tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5414785286921467267.post5133765534947890636..comments2024-03-14T04:51:02.804-05:00Comments on the Adventures of Wyatt Earp in 2999: Superhero Theory: An IntroductionJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16490957677766912068noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5414785286921467267.post-51566662551201209742009-03-30T12:43:00.000-05:002009-03-30T12:43:00.000-05:00Hm, not entirely satisfied with my comment. I mean...Hm, not entirely satisfied with my comment. I mean, *everything* can represent anything else, that's not exclusive to "The Laughing Fish".<BR/><BR/>I guess a better way of saying what I got out of what you say about "comic book murder" is that you can have a show like "Monk" that involves homicide but also humor because the murder is only a murder inasmuch as it gets the plot going. Likewise, when the Joker kills people in a comic book story, the murder isn't (or shouldn't be) important in and of itself; it's a consequence of failure for Batman, a Very Bad Crime to be prevented.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16490957677766912068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5414785286921467267.post-19172319802552946092009-03-30T01:43:00.000-05:002009-03-30T01:43:00.000-05:00Glad this struck a sympathetic chord! As much as I...Glad this struck a sympathetic chord! As much as I contend that the best superhero comics embody these sort of representational conflicts, the primal *spark* of it all is engaging design. The best superhero costumes, I contend, can be reasonably drawn by a five-year-old in crayon. Spider-Man's costume is actually quite complex and difficult even for comic artists to draw well sometimes, but it's rare that even a child's extremely simplified drawing won't inescapably register as Spidey.<BR/><BR/>So I read the "Ten Basic Superhero Plots" post and ... well, I always take the wrong thing away from these things, kind of a forest-for-the-trees thing; the main thrust of the post was engaging, but what I *really* appreciated was the digression about rape in superhero comics. It's something I was probably going to get around to at some point, but now I don't really feel there's any need, as you've summed up how I feel about the subject whenever it comes up in a superheroic milieu -- uncomfortably incongruous at best, reprehensibly exploitative at worst. <BR/><BR/>The bit about "comic book murder" not actually signifying "real murder" is spot on, I think. "The Laughing Fish" isn't about the brutal slayings of a handful of patent clerks by a homicidal maniac in clown makeup, it's about safety threatened by senselessness, about bad things happening for *no good reason*.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16490957677766912068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5414785286921467267.post-36865465550146593832009-03-28T19:36:00.000-05:002009-03-28T19:36:00.000-05:00Totally agree about "liked them as a child", and w...Totally agree about "liked them as a child", and what I like to think of as the design element being more important that all the dotted "i"s and crossed "t"s of "what this character's about"...the character's about what the character <I>looks</I> like, f'r heaven's sake! It's a visual medium, damn it! And no kid picks up a copy of Spider-Man (or in my case, Marvel Team-Up #23 -- Human Torch vs. Iceman!) because they just know they're going to relate to Peter Parker once they read it, they pick it up because it's florid and it's crazy and it's <I>rad</I>.<BR/><BR/>Yes!!<BR/><BR/>Anyway, thanks for the kind words about Crisis On Infinite Roys...I did another little thing sort of in the same ballpark, which I offer <A HREF="http://circumstantial.blogspot.com/2006/12/anxiety-secret-identity-and-ten-basic.html" REL="nofollow">here</A> even though I guess it makes me look kinda egotistical...but I liked doing that one just as much, so what the hell.<BR/><BR/>Looking forward to more of these!plokhttp://circumstantial.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com