Holy Dukes of Hazzard, Batman!
A little background before I get into the meat and potato’s of today’s post….
So I finish up my first entry and submit it to the blog. Ten minutes later Mr. Train runs over to my desk to discuss it with me (although he never mentioned the $2). Apparently he’s decided that I am to be a vessel, because he wants my next post to be about a subject he’s a little embarrassed about…
…comic books.
You see, Mr. Train has taken up reading comic books again after a long break where he decided he didn’t want to be a little pussy anymore. Time passed, and his comic interests are perked again. But now, he’s self conscience about it, and feels that the medium needs to be justified to all of you, so you’ll stop making fun of him.
Doing this is a more daunting task than he realizes. How do you justify a medium? It’s too abstract to really do that. It’s like saying movies are stupid. They’re not, but some genre’s might be. It’s all about finding a genre you like. So I’m going to do this in two parts.
Part 1
Don’t make fun of Mr. Train about comics to his face. He’s sensitive. He doesn’t admit it, but I think he cries himself to sleep at night.
Part 2
Okay, you guys seem to be into film, so I’ll use that as a jumping off point for giving some examples of the two crossing over.
Non-Super Hero Kick-ass movies based on Comic Books: Road To Perdition, History of Violence, From Hell, Sin City, Constantine (okay, that one’s debatable), the Crow, American Splendor.
The big thing lately has been film makers actually branching into the world of comics…some examples.
Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Stephen King, Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats), J Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), Jeph Leob (Commando, Teen Wolf…he actually is a good writer, honest), Damon Lindelhoff (Lost), Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, X-men), the Wachowski brothers (Matrix), Orson Scott Card (Enders Game), Clive Barker (Hellraiser), Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness)…and that’s just off the top of my head.
Bascially, all I can really say to people who don’t like comics is that if you’re willing to give them a chance, you can find something you’ll really like. Maybe superhero’s aren’t your thing, or maybe you just think their funny books. But there are books out there that cover every genre you can imagine. It’s just a matter of finding something in your niche.
So I finish up my first entry and submit it to the blog. Ten minutes later Mr. Train runs over to my desk to discuss it with me (although he never mentioned the $2). Apparently he’s decided that I am to be a vessel, because he wants my next post to be about a subject he’s a little embarrassed about…
…comic books.
You see, Mr. Train has taken up reading comic books again after a long break where he decided he didn’t want to be a little pussy anymore. Time passed, and his comic interests are perked again. But now, he’s self conscience about it, and feels that the medium needs to be justified to all of you, so you’ll stop making fun of him.
Doing this is a more daunting task than he realizes. How do you justify a medium? It’s too abstract to really do that. It’s like saying movies are stupid. They’re not, but some genre’s might be. It’s all about finding a genre you like. So I’m going to do this in two parts.
Part 1
Don’t make fun of Mr. Train about comics to his face. He’s sensitive. He doesn’t admit it, but I think he cries himself to sleep at night.
Part 2
Okay, you guys seem to be into film, so I’ll use that as a jumping off point for giving some examples of the two crossing over.
Non-Super Hero Kick-ass movies based on Comic Books: Road To Perdition, History of Violence, From Hell, Sin City, Constantine (okay, that one’s debatable), the Crow, American Splendor.
The big thing lately has been film makers actually branching into the world of comics…some examples.
Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Stephen King, Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats), J Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), Jeph Leob (Commando, Teen Wolf…he actually is a good writer, honest), Damon Lindelhoff (Lost), Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, X-men), the Wachowski brothers (Matrix), Orson Scott Card (Enders Game), Clive Barker (Hellraiser), Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness)…and that’s just off the top of my head.
Bascially, all I can really say to people who don’t like comics is that if you’re willing to give them a chance, you can find something you’ll really like. Maybe superhero’s aren’t your thing, or maybe you just think their funny books. But there are books out there that cover every genre you can imagine. It’s just a matter of finding something in your niche.
posted by Casey at 12:13 PM
9 Comments:
If what you say is true about Mr. Train embarrassed to discuss comic books with the Lodge than I underestimated his sensitivity level...I think he's going to be bumped up a level to Tammy Faye Baker territory...but seriously, here's my take: have I razzed Mr. Train about comics in the past? you bet I have...because I think comics are stupid? absolutely not...set the way back machine for say 1984, I was on the cusp of becoming a lifelong comics guy following some of the early 80's Star Wars and Batman comics that I enjoyed a lot, because of different interpretation of stories that I knew, (well the Batman I knew was based off Adam West, still scarred from that, but thanks to the Family Guy I'm working through it), but being a kid w/ slight to moderate ADD, I was never able to finish comics and found that when you don't finish a story, you don't get excited for the next part of that story...and so on came easier hobbies that presented far less mental challenge, such as bball cards, lego building(its own post someday) and bike jumping/crashing...moving on...by the time I read one of Neil Gaiman's final Sandman's I realized that I was probable missing out on a really in-depth culturally enriching world of comics/graphic novels and for a moment when I was 17 committed myself to opening the door, but like a lot of things at 17, shit happens...the point is this: the world of comics seemed a little to big for me to get a grip on, if I was going to go, I was going all the way and I just couldn't commit to it then, like I could fighting acne...fast forward a decade-->still someone open to good art and literature and creative story-telling, so please don't think of me as a hater, I merely pray on the weakness of others, big difference
I will try and buck up a little more and take it like a man...
I don't think you're a hater...I just like exposing Train's insecurities... :)
This is why i see a shrink...
I second that...
I third that notion...plus if I want to call Jordan any name...I won't do behind his back...I'll do it to his face. I have read the History of Violence. I'm not a comic book guy but I gave it a read and it was pretty good. I'm not converted but I have considered collecting Baseball cards again...
Let 1st and foremost give a warm Lodge "talking backwards like the Little midget in Twin Peaks" shout out to the MPC for bringin it this week. A big improvement over T.O. Joe
This may be the biggest talent upgrade since they recast Wendy Torrence from Shelly Duvall to Rebecca de Mornay in the Shining remake
Now on to my rant on comic Books. This is geared toward the viscous pile of hurl know as Sin City.
Unlike other cross over genres such as books to Movie. Comic book movies make it so that you have to read the comic to truely understand the movie. If you do not read the comic you dont get alot of the references made in the movie. Sin City was a prime example of this. Train and I sat there at 60% of the audience lauged and went WTF?
The genere does not cross over well. There is nothing wrong with it, but crossing it over to mainstream breeds contempt.
I am anxious for the retort.
Peace to ya'all
Goose...as for Sin City...I sat there tryin' to figure out how everything works out and how it's all connected. I also couldn't get past all the bad acting. What is it with comic book movies that bring out terrible acting. Daredevil for example. Perhaps I'm lookin' at two bad examples but that is another reason why it doesn't cross over...
Train, I'll talk to you about Comic Books if you want. I used to collect them in Junior High, mostly the books with favorite artists, as I was a drawer back then. But yeah, I'll prose picture books.
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