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Recently some folks have been abuzz due to the release of the graphic novel Superman: Earth One. Interestingly enough, the buzz isn't so much about how good the graphic novel is, but more how it's been commented on. The word "Twilight" has been uttered by many in regards to it. That is, that it is a reimagining of Superman for the base of fans that are into Twilight. Now, I will openly admit when I heard the word used in regards to Superman I also cringed, and I do not read any Superman titles. The question that was raised by a few critically thinking people were, "Wait, did someone at DC actually say this, or is this how the media is describing it?" The answer is "Yes."
You see, Dan Didio has made the comment, the problem is trying to figure out if he said it first or if the media did. You see, once the media makes a statement sometimes people find it easier to latch on to the more simplistic words or ideas the media uses. If you don't believe me then just think of the phrase "road rage" or media combining the names of celebrity couples into one word. We're a speedy culture and we just don't have time to think. We simply can't be inconvenienced to try and understand the concept of Intermittent Explosive Disorder or to say two different names. If you aren't getting it yet I'm saying the media thinks we're stupid as a whole. But that's a different rant. So, let's back up.
So, the word "Twilight" has been used in reference to a current take on Superman in his early years. It's a self-contained story that is not part of the mainstream DC Universe. Regardless of who made the Twilight connection first, it's been thrown out there, and people are rabid. For me, this touches on a concept I have touched on a few times in my articles, and which I will now touch on again, and that is wondering how comics will continue to survive into the future. They are MUCH more expensive than they were when I was younger and while the prices have increased a bit, they seem to be leveling out. Still, prices definitely seem higher than when I was young, and we can't have our printing done in China . . . yet. So, expect costs to continue to go up as time goes on. Of course, the cost is only part of the problem in having new blood entering the hobby of collecting comic books.
The other factor in bringing in new readers is one of interest. Over the years we've had the Justice League and Batman cartoons for DC and a variety of Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons and the new Avengers cartoons for Marvel (we shall not speak of the other Avengers cartoon from a while back). These cartoons worked to get youth interested, but the cartoons are always a difficult concept as they're also sometimes written for the more adult fans. It's not an impossible balance to find, but it does take a lot of work.
Now add to that the fact that Hollywood has finally embraced comic properties with an open wallet since they are out of ideas. This puts us (the everyday readers) at a very difficult place. Comic-Con is now selling out and it's cool to be a "geek". All the things that were off the beaten path as niche areas of interest are becoming mainstream fodder for movies and TV. Warner Brothers has money to make via DC and Disney has money to make via Marvel. They have the pockets to push these new properties (characters to us) into a new world, and they expect their money back.
Comic book based movies have always been a struggle. My personal belief is that the first two Blade movies have done it the best. However, they were able to do it because Blade was (and let's face it, still is) a B-list character. They were able to tweak the character in multiple ways in order to make him interesting, and as nobody was likely to complain that Blade should have been more of just a semi-immortal black man that was good with edged weapons . . . the tweaks would go over fine. Since then we've been hit and miss. Spider-Man movies? Good, but lost their way. Fantastic Four? Superhero family movie made for families. Daredevil? Tried to make it too much for fans, and even they missed the point. The new Batman movies? Wonderful. But, you see that in the success of the current Batman movies you see how things have to change for the big screen. The suit was drastically altered. Seriously, be honest and you'll admit that it was. As was the Batmobile. Yet, we accepted it. Why? Because it was just a good movie. The same goes for the first Iron Man movie. The second wavered.
The way I see it, we're now dealing with the blend. But it's going to change even more than we originally thought. Many of us have focused on the characters in the actual comics, and others have focused more on the movie or TV versions. While there are few of us who can appreciate the characters and concepts across both mediums, we tend to be closer to one than the other. We're now faced with the middle-ground, and that is a comic that carries with it influence from mainstream pop culture, as opposed to the other way around. The first major outing is Superman: Earth One. For better or worse we will likely see more of this.
Creating a comic that tried to gain the attention of a younger or more female audience is nothing new. Marvel tried it with their "Tsunami" idea and that failed horribly. Runaways was a hit but quickly dropped the "Tsunami" connection. DC is now trying their hand at it with at least this graphic novel. It simply may be the way of things to come, and while there is a part of me that gets an annoying twitch when I hear the word "Twilight" in a description of a story including Superman, I see that in the long run it is probably better if I just take a deep breath and let it go. It is not the man series, it is not a relaunch. It is its own stand alone story on an alternate Earth.
This is probably the way of things to come folks. We will have our regular comics, we will have our movie and TV re-imaginings of our characters (and stories). We may be able to work with both, we may only like one. Still, this possible new hybrid of other pop culture influences bleeding into the comic's medium may create a whole new problem. But, if it's something that brings in a few new readers and more money to the companies so that the old "true" comics can continue, then I think we'll all win out in the long run. While the word "twilight" now is synonymous with an intellectual property that everyday comic readers seem to dislike, perhaps it's more close to the actual definition of the word. It could be the time before the sun sets, or the time before it rises. I'll hope that in this case we're speaking of a twilight before the sun rises on a new and more successful time in the world of comics.
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