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Comicscape - November 16, 2005

"Best of" lists have become so common in the last few years as to render themselves meaningless. Christ, when VH-1 has a countdown special called THE 40 LEAST METAL MOMENTS, you know pop culture has gone too far. However, TIME's inclusion of WATCHMEN stands as a landmark in the comic book's struggle for recognition as a serious art form. For years, the industry has fought the perception that only children (and immature adults) read comics. We realize the absurdity of such a claim, as comic readers run the gambit from poor to rich and uneducated to doctors of philosophy. Comic readers should feel insulted when someone degrades the medium a remark akin to calling all rock music trash just because of Korn and Slipknot.

However, the industry long enabled this perception by producing works aimed at children or "adult" works so base as to be only fit for those with the minds of children. I know that my position here will cause controversy, but bear with me and feel free to send me your thoughts for next week at kurtamacker@yahoo.com or comicscape@cinescape.com. I realized a while back that I couldn't read most comics older than the early 1970's the Bronze Age. While in theory I want to read the earliest adventures of our most treasured superheroes, I have a hell of a time forcing my way through Golden and Silver Age titles. Frankly, a lot of these comics succeed in concept, but not execution. Batman remains a great idea, but the earliest issues of DETECTIVE COMICS read like second-rate radio dramas. Many older comics simply haven't aged well because they were poorly written, even for their time. Calling them "a product of their time" excuses nothing. "That time" produced some of the most seminal works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror films and novels that hold up even today. In an era that gave us THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, KING KONG, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, we can only blame unfavorable circumstances like financial concerns and poor editing for a body of work that, while influential, probably damaged the public's perception of comic books for the better part of the 20th century.

Seriously, I'm not trying to piss on Bob Kane, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, or Siegel and Shuster or any of those guys. They wrote the folklore of the 20th century and spawned worlds and characters I love. Unfortunately, they did so in an industry that didn't respect its own product as literature. The best stories remain timeless. Hell, I still enjoy a lot of the pulp fiction also "disposable entertainment" from that era. Even as an adult, I still read Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. And yet, comic books didn't really garner attention as serious literature until the 1970s and '80s. While most readers and comics professionals would prefer to lay the blame on the nation's parents and literati, the industry shot itself in the foot by publishing largely childish fantasy stories. Commendably, E.C. Comics adapted several stories by Ray Bradbury and the like before the industry self-censored with the Comics Code and the American News Company dissolved (and let's not forget CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED), but prior to some of the more experimental independent "comix" of the late 1960s and '70s, few comics deserved the label "literature."

In light of this, I credit these early creators with brilliant ideas marred by flawed execution. Many of Marvel's film adaptations have succeeded using essentially the same story (boy gets bitten by spider, gains powers, Uncle dies, etc.) but with superior results. Like it or not, I'd rather watch Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN an entertaining, intelligent work of pop cinema than reread the issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN the film adapts. Compare Alex Ross's version of Superman in KINGDOM COME to the one in the earliest issues of ACTION COMICS people will remember Ross's for its quality, and Simon and Shuster's for its influence. And yet, we shouldn't devalue the efforts of these early creators too harshly many of them worked for substandard wages in deplorable conditions to make ends meet, and their ideas ultimately carried an industry I wouldn't want to live without. We shouldn't round up all the DC ARCHIVES and MARVEL ESSENTIALS and set them ablaze to teach present and future writers the value of comics as literature. We should retain these works for historical value and to understand the evolution of the medium. If one were to examine the median quality of comics from their inception (as periodicals, not cave paintings and tapestries), it's safe to say that comics have improved over time. Give me Frank Miller's YEAR ONE over DETECTIVE COMICS #27 any day, but I'm fking thankful that Bob Kane created Batman.

Herein lies the lesson: the comic industry must take its product seriously as literature if it ever wants to garner the sort of respectability the medium enjoys in Japan. The industry has published 10 hacks for every Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman it's enabled, and we've supported them every Wednesday for years. Most titles simply don't merit your time and money. While the same holds true for both prose novels and movies, neither has the same respectability problem experienced by comics. The industry has a lot of catching up to do before the public regards comic books as more than a geek thing. As Stan Lee (no master scribe himself) says in the documentary COUNTDOWN TO WEDNESDAY, a comic writer should read the greatest novels and plays ever written and take his position seriously. If you write comics or if you aspire to write them, aim high and don't settle for "what if the hot cyborg chick fought the werewolf guy with the gun on his arm?"

Here we go: some of you will doubtless e-mail me and say that comics are meant to entertain, that I should just lighten up (or shut up). While comics should entertain, nowhere does it say that they can't fascinate us as well. It almost goes without saying that most of the greatest works of literature entertain as well as engage the mind and the heart. I realize that superhero comics are action stories, and therefore will be more "fun" than, say, A TALE OF TWO CITIES (you should read that, too), but they can resonate as well. If Alan Moore can write one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, then by God, so can anyone else.

New This Week

By Kurt Amacker

Al was supposed to help me with the listings this week, but instead, he sent me this confusing e-mail about fleeing to Mexico with the kids and something about a donkey. He sends me something like that about every six months, so I can only assume the F.B.I. will want to talk to me again. I just can't figure out what that guy's into.

All Star Superman #1 $2.99
Compared to ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, this book has no place to go but up.

All Star Superman Variant Edition #1 $2.99
Now, it's got to go a little higher.

Batman And The Monster Men #1 (of 6) $2.99
This is the first I've heard of this, but based on the title, it has to rock. I'm going to preemptively give it an "A+".

Batman Journey Into Knight #4 (of 12) $2.50

Birds Of Prey #88 $2.50

Captain Atom Armageddon #2 (of 9) $2.99

Fables #43 (MR) $2.75

Fountain HC (MR) $39.99

Green Arrow #56 $2.50

Hellblazer #214 (MR) $2.75
Counting down to Bradstreet's last issue and a new story arc. I can't wait.

Legion Of Super Heroes Vol 1 Teenage Revolution TP $14.99
This is one of those sleeper books you should start reading immediately. Seriously, it's way better than I expected.

Manhunter #16 $2.50

Powerpuff Girls #68 $2.25
Al always gets two copies one for the bedroom and one for the bathroom!

Robotech Prelude To The Shadow Chronicles #3 (of 5) $3.50

IMAGE

Arthur Suydam Poster Book $38.99

Death Jr TP $14.99
My wife's favorite new series.

Kane Vol 5 Untouchable Rico Costas & Other Stories TP $13.95
Is that Kane like the Undertaker's brother?

Mage Vol 1 The Hero Discovered TP $29.99

Pvp #20 $2.99

Pvp Vol 3 Pvp Rides Again TP $11.99

Saint Germaine Vol 1 Shadows Fall TP $14.99

MARVEL

Astonishing X-Men Vol 2 Dangerous TP $14.99

Books Of Doom #1 (of 6) $2.99
Art looks really nice on this one.

Captain Universe X-23 $2.99

Daredevil Vs Punisher #6 (of 6) $2.99
Dave Lapham's rockin' miniseries. It stumbled a bit a couple of issues ago, but it's been worthwhile overall.

Essential X-factor Vol 1 TP $16.99

Fantastic Four #532 $2.99

Fantastic Four Iron Man Big In Japan #2 (of 4) $3.50
You know who else is big in Japan? Godzilla. Then again, he's big everywhere. Come on he's like 60 stories tall!

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 2nd Ptg Var #1 $2.99
So...many...abbreviations...can't...give...a...crap.

Machine Teen History 101001 Digest TP $7.99

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 $2.99

Marvel Milestones Ultimate Spider-Man X-Men Microman Mantor $3.99

Marvel Monsters From The Files Of Ulysses Bloodstone $3.99

Marvel Must Haves Spider-Man & Black Cat #1-3 $4.99
God, I could write a list of jokes here that would be a column unto itself. I think Marvel should require Kevin Smith to turn in all of his scripts before someone starts drawing the series.

Marvel Select Flip Magazine #6 $3.99

Marvel Tales Flip Magazine #5 $3.99

Mutopia X #5 (of 5) $2.99

Runaways #10 $2.99
Hot Goth chick! Hot Goth chick! Say it with me HOT GOTH CHICK!

Spider-Man Vs The Black Cat Vol 1 TP $14.99

Thing #1 $2.99
Thing 1 and Thing 2...Doctor Suess comes to the Marvel Universe!

Ultimate Spider-Man #86 $2.50

Ultimate X-Men Vol 12 Hard Lessons TP $12.99

Weapon X Days Of Future Now #5 (of 5) $2.99

X-Men #177 $2.50

X-Men Deadly Genesis #1 (of 6) $3.99
In theory, I like that there aren't that many mutants, but I still won't get this. It's like Marvel's created this pocket universe with the Avengers and the X-Men and tends to disregard continuity with everything else.

X-Men Deadly Genesis Quesada Variant #1 (of 6) (PP #690) $3.99
Good art, bad idea.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@cinescape.com.