Quick Book Review
Or, how I come down on one side of the big question.
Yes, folks, I think -- I'm almost certain -- I'm picking Marvel over DC.
Hush! Don't judge me!
There are elements on both sides that I like a lot. I love DC's Vertigo imprint, for instance, and I'm still eagerly awaiting Joss' Wonder Woman movie. (Which reminds me, I must see if my moms has a photo of me in my favorite Wonder Woman bathing suit from when I was a kid). Also, bring on Supes! And Batman!
So maybe it's a matter of which recent comics I've grown more attached to lately, which ones are more familiar to me. And that's partly, no doubt, because of their cinematic adaptations. But, well, I finished "Identity Crisis" by Brad Meltzer today (link over there under "Recent Reads"), which is a very well done murder mystery about superheroes. And I was capital L lost half the time, completely confused as to who anyone was. Two Flashes? Father and son Green Arrows? Two Green Lanterns? And what's up with Robin being some kid named "Tim"? Of course I know the biggies, but most of the rest of the time -- and especially because characters referred to each other by their real names, not superhero names -- I was utterly confused.
Don't get me wrong, it's still a powerful story. I guess I just didn't feel as connected to the characters because I didn't know their whole history, just the barest sketches. I did what I could with what I had, but still...
I'm comparing it, perhaps unfairly, with Neil Gaiman's "Marvel 1602," which took all the main Marvel superheroes and put them in Elizabethan Europe. Sure, there were some I didn't get, but for the most part, the story still worked for me, without all that backstory.
The Blatantly Cody said after I finished "Identity Crisis" I'd need to dive into the "Infinite Crisis" storyline, but I think I'm going to hold off for now. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I guess my big fear with comics is that I'm never going to be able to get entirely caught up, unless it's with something brand new, like Astro City or Planetary (and even there, I had to have some references explained to me). I respect the huge backstories, but they worry me.
posted by ktbuffy at 4:37 PM
4 Comments:
It is, probably, an unfair comparison -- Gaiman took the ur-protagonists from the modern Marvel Universe, stripped down to their basics, and plopped them into a non-canonical tale all by themselves.
Meltzer, on the other hand, was trying to create a world-spanning murder mystery that, by its very nature, would have even fans trying to remember trivia from a decade ago.
The best comparison I could think of would be, instead, reading (on the Marvel side) the House of M saga, or something else X-related. Great stuff, if you're into all the details, but hell if you're not.
I go back and forth between DC and Marvel. Currently I'm more leaning DC, just because Marvel got too roccoco in their historicity (especially on the X-side), but there's some great Marvel writers out there (Bendis, Whedon, Straczynski), and ditto on the DC side (Johns, Rucka, Winick, Busiek); there are plenty of fine titles to read in each sphere for both the trivia-obsessed and those not so much.
6/12/2006 5:44 PM
I've read Whedon's X-Men stories, certainly, and it's there that I think my familiarity with the movie world has helped. Although, ok, if I'm being fair, I had to ask just who the heck this "Emma Frost" person was. Soem may not believe it, but I'd never heard of her before reading Whedon's series, despite my own superhero being named Noelle Frost.
6/12/2006 6:16 PM
I frequently get frustrated with what Marvel does to my favorite Marvel heroes, and despite all of the claims that "Things will never be the same," they usually end up being the same.
But I am totally digging this Civil War storyline. And if House of M is any indication, maybe things really will be different when all is said and done.
But on the downside, Spider-Girl, which my daughter and I have been reading together since issue #1, is apparently about to be cancelled.
6/14/2006 2:11 PM
Marvel? I'm such a DC guy, I don't even see how that's an option. But I do have to admit they're bringin' it right with Civil War (which, as others have said, has similar continuity/accessibility issues to Identity Crisis).
6/15/2006 12:10 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home