|
By Jason Bourgeois
A bit of a mixed bag this month, but tied together slightly, I think. I've long been wondering just what it is that bugs me about Civil War, besides being Marvel's answer to summer blockbuster movies, making a giant event, lots of action, but light on plot and characterization, but a fun ride, if you don't think too hard about it. I can sometimes get behind things like that, but there was still something about the book bothering me. And another besides, it's not just my usual dislike of Millar. Honestly, this is some of his better work.
So, what is it? What's bothering me? Well, it comes down to the simple reason I read comics, and a reason I think many people read comics.
I read comics to get a little bit of escapism. I look to find sometimes normal people, sometimes not, with extraordinary powers that no mortal outside my door will ever have, at least probably not, in my lifetime, doing amazing things, and enjoying life. Everyone can identify with that joy of flying. Wanting to feel that wind blowing through your hair as you step off the ground, and blast through the sky. I read comics for that joy, that sense of wonder, that comics are so good at conveying. Sure, there's dark times, and I enjoy those too, but you need those, to punctuate the wonder, the amazement. You appreciate those moments more, when you know just how dark it can get. But Civil War is squashing that joy and wonder of the Marvel Universe.
The entire story is pitting friend against friend, as they bring in real world parallels and moral issues, making the Marvel Universe increasingly dark. They seek to make all the heroes government agents, and instead of being able to enjoy Spider-Man swinging between buildings, down through the chasms and canyons between skyscrapers, all superheroics will be boiled down to officially sanctioned patrols, and police action. They're turning the wonder of comics into bureaucracy.
This is why I think Marvel's writers are having such a hard time showing the good points of the pro-registration side of the debate. People don't want to see their superheroes marching in lockstep and taking orders. No, we want to see our heroes fighting the good fight, when and where they can, not when Uncle Sam says so, and the writers don't want to write about that, either.
Only time will tell the ultimate outcome of this, but I'm seeing enough signs that this could be a long term state of affairs, with heroes going after other heroes who refuse to register their identities. I'd rather not watch heroes fighting heroes all the time, and not have a chance to deal with the real problem, the real villains, and not just deal with people who won't sign a piece of paper.
This leads me to something new, something that has so captured that wonder that comics conveyed that first drew me to them, that I just have to share my thoughts on it with people. I've fallen hopelessly for the new fall show on NBC, Heroes.
I wasn't expecting this show to come to much. I'd been hearing about it for awhile, and I know how comic adaptations and comic-like properties usually go. Hollywood folks, so very often, never get comics. They don't get that sense of joy, that fun. They're still tainted by the Biff! Pow! days of the '60s Batman television show. Comics aren't serious, they're goofy!
So, I sat down to watch the premiere of Heroes, curious enough to check it out, but wary enough to not get my hopes up.
The show delivers on every aspect. The acting is quite good for a television show, almost right off the bat, which is often surprising, since many actors take time to really find their characters. But everyone seems fully formed from the first moment they hit the screen. The show is about normal people, discovering they have superhuman abilities. This is a theme explored occasionally in comics, most recently in J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars maxiseries.
Heroes has yet to delve into camp. Everything is handled very realistically, very seriously. This feels like what would happen if one day, real people discovered they could fly, or could heal. The powers may feel familiar, but every one of them is done very well, and shown quite well on television. They've got many ongoing subplots, all interweaving here and there, in very much the same way Chris Claremont has done some of his best work on the '80s X-Men. And most importantly, they have absolutely nailed the cliffhangers of comics. Those moments that hit you on the last page, that make you eagerly await that next issue, or in the case of Heroes, the next episode. After every show ends with "To be continued...", you simply can't wait for the next Monday to come around. Fortunately, it's not a month's wait, like with comics.
They've filled the show with mysteries, layered over each other, as characters slowly cross paths, pulling everyone together bit by bit, leading towards the inevitable team up. There's twists, there's turns, there's fun. This has to be the most faithful homage to comics, without actually adapting a single real comic property I've seen. They've brought that joy and wonder that many comics seem to be lacking these days, and made it a weekly hour long motion picture.
I've long wanted to have a comicbook come to the small screen. Movies are fun, but they're over so quickly. And after a few films, they lay dormant for a few years, and when they come back, the new people feel the need to restart everything from scratch and tell their version of the origins. There are so many stories that can be done with comic-like characters, and if only there was a weekly show that could capture that comicbook feel... And so, my prayers were answered, and Heroes has filled that long-empty hole in my comic-based entertainment. If you're a fan of comics, I highly recommend checking the show out, I suspect that there will be very little disappointment.
Jason M. Bourgeois
|
