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By Jason Bourgeois
Every so often I like to talk about something that isn't strictly a comicbook, and we are long past due. Anyone who's talked with me long enough will eventually stumble onto the subject of comic related movies and TV shows, and my rather vocal opinions on the subjects. Recently, Marvel announced plans to push forward more live action television projects, and I can not be happier. Well, I can, but we'll get to that.
While I may love the movies, I'm also a little sick of them at the same time. I'll still gladly go see them, throw my money at the screen, and love each and every one in its own way, but there's something I just find a little tiring about them.
We always start with the origin movie. You need an origin. You gotta tell your introductory storyline to explain everything, right? Then we get another movie if the first one does well, and they've ironed out the kinks, got better effects, and can tell a unique story now that the origin bull has been done. And invariably the third movie hits, and it's often not as good. Which is being kind in some cases.
There is rarely a fourth movie.
Many reasons for this exist. One is that the quality has gone down, the fans have stopped caring, and the property is put away for awhile. Another factor is that these three movies have taken five to ten years to make, and the guy playing the high school teen now has kids and a midlife crisis. At the best, we'll get a new cast.
The worst case scenario is the property gets shelved for a few years, probably longer than the time it took for those three movies to come out, and we get the dreaded reboot.
What happens with the reboot? We start all over with a fresh cast, and the origin story ALL OVER AGAIN. But told differently enough to not be a total rehash. But it may as well be, since the details can't be changed too much.
This is, to me, so very frustrating. I hate waiting two or three years between showings, to then see what is, at most, two hours and change of new adventures. Quite frankly, that is not how comicbook stories are supposed to be told, and it drives me up the wall. We get three really good stories over the course of some years, and then it all gets scrubbed clean? I hate it!
I would much rather have a weekly series on TV that I can look forward to in a timely fashion, enjoy for a few years, many episodes and hours, and some day it goes away. THAT would be a comicbook adaptation. Even if it just ran one season, that's 22 episodes, that's 11 movies. I will take that any day.
With the one obvious caveat; quality must be good.
That is the main stumbling block, isn't it? If you've seen the 70s Spider-Man live action show, you know exactly what I mean. The cheese smelled so bad you could scare away skunks. And yet, having all that to watch, to look forward to, at the time it must have seemed like heaven to have that weekly appointment to sit down and enjoy Spidey. Much like the monthly (Or thrice monthly these days) appointment to get your Spider-Man comics.
I really feel that in this day and age, we have reached a point where television adaptations are becoming increasingly viable with every passing day. I think they've been within the realm of possibility for some time now, but we kept getting small budget, independent, syndicated shows like Night Man or Mutant X. They were valiant efforts, but they never quite clicked. Mutant X did the better job, but since it had nothing to with the comics, and the writing was a little weak, it never quite took off for me.
But now, we're in the modern age, computers in our homes can do effects better than anything available as an entire rack of servers, and we get things like Heroes. Say what you will about the writing, but I was thrilled to have a true, comic book style show on TV for so long. It proved that from a look, feel, and quality standpoint that a superhero show can work. The actual writing left something to be desired, but Heroes was a watershed moment, and a proof of concept.
ABC's No Ordinary Family has picked up that torch and run with it, thankfully. They're playing things with less of a huge mythology, and less with the comicbook tropes, choosing instead to play up the family drama angle, and that's just fine. Family is playing for a wider audience, and trying to be less episodic. It has tidbits running through in the background, but you can easily pick up an episode and enjoy it, as well as follow what's going on, which isn't something you could always say about Heroes. The other bonus is seeing the Powells actually helping people and stopping crimes. Heroes often got so wrapped up in their own story and fighting themselves, they forgot what heroes are supposed to do.
Now with Marvel throwing its hat in the ring, and presumably the help of parent company Disney at their backs, we might finally get what I have always, truly wanted in a live action medium; a true comicbook adaptation that I can come to regularly. This actually worked out quite well for Marvel before, with a little show called Incredible Hulk. It was a bit different from the comics - ok a lot different at times - but it got the core of things right, and was enjoyable enough for the time.
Unfortunately, the first thing Marvel announced they were developing? Yes, the Incredible Hulk. Even on television, we can't escape the reboots, can we? I'm sure it will be good, but I wish we could get someone and something different that hasn't already been done half a dozen times before on tv, on the big screen, and in animation. So I love the announcement, but I could be happier.
Now, that tease of a Cloak & Dagger series? Now that's cool. That has potential. More ideas like that please. More television shows in general. I'm tired of waiting for three movies than then get rebooted!
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