MattBrady
04-22-2003, 09:39 AM
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<center>A THOUSAND FLOWERS</center><center>Comics, Pop Culture, and the World Outside</center><center>Installment 16</center><center>by Stuart Moore</center>
Forty Years
1. Able to Leap
The beginning: 1938. Action Comics #1. “I know I haven’t had any experience, sir, but still I think I’d make a good reporter.” A crusader: fights for the little guy in costume and out. “What manner of being are you?” “Save the questions.” Straight outta Cleveland: two young kids and a dream. Born of the Depression, fired by the anger of the little guy in a rapidly-industrializing world. Protecting miners from the rich bosses who endanger their lives. Destroying slums so the city will have to rebuild them. An inspiration.
Public consciousness: radio shows & animation in the ‘40s. The glorious Fleischer cartoons, masterpieces of design and movement, made at great cost. Movie serials 1948, 1950. Atom Man. George Reeves. The TV show: crucial. 1953-1958. Everyone knows him now. More cartoons keep him out there, throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. Filmation. Super Friends.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/flowers/supesspideypanel.jpg" width="207" height="176" align="left">He’s the establishment now, the postwar defender of the American way. His priorities have shifted; he plays by the rules, obeys the law. And America likes him that way.
The big movie: 1978. Forty years from his creation. General Zod. Margot Kidder. Make time run backwards. Can you read my mind?
2. One More Guy for the Dance
The beginning: 1962. Amazing Fantasy #15. “Mommy! Look at the man walking up the side of a building!” A normal high-school kid -- but he calls himself a man. “That masked character may be just what I’ve been looking for.” The Vulture. J. Jonah Jameson. Doctor Octopus. Driven by guilt, he becomes a quipster. The modern teen, adrift in a postwar world. Don’t want to be like your parents, like all those villains. (Ever notice how all his early villains are older than him?) But it’s tough.
Public consciousness: cartoons in the late ‘60s. Repetitive animation -- the same shots, swinging on the webbing, over and over and over again. Great theme song, though. Ghastly live-action show in the ‘70s, but somehow everybody remembers it. Blue-and-red flashing spider-sense, Jameson on a go-cart. More cartoons in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Firestar, Iceman. Iceman?
Parker’s not in high school anymore -- he’s grown up. But he’s still got problems. No money, the identity thing. And the guilt, always the guilt. We can still relate.
The big movie: 2002. Forty years exactly. Tobey and Kirsten. Just like the man from Krypton, everybody knows him now. And it took this long, this many cartoons and TV shows and hundreds and hundreds of comics.
Is it the same for all of them?
3. Winged Figure of Vengeance
The beginning: 1939. Detective Comics #27. “A very lovely fairy-tale, Commissioner, indeed.” Rich man not satisfied with his wealth: driven, spurred on by the deaths of his parents, to rid the world of evil. “Leaves Joker in Front of Police Station, Drives Away.” Bob Kane like the Bruce Wayne of the comics world: my boy, my boy, just trust me…Bill Finger like Alfred behind the scenes. All the dark pulp heroes distilled into one, obsessed night-prowler…wanted by the police, ruthless and uncompromising. What we’d all want to be if we were filthy rich and a little touched.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/flowers/batmanserial.jpg" width="295" height="289" align="right">Public consciousness: Robin softens the character’s edge…serials in the ’40s. No action to speak of in the ’50s, but the comic chugged on. Arguably the comic’s weakest period…did that inhibit outside licensing? Probably not. Clark Kent’s ’50s comics stories weren’t too exciting, either. More likely the serials weren’t regarded well…
Then BAM! POW! the late ’60s TV show and he’s a phenomenon. Short-lived, but that’s television (and high camp) for you. Cartoons in the ‘60s and ’70s…they even dredge up Bat-Mite for the requisite “cute” quotient of ‘70s Saturday AM fare.
The late ’80s…Dark Knight Returns, that rare animal: a comic book that breaks out completely into the mass media. Now he’s more extreme than ever, an icon for the hip-hop scene. Kids shave the backs of their heads into bat-symbols. It’s bubbling up. It’s all out there.
The big movie: 1989. Michael Keaton -- odd casting, but he’s fun, and Jack Nicholson is perfect. More important, the film synthesizes the different forms of the character -- it’s played straight, but there’s a sly humor, a direct link to Adam West and the bat-poles. It took fifty years, this time. Why? Look back to the fifties. Somehow he lost a decade there, playing around with giant pennies in his cave. But once the TV show hit, the cycle picked right up again.
4. For a Hamburger Today
The beginning: Back, before any of the others: 1928. Thimble Theatre and Castor Oyl. “Hey there! Are you a sailor?” “’Ja think I’m a cowboy?” Tough as nails, a proletarian hero made for the lawless world of the Depression to come. The Whiffle Hen. Wimpy. “Avast there, ya swab! I’M takin’ Olive Oyl!”
Public consciousness: Cartoons, cartoons, cartoons -- a constant string, from 1933 through the ‘60s, and more variations in the ‘70s. A tough guy (literally) to handle in live-action, especially pre-CGI. But he was always out there.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/flowers/popeyefilm.jpg" width="350" height="240" align="left">The big movie: 1980. Fifty-two years this time, and it wasn’t a big success -- in fact, it might have killed the property. By the time I published a book of daily strips by underground comics auteur Bobby London in 1988, the strip appeared in fewer than a dozen U.S. papers. (It ran in New York, but only in Spanish.) Why?
Somewhere, the old sailor lost his appeal -- he became a dated icon, like his contemporary Betty Boop, rather than a perennial. Maybe a dirty, uncouth, rough man of the sea just doesn’t speak to the 21st century. And, after all, he only yam what he yam.
5. The Human Race Is Not Yet Ready
The beginning: 1963, two years into Marvel’s revitalization. Can’t call it The Mutants -- people won’t understand that word. “The moment is at hand.” Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, Marvel Girl. The first of many. Unlike the other comics, this isn’t about one man. It’s a meditation on an idea -- the oppressed, the victims of prejudice, the secretly superior. “Remember, we are homo superior! We are born to rule the earth!”
Public consciousness: Very little for more than ten years, while the book limps along, bi-monthly. At first it seems like the one-too-many for Stan & Jack to fit into their schedule. Then musical creative teams. It always has its fans, like that weird alt-rock band that’s never going to crack the charts. Reduced to reprints 1970; various interesting guest appearances, a Beast spinoff, and repeated rumors of resurrection.
Then 1975: Revival, with an international cast. Len Wein (briefly), Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and (later) John Byrne make it the hottest title in comics. The core concept hasn’t changed, but this time it clicks -- partly because of the creative team and partly because of the zeitgeist. Comics tend to be a little behind the mainstream in reflecting social issues; by the mid-’70s, this issue had filtered down enough to strike a chord in the audience. (But don’t discount the creative team. They were young, talented, and enthusiastic, and they pulled out all the stops.)
Through the ‘80s, comics became a pop culture phenomenon -- and Professor X led the pack. High-rated cartoon show in the ‘90s, which reflected the complexity of the comic’s plot threads. An entire generation learned about the Phoenix Force, the Imperial Guard, and Apocalypse without ever having to read a comic book.
The big movie: 2000. Thirty-seven years -- but a different pattern. A very slow start, but once the book hit, it picked up speed fast. As with the caped crusader, a growing public awareness of comics and closer ties with Hollywood pushed the mutants along, faster and faster, inexorably to stardom.
6. Forty years?
It’s an average, a round number that happens to apply, exactly, to the flagship characters of both major comics companies. They’re created, they bubble up, and eventually they get to a point where the average pop-culture-oriented person knows them. If they survive that long, they’re ready for the big screen. If the movie’s any good, they’ll live on. (How many versions of the Batman animated series have we seen since 1989?)
If not, well…comics are cheap to produce. The characters can bide their time there, month after month, till their big shot comes. A comfort to the Fantastic Four…
**
Because I haven’t run a bio for a while: Stuart Moore has been a writer, a comics editor for Vertigo and Marvel Knights, a kitchen worker, a book editor, and the nighttime manager of the Lawrenceville, NJ Woolworth's curtain department. He has won the Will Eisner award for Best Editor 1996 and the Don Thompson Award for Favorite Editor 1999. Sadly, there’s no going back to Woolworth’s…but that hasn’t been a problem yet, because of…
My current comics work: May 3rd is Free Comic Book Day, and the fine people at Dark Horse are giving away a great-looking book called ROCKET COMICS: IGNITE, which features a special 10-page stand-alone preview story of LONE, my entry into the new Rocket Comics line, along with two other great stories. More information at <a href="http://www.rocketcomics.net" target="_blank">http://www.rocketcomics.net</a> and <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000094" target="_blank">http://www.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000094</a> . Also: The beautiful trade paperback collection of ZENDRA: HEART OF FIRE, my epic science fiction series from Penny-Farthing Press, is out now; ask for it by name! And coming soon: announcements about projects from three other companies -- keep an eye on my message board at <a href="http://www.joequesada.com." target="_blank">http://www.joequesada.com.</a> See you in 14 days…or forty years…
<center>A THOUSAND FLOWERS</center><center>Comics, Pop Culture, and the World Outside</center><center>Installment 16</center><center>by Stuart Moore</center>
Forty Years
1. Able to Leap
The beginning: 1938. Action Comics #1. “I know I haven’t had any experience, sir, but still I think I’d make a good reporter.” A crusader: fights for the little guy in costume and out. “What manner of being are you?” “Save the questions.” Straight outta Cleveland: two young kids and a dream. Born of the Depression, fired by the anger of the little guy in a rapidly-industrializing world. Protecting miners from the rich bosses who endanger their lives. Destroying slums so the city will have to rebuild them. An inspiration.
Public consciousness: radio shows & animation in the ‘40s. The glorious Fleischer cartoons, masterpieces of design and movement, made at great cost. Movie serials 1948, 1950. Atom Man. George Reeves. The TV show: crucial. 1953-1958. Everyone knows him now. More cartoons keep him out there, throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. Filmation. Super Friends.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/flowers/supesspideypanel.jpg" width="207" height="176" align="left">He’s the establishment now, the postwar defender of the American way. His priorities have shifted; he plays by the rules, obeys the law. And America likes him that way.
The big movie: 1978. Forty years from his creation. General Zod. Margot Kidder. Make time run backwards. Can you read my mind?
2. One More Guy for the Dance
The beginning: 1962. Amazing Fantasy #15. “Mommy! Look at the man walking up the side of a building!” A normal high-school kid -- but he calls himself a man. “That masked character may be just what I’ve been looking for.” The Vulture. J. Jonah Jameson. Doctor Octopus. Driven by guilt, he becomes a quipster. The modern teen, adrift in a postwar world. Don’t want to be like your parents, like all those villains. (Ever notice how all his early villains are older than him?) But it’s tough.
Public consciousness: cartoons in the late ‘60s. Repetitive animation -- the same shots, swinging on the webbing, over and over and over again. Great theme song, though. Ghastly live-action show in the ‘70s, but somehow everybody remembers it. Blue-and-red flashing spider-sense, Jameson on a go-cart. More cartoons in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Firestar, Iceman. Iceman?
Parker’s not in high school anymore -- he’s grown up. But he’s still got problems. No money, the identity thing. And the guilt, always the guilt. We can still relate.
The big movie: 2002. Forty years exactly. Tobey and Kirsten. Just like the man from Krypton, everybody knows him now. And it took this long, this many cartoons and TV shows and hundreds and hundreds of comics.
Is it the same for all of them?
3. Winged Figure of Vengeance
The beginning: 1939. Detective Comics #27. “A very lovely fairy-tale, Commissioner, indeed.” Rich man not satisfied with his wealth: driven, spurred on by the deaths of his parents, to rid the world of evil. “Leaves Joker in Front of Police Station, Drives Away.” Bob Kane like the Bruce Wayne of the comics world: my boy, my boy, just trust me…Bill Finger like Alfred behind the scenes. All the dark pulp heroes distilled into one, obsessed night-prowler…wanted by the police, ruthless and uncompromising. What we’d all want to be if we were filthy rich and a little touched.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/flowers/batmanserial.jpg" width="295" height="289" align="right">Public consciousness: Robin softens the character’s edge…serials in the ’40s. No action to speak of in the ’50s, but the comic chugged on. Arguably the comic’s weakest period…did that inhibit outside licensing? Probably not. Clark Kent’s ’50s comics stories weren’t too exciting, either. More likely the serials weren’t regarded well…
Then BAM! POW! the late ’60s TV show and he’s a phenomenon. Short-lived, but that’s television (and high camp) for you. Cartoons in the ‘60s and ’70s…they even dredge up Bat-Mite for the requisite “cute” quotient of ‘70s Saturday AM fare.
The late ’80s…Dark Knight Returns, that rare animal: a comic book that breaks out completely into the mass media. Now he’s more extreme than ever, an icon for the hip-hop scene. Kids shave the backs of their heads into bat-symbols. It’s bubbling up. It’s all out there.
The big movie: 1989. Michael Keaton -- odd casting, but he’s fun, and Jack Nicholson is perfect. More important, the film synthesizes the different forms of the character -- it’s played straight, but there’s a sly humor, a direct link to Adam West and the bat-poles. It took fifty years, this time. Why? Look back to the fifties. Somehow he lost a decade there, playing around with giant pennies in his cave. But once the TV show hit, the cycle picked right up again.
4. For a Hamburger Today
The beginning: Back, before any of the others: 1928. Thimble Theatre and Castor Oyl. “Hey there! Are you a sailor?” “’Ja think I’m a cowboy?” Tough as nails, a proletarian hero made for the lawless world of the Depression to come. The Whiffle Hen. Wimpy. “Avast there, ya swab! I’M takin’ Olive Oyl!”
Public consciousness: Cartoons, cartoons, cartoons -- a constant string, from 1933 through the ‘60s, and more variations in the ‘70s. A tough guy (literally) to handle in live-action, especially pre-CGI. But he was always out there.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/flowers/popeyefilm.jpg" width="350" height="240" align="left">The big movie: 1980. Fifty-two years this time, and it wasn’t a big success -- in fact, it might have killed the property. By the time I published a book of daily strips by underground comics auteur Bobby London in 1988, the strip appeared in fewer than a dozen U.S. papers. (It ran in New York, but only in Spanish.) Why?
Somewhere, the old sailor lost his appeal -- he became a dated icon, like his contemporary Betty Boop, rather than a perennial. Maybe a dirty, uncouth, rough man of the sea just doesn’t speak to the 21st century. And, after all, he only yam what he yam.
5. The Human Race Is Not Yet Ready
The beginning: 1963, two years into Marvel’s revitalization. Can’t call it The Mutants -- people won’t understand that word. “The moment is at hand.” Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, Marvel Girl. The first of many. Unlike the other comics, this isn’t about one man. It’s a meditation on an idea -- the oppressed, the victims of prejudice, the secretly superior. “Remember, we are homo superior! We are born to rule the earth!”
Public consciousness: Very little for more than ten years, while the book limps along, bi-monthly. At first it seems like the one-too-many for Stan & Jack to fit into their schedule. Then musical creative teams. It always has its fans, like that weird alt-rock band that’s never going to crack the charts. Reduced to reprints 1970; various interesting guest appearances, a Beast spinoff, and repeated rumors of resurrection.
Then 1975: Revival, with an international cast. Len Wein (briefly), Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and (later) John Byrne make it the hottest title in comics. The core concept hasn’t changed, but this time it clicks -- partly because of the creative team and partly because of the zeitgeist. Comics tend to be a little behind the mainstream in reflecting social issues; by the mid-’70s, this issue had filtered down enough to strike a chord in the audience. (But don’t discount the creative team. They were young, talented, and enthusiastic, and they pulled out all the stops.)
Through the ‘80s, comics became a pop culture phenomenon -- and Professor X led the pack. High-rated cartoon show in the ‘90s, which reflected the complexity of the comic’s plot threads. An entire generation learned about the Phoenix Force, the Imperial Guard, and Apocalypse without ever having to read a comic book.
The big movie: 2000. Thirty-seven years -- but a different pattern. A very slow start, but once the book hit, it picked up speed fast. As with the caped crusader, a growing public awareness of comics and closer ties with Hollywood pushed the mutants along, faster and faster, inexorably to stardom.
6. Forty years?
It’s an average, a round number that happens to apply, exactly, to the flagship characters of both major comics companies. They’re created, they bubble up, and eventually they get to a point where the average pop-culture-oriented person knows them. If they survive that long, they’re ready for the big screen. If the movie’s any good, they’ll live on. (How many versions of the Batman animated series have we seen since 1989?)
If not, well…comics are cheap to produce. The characters can bide their time there, month after month, till their big shot comes. A comfort to the Fantastic Four…
**
Because I haven’t run a bio for a while: Stuart Moore has been a writer, a comics editor for Vertigo and Marvel Knights, a kitchen worker, a book editor, and the nighttime manager of the Lawrenceville, NJ Woolworth's curtain department. He has won the Will Eisner award for Best Editor 1996 and the Don Thompson Award for Favorite Editor 1999. Sadly, there’s no going back to Woolworth’s…but that hasn’t been a problem yet, because of…
My current comics work: May 3rd is Free Comic Book Day, and the fine people at Dark Horse are giving away a great-looking book called ROCKET COMICS: IGNITE, which features a special 10-page stand-alone preview story of LONE, my entry into the new Rocket Comics line, along with two other great stories. More information at <a href="http://www.rocketcomics.net" target="_blank">http://www.rocketcomics.net</a> and <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000094" target="_blank">http://www.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000094</a> . Also: The beautiful trade paperback collection of ZENDRA: HEART OF FIRE, my epic science fiction series from Penny-Farthing Press, is out now; ask for it by name! And coming soon: announcements about projects from three other companies -- keep an eye on my message board at <a href="http://www.joequesada.com." target="_blank">http://www.joequesada.com.</a> See you in 14 days…or forty years…