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Big ups to the music group Aqua for this months title. This
month will have some slight spoilers for a few comics that have
been out awhile, but Ill do my best to be vague and not make
any references that are too specific.
Recently in a literature course, a fellow student was complaining
that most of Shakespeares stories had endings that were
depressing. As the class is debating the positives and negatives
of happy endings vs. more "realistic" endings, my brain is
drawing up examples of various comic stories as well as
Hemingway and Tolstoy. Its moments like this that make you
dread a lifetime of reading comics, when you want more than
anything to discuss the significance of Frank Millers Dark
Knight Returns in comparison with a Batman comic from the
1960s. Since I wouldve been met with stares of disbelief and
mocking laughter, I decided it would be better to hold onto
those thoughts and share them with all of you!
The ending of any story is arguably the most important
component. While a great ending can make up for a lackluster
beginning or middle, rarely can these other elements make up for
an ending that is a letdown. Just look at films such as the Blair
Witch Project or the Sixth Sense. Detached from their ending
sequences the story quality of these films is questionable, and in
fact a great deal of the buzz generated about these sorts of films
revolves around the shock ending. The ending is the creators
last world on the material and should be something that sticks
out in the audiences mind.
While films and novels can exert a great deal of creative effort in
their endings, episodic fiction such as television and comic books
faces a much different dilemma. While the primary goal of
episodic fiction is to entertain the consumer, the need to bring
that consumer back is a close second. This puts severe
limitations on the creators as they cannot introduce too many
permanent changes in the product, and they must also make an
effort to not put the target audience off too much. Producers of
episodic entertainment want happy boys and girls to consume
their material and purchase sponsor products. With limitations
like that, how can you avoid a happy ending?
When examining the "masterpieces" of comic literature
frequently cited examples include Dark Knight Returns,
Kingdom Come, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, Kravens
Last Hunt, Sandman, and numerous others. While these
projects all have endings that are extremely strong, none of them
can truly be construed as happy endings either. While
protagonists may escape unscathed, there is a strong sense of
consequence related with the actions and rarely does a character
walk away from such a story unaffected. By introducing
consequence into these stories it gives them a weight which will
stand out in the readers mind.
The one common thread that these various stories have is that
they are almost all limited series, or rare incidents that occur in
an ongoing monthly title. While it is possible for stories such as
these to hold tremendous weight, could the same hold true if
dark or bittersweet endings occurred every month? Sure the
occasional death and dismemberment enhances a story, but
having it show up every issue? Who needs that sort of
depression?
Despite being meant as an examination of the values of the
Legion of Superheroes, the Legion Lost series was attacked by
some fans for being too dark. While the ending of the series
was bittersweet, if it had been much more negative chances are
DC would be flooded with letters of extreme protest. Go to any
Wildcats board and youll see posts of outrage from fans that
are upset about the recent violent disfigurement of several
characters. Both storylines dealt with the consequences of the
situation in a very intelligent manner but also introduced changes
that would be difficult to make irrelevant. Rest assured that
sooner or later any consequences suffered could be and most
likely will be undone as soon as a new writer takes over the
book.
The Batman titles recently toyed with the event Officer Down, in
which Commissioner Gordon is shot and the Batfamily, as well
as the Gotham PD, try to find the shooter. Despite ripping off a
multi-part episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets, this storyline
introduced some major changes into the Batman books. Will
the changes stick? Theres no telling.
While it is refreshing to see publishers introducing stories such as
the above into regular series, it is also a fairly risky practice.
Stories with lasting impact seem to have a splintering effect on
the fan base, no matter how well written the story. As comic
fans, do we really want stories with consequences or a happy
ending that reiterates the status quo? Sure I want to see Clark
and Lois have a touching moment, but if they never have a
squabble then how do I relate? Well, I guess they were
squabbling for awhile, but it turns out Lois was just under mind
control of some sort. It was pretty scary there for a moment,
but I guess we can all go along being happy boys and girls now.
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