Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Mary Alice Wilson's Dark Star Comics in
Old things may not suck but a lot young people think they do; while picking up dinner the other night I overheard one teen employee chide another for his musical tastes with the statement 'your song is so old' (he didn't take it well). Franchises like Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might be able to jump from one generation to another, but if they're ever considered (like the classic Disney and Warner Bros. cartoon characters) to be old, well that's the kiss of death.
In the past I've been chided for daring to suggest the pamphlet would one day go the way of the dodo but the truth is formats do change - in a relatively short time we've gone from reading penny dreadfuls to dime novels to pulp magazines to comic books, and wishful thinking aside it's inevitable something will come after that.
In the same way genres go out of favor; once cowboys and private eyes were ubiquitous on the screen (big and little), but the day finally came when the lone hero making his own brand of two-fisted justice fell out of favor with the mass audience. Instead they turned to licensed, regulated professionals in the form of doctors, lawyers and cops*.
As do characters. When I was a lad a truism went that there were 'only four fictional characters universally recognized everywhere in the world; Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Mickey Mouse and Superman..' Clearly this isn't the case today, and while all of the above aren't much competition for the latest spawn of Pixar and Sony their copyright holders are attempting to adapt their literary properties to meet the needs of a modern audience.
You know, contemporize them. Batman Begins was a near letter perfect example of how to do it; the film took a different approach to overly familiar material and yet made it resonate with movie goers across the globe. So it's really kind of strange when Time-Warner had the chance to do the same for Superman in Superman Returns instead they allowed a director to fulfill his sentimental dreams of recreating the 70s version. This probably goes a long way to explaining the movie's mediocre earnings worldwide.
It's a tricky process but it can be done; tthe BBC has had great success reviving Doctor Who. But there are some characters and genres that seem to defy modernization. The last time anyone tried a TV Western we got Deadwood (essentially NYPD Blue in the old west, but much blue) and TV's last 'successful' detective show (for more than one reason) was Veronica Mars (Raymond Chandler filtered through Buffy the Vampire Slayer). And the less said about the WB network's version of Tarzan (where Jane was turned into a NYC police detective) the better.
Just because a character is currently popular is no reason to assume it'll always be. Take Nick Carter, and I don't mean the singer; once he was
It's what I'm afraid might happen to super-heroes; the genre will keep changing until the core appeal will evaporate. Lately every time I've read a Marvel comic it's seemed more like a police procedural with powers than the super-hero comics of my youth. So after Civil War I have to wonder; what'll be the next big change to the genre; the elimination of the masks, secret identities and costumes?
Because if they do you won't have super-heroes any more.
You'll have Heroes.
And as for John August, the man who started this whole thing, he doesn't know what he's missing. Me, I geeked out hard to volume one of Marvel's hardcover ($59.99!) collection of USA Comics (the only thing the publisher has to do to make me perfectly happy is follow suit with Mystic and Daring). And I recently spent a happy evening pouring over TwoMorrows Blue Beetle Companion, which opens with an introduction by Tom DeHaven, author of the wonderful novel, It's Superman! (though equally good but lesser known is DeHaven's SF novel, Joe Gosh, which puts a 30s screwball comedy spin on the material). And I fancy myself something of an expert on comics history, but did any of you know in the 40s, a French publisher appropriated The Blue Beetle, recolored his suit red and dubbed him 'The Steel Phantom'?
*Hmm, could this be what's really behind Marvel's Super-Hero Registration Act? A concerted effort to make Marvel heroes more realistic (well, more realistic than DC's anyway) by completely shattering the anachronistic mold of the vigilante crime fighter -- and becoming more like the television heroes millions of Americans watch?
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
