with the X-Men franchise itself, as well as some of the ways it's been presented and perceived over the years.<br /><br />One of my main problems with the comics is the way that mutants, as a metaphor, have been used. You know the whole thing where mutants represent racial, sexual, social minorities? Despite its popularity with fans, and in the face of many of the series' best known writers overt use of this metaphor, I don't buy it. If this metaphor has given you succor in your own struggles with feeling different, as I know it has for many, I don't mean to sell short your interpretation of the X-Men, but I have some trouble getting behind it for a few reasons. The primary reason is that fear of various social minorities in real life is irrational, fear of mutants in the Marvel Universe is actually kind of rational. A gay person can't blow my house down just by looking at it; a black person can't walk around inside my mind to learn any personal secrets I might have; a Jewish person can't grow footlong claws, making them an instant killing machine. (Except for Mossad agents, who I have been assured have all these and many more powers at their disposal.) I think it sells short both the X-Men's metaphorical potential and the very real problems faced by actual members of minority communities to equate mutants too explicitly with these specific issues.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPJqTtNjef-YaApBv1zy20EJQP-4SMBJySGJrLcLXNXkErUxWWT2NcN5N_IkAj7fspsElBMi-tNy_X0pkciv2FqfeF1MqS1-qEIM1PE2W24EwIrNDdLAS4xS7wvuSqF0LJ1a6f5n4Uwc/s1600/300px-Marvels_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 202px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPJqTtNjef-YaApBv1zy20EJQP-4SMBJySGJrLcLXNXkErUxWWT2NcN5N_IkAj7fspsElBMi-tNy_X0pkciv2FqfeF1MqS1-qEIM1PE2W24EwIrNDdLAS4xS7wvuSqF0LJ1a6f5n4Uwc/s320/300px-Marvels_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618673560316139410" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />My preferred take on the X-Men revolves around a different reason that non-powered humans might hate and fear mutants. Lots of other super powered beings exist in the Marvel Universe without evoking the kind of fear that mutants do. To me, the most interesting possible reason for this is that other powered people (Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, etc.) are flukes that only happen every once in awhile. Up until the 'Decimation' event following the 'House of M' storyline, new mutants could come from anywhere for almost no reason. Some don't necessarily like this, saying that a flaw in the X-Men concept is that Mutantness is a somewhat lazy way to get around coming up with an origin story. While I concede that that is probably part of the reason Stan Lee used the concept, I don't remember reading anywhere one way or the other, I also assert that whatever the authorial intent, the lack of origin for mutant powers actually works to the X-Men's thematic benefit. It works well with this idea that mutants can come from anywhere. The most compelling reason for the public to fear mutants is that they represent the new model person. Eventually the mutant population will overtake the 'normal' human population and that will be that for the human race, without a single violent act necessary on any mutant's part. Kurt Busiek chooses to focus on this aspect of mutant prejudice in the second part of his great "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvels">Marvels</a>" series. Grant Morrison also positioned the X-Men and mutants in general as the people of tomorrow during his run on "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Legacy#New_X-Men">New X-Men</a>."<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="messageBody"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The motives of the most popular X-Men villains often imply that fear of the way the passage of time shapes and changes social/technological/familial/governmental dynamics is one of the themes at the heart of the X-Men concept. Did you ever notice that most X-Men villains are people/aliens/robots/etc. who are either afraid of what the future holds, and as a result want to control it completely (Sentinels, Magneto, various anti-mutant bigot folks) or can't let go of the past and wish to restore the old ways (Apocalypse, Juggernaut, the Hellfire Club)?</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span class="uiStreamSource"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/adam.haggstrom/posts/1896941661123"><abbr title="Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 11:33pm"></abbr></a></span></span></span><span><span style="font-size:85%;"> It's all a big game of "Who does the future belong to?"</span></span></span></span></span> In fact, the main way that the X-Men differ from many of their adversaries is that they are capable of overcoming their fear of an unknown future and resist being anchored by the circumstances of their pasts.<br /><br />For me the X-Men work best, not when they explicitly represent a mainstream society's non-acceptance of the different, but when they represent the, not unrelated, fear felt when a society looks at the upcoming generation and can't recognize or reconcile that those people are going to be running society one day. That's why a school setting. That's why a focus on what the future will be like. X-Men is at it's best when it's about standing up to the forces that say that the next generation is incapable of owning the future because they are too different, too weird compared to what came before and showing those forces that they are wrong.What better use is there for unbreakable claws and irresistible vision than carving a clean path to the yet to come.<br /><br />I'm thinking about writing up some of my thoughts on specific X-Men characters, heroes and villains in the style of Mindless Ones' Rogue's Reviews for <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/07/15/rogues-review-round-up/">Batman</a> and <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/10/24/spiderogues-review-1-the-spider-slayer-or-why-the-marvel-universe-is-secretly-demented-part-1/">Spider-Man</a> villains. If there's a specific character you'd like to read my take on, don't hesitate to ask. (Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey and the villains mentioned above are shoe-ins, so maybe some folks a little more obscure.)<br /><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_6b0311fe63e54d1eb05ebc437ed14a25(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } FCTB_Init_6b0311fe63e54d1eb05ebc437ed14a25(document['FCTB_Init_a0df9b51f8bc42f9a7f0bfad3b1ca30d']); delete document['FCTB_Init_a0df9b51f8bc42f9a7f0bfad3b1ca30d']</script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_a8dd12075915414086c7c7ccaa4b4f5a(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } FCTB_Init_a8dd12075915414086c7c7ccaa4b4f5a(document['FCTB_Init_b07b04bd899a4774b641378834ab39dd']); delete document['FCTB_Init_b07b04bd899a4774b641378834ab39dd']</script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_d5d99c3ca5a6436da8781b5f7de9c6f3(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } FCTB_Init_d5d99c3ca5a6436da8781b5f7de9c6f3(document['FCTB_Init_14da94efbde54381acd2c74bdd18d805']); delete document['FCTB_Init_14da94efbde54381acd2c74bdd18d805']</script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_87685ad308d344c5b413330210d3ff27(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } FCTB_Init_87685ad308d344c5b413330210d3ff27(document['FCTB_Init_85bd4ed9fbcc4a6aaffbb52079b78ad8']); delete document['FCTB_Init_85bd4ed9fbcc4a6aaffbb52079b78ad8']</script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_bfd26969c6f9480a85f1bebcea147929(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } FCTB_Init_bfd26969c6f9480a85f1bebcea147929(document['FCTB_Init_519b64d7a7084b2a81ee2cd3fa89e814']); delete document['FCTB_Init_519b64d7a7084b2a81ee2cd3fa89e814']</script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_a3ba07288b9f4600ae66aca11364962e(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } FCTB_Init_a3ba07288b9f4600ae66aca11364962e(document['FCTB_Init_dc59bc6f6a9649a4b2e6bb93838beea8']); delete document['FCTB_Init_dc59bc6f6a9649a4b2e6bb93838beea8']</script>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121250475312158496.post-809654830398010432011-02-16T00:04:00.000-08:002011-10-20T00:12:39.192-07:00On the Current Age, and the Age Yet to ComeIf <a href="http://mindlessones.com/">The Mindless Ones</a> are to be believed, we are currently living in the Prismatic Age of Superhero Comics.<br /><br />Details to be found <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/03/31/a-hall-of-mirrors/">here</a> and <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2008/08/03/a-hall-of-mirrors-ii-prismatic-age/">here</a>.<br /><br />That was roughly three years ago. I'm a little late to the party, but it can't be helped. I am on the west coast of the U.S. They are in the U.K., and will always be about a third of a day ahead of me.<br /><br />If you detect stylistic similarities between these two blogs, good for you, they are intentional. It occurred to me that if this is the age of the prismatic superhero, who is so often running into variations on his or her self, that a Prismatic blog about superhero comics should be entirely appropriate. Thus, here we are, slightly aping the style of a somewhat older blog. Adding our own particular wavelength to the spectrum. This is not intended to be antagonistic, I enjoy the Ones' observations. It is more of a variation on a theme.<br /><br />Assuming you have read the two blog entries linked to up above, you have read Botswana Beast's take on the current Age. I, more or less, agree with it. I like the idea especially of Comic Book Ages being defined by qualities of light, rather than metals. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man">Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron</a> progression seems to suggest that comics have been going through a decades long alchemical debasement. Will we be left with a Tin Age, A Lead Age? Perhaps, we'll reach the Dross Age somewhere in the 2030s. Just in time for a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman">certain super someone's</a> 100th birthday.<br /><br />The obvious question: What's next?<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />The Beast suggests:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Laser Age-</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span><br /><br />An Age of hyper focused superheroes. I'll be honest, I don't really get it. I've looked around at some of the <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2010/06/21/battle-of-the-ages-chapter-eye-%E2%80%93-blue-beetle/">Ones'</a> <a href="http://mindlessones.com/2009/10/27/tues-review-like-a-milk-man-convention-or-something%E2%80%A6/">writings</a> on the topic, but I'm still not quite sure I'm grokking it. Is it, like, very direct non-meandering stories that try stay as focused as possible on the immediacy of the character in the present and their immediate surroundings without pandering to nostalgia? That has a certain sort of punk ethos charm to it. Would it be something, say, along the lines of the plotting style evident in <a href="http://www.batmantas.com/">Batman: The Animated Series</a> and it's other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_animated_universe">DCAU</a> offshoots?<br /><br />-I have some ideas of my own about the future.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Diffuse Age-</span><br /><br />A time when superheroes become completely ubiquitous in popular media other than comic books. Movies, TV series, books, you name it. The big two sink even further into their roles as idea development tanks of their <a href="http://www.warnerbros.com/">corporate</a> <a href="http://disney.go.com/index">masters</a>, helping them part adolescent boys from their cash.<br /><br />The upside might be that, in a pop culture atmosphere supersaturated with the superheroic, comics readers get sick of it all, and the comics market develops into one that can readily support lots of different genres as <a href="http://scottmccloud.com/">some guy</a> once told me the markets in Europe and Japan do. Overly idealistic?<br /><br />Yes, in spades.<br /><br />-Or how does this grab you?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Negative Age-</span><br /><br />An Age marked by narratives as frequently centered on the villains as the heroes. Villain protagonists are already quite popular in some places. The Emmy winning AMC series <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad">Breaking Bad</a>, for example, centers on a meth cooking school teacher and his youthful partner in crime. Pat Cornell's current Lex Luthor centered run on Action Comics seems like it might point t in this direction. There was also Joker's Asylum from a few years back, and the continuing publication of Secret Six, all of which seems to suggest that there is an audience for this sort of thing.<br /><br />I for one wouldn't mind a return to something like the Joker <a href="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060914195453/marvel_dc/images/thumb/6/64/Joker_1.jpg/281px-Joker_1.jpg">solo series</a> of the seventies, updated for the present. They needn't be altogether overwhelmingly dark either.<br /><br />Dream with me for a moment. Imagine a storyline where the government wants to defund Arkham Asylum. The Joker can't stand to lose his favorite vacation home between bloody havoc trails, and so must convince his fellow inmates to put on a show to raise the money needed, using their various villainous talents. Of course he probably has enough cash to pay for it all himself, but it's the principal that counts.<br /><br />--<br /><br />Just three thought experiments on the future. Those who wish to dispute may 'spute away in the comments.<br /><br />In addition to essays more or less like this one, I hope to have some semi-regular features.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Space Medicine-</span><br /><br />A look back at neglected characters, aspects, and concepts to see what, if anything, the present can learn from them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reviews-</span><br /><br />Exactly what it says. Reviews of comics, present and past. Future too, if we can manage that one.<br /><br />I also hope to explore the manifestations of superheroes and other entities from the comics as they exist in other media. Movies, video games, coffee mugs, etc...<br /><br />Time to live up the end of one age and, we hope, usher in the new.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Make comics better, Let's.<br />Let's better comics, make.<br />Let's make comics better.<br />Let's make better comics.</span><br /><br />P.S. If you came here looking for information about GLBTQ creators,characters, and depictions in comics try <a href="http://prismcomics.org/">Prism Comics</a>. They are awesome and predate Botswana Beast's use of the term prism in relation to comics.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_619867e75e1b433db88e5950794eeb70(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } </script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_b87e5acb93854867a8a54c6991556e21(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } </script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_951cbb44cba64a089e80017bcc0733a1(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } </script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_1b4c5f3af1c64da8b3100e898e4b1f80(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } </script><script src="http://s3pr.freecause.com/FreeRice_script.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_utils_js.js"></script><script src="http://s3toolbar.freecause.com/0RewardsMarker/bro_lm_js.js"></script><script> var fctb_tool=null; function FCTB_Init_c381e25ffed94b14b7eb8bdf6aa55dae(t) { fctb_tool=t; start(fctb_tool); } </script>Shade1983http://www.blogger.com/profile/09731532820381724992noreply@blogger.com0