Comments on: ’tisn’t easy bein’ green, tee tee tee tee tee

By: James Woodward

James Woodward — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:34:13 +0000

I thought that was a great segue from the wonderful leprechaun trap story to why you can’t let your kids read mainstream comics anymore. In the context of your post, in a way, this had everything to do with comics. I remember a while back I was in my LCS, and a woman came in with her son, who was maybe 10, and asked where the comics for children were kept. And the store owner pointed out the spinner racks that housed the DC Kids & Marvel Adventures for them. I remarked how strange it was now, where you have one small “safe” section, and the owner didn’t really get my point: comics used to be mostly kid friendly, and now they were almost completely non kid-friendly, and you housed the kid-safe comics in the same way you used to house your adults-only comics: in one small ghetto of the store. Useless Anecdote #2: A while back, I was visiting some friends of mine in Jersey, who have a 5 year old son. They live about 15 minutes from Kevin Smith’s comic store, which I wanted to check out. I didn’t want to bring comics into the house without buying something for little Colin, but damned if I couldn’t find a single thing there that I really felt comfortable giving to someone else’s kid.
As for Bond: I think all the Connery is cool, besides Diamonds Are Forever, like other comments have mentioned. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service would probably be the best Bond if Connery were in it, but I think there’s not so much a greater level of violence as there is an intensity to it, like they’re playing for keeps, that might be too much for younger viewers. The Roger Moores are if anything more cartoony, but avoid A View To a Kill, just cause it’s crap. I’m one of the rare folks who was OK with Timothy Dalton, & I really liked The Living Daylights and can’t remember anything objectionable, but stay away from License to Kill. I think that’s where the violence got more real and bloody, & that carried on to the Brosnans & particularly the current series, which of course should be avoided.

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By: Nate Horn

Nate Horn — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:05:12 +0000

I could be all wet, but I always thought this is what Dirk meant when he coined the phrase “superhero decadence.” Green Arrow was created to be a guy with goofy arrows. Denny O’Neil & Neal Adams and Mike Grell told “mature” stories with him, but Grell took him out of the mainline superhero universe (I think) and O’Neil & Adams mostly took him out (I think). Plus, all 3 of those guys had the talent to tell good stories where the sex and violence weren’t gratuitous. Nowadays, we get Green Arrow and Green Lantern discussing which superheroines they’ve slept with and Green Arrow running around killing people and to what end? The sex and violence is just gratuitous at this point and are the comics continue to sell worse than during the O’Neil/ Adams and Grell eras.

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By: Michael Aronson

Michael Aronson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:02:51 +0000

“I wonder if things can’t help but be lifeless on these big books / properties when everything is rendered via writer’s summits and retreats.

“I think it was soandso who shouted out ‘what if event x happened?’ and then we were all like, ‘whoa.’””

See 52. From what the writers related, their gatherings went exactly like that, and I don’t think anyone would say 52 was lifeless.

Although I don’t think there was a strong editorial interference in that series. I mean, the writers themselves chose to move away from what editorial originally stated the series would be about (the missing year).

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By: Rudi

Rudi — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:14:41 +0000

Wow, lots of points on this post. Let’s see here:

Abhay has a great read on Bond films. I’m a Bond fan myself and I’d second that all but Diamonds on the Connerys should be watchable for younger viewers, all of the Moores should be good too. Society did in fact take a weird turn in the late 80s where gratuitous violence became far more acceptable. Brosnan’s films are definitely a mixed bag and World is not Enough is the worst of the bunch. Goldeneye is excellent but too violent and sexy for young eyes – Michelle Yeoh makes Tomorrow worth watching.

Editorially driven comics, for the most part, suck. Its an assembly-line mentality thats finally made its way to our little corner in the media kingdom. Most of my faves have been things like Power Girl, Fantastic Four, The Dark Tower, Criminal – things that get left alone. The few times a “line-wide” story has worked for me (Batman RIP, Final Crisis, Blackest Night) its been spearheaded by a writer who did the heavy-lifting themselves.

On violence – if its well done I don’t have an issue with it. But its better suited for some properties and ill suited for others. I don’t mind a violent Batman story but I have zero interest in a dark Superman or Justice League tale. And it better be necessary. This Cry for Justice bullshit reeks of “we want this character to be different and we hear dark is cool so you, hired writer are going to hit these story beats to get them there”. It feels forced, unnecessary, and a substitute for good character development.

Random thoughts – over.

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By: smitty

smitty — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:10:04 +0000

I wonder if things can’t help but be lifeless on these big books / properties when everything is rendered via writer’s summits and retreats.

“I think it was soandso who shouted out ‘what if event x happened?’ and then we were all like, ‘whoa.’”

I think a lot of these writers are good but unless you’re Grant Morrison – or others who can insist on a singular vision – you are beholden and subjected to the worst kinds of soul draining “collaboration.”

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By: Michael Aronson

Michael Aronson — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:43:37 +0000

Yay Connery Bond movies! You Only Live Twice is also great.

With the Brosnan ones, I don’t recall the violence as much as the sexuality. I mean, okay, it’s hard to say that when early movies had Pussy Galore and Plenty O’Toole, but what’s it, Famke Janson’s character tries to have sex with some guy and then snaps his neck between her legs. You know? Were sex and violence ever woven together so well?

Oh yeah, the current editorially-mandated JL stuff is repulsive, not just because of what happens, but how lifelessly it happens. This is the shlock I think most people were expecting to come out of Identity Crisis, which had unsettling elements and made little sense in the end, but at least was crafted pretty well.

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By: Abhay

Abhay — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:29:19 +0000

Well, Bond do some bad stuff in Thunderball, but … I don’t know, it’s really hard to remember those movies from a “was there bad stuff” perspective, I guess. Also, guy in Trainspotting’s name is Robert Carlyle. Whose wikipedia page photo is him looking disgusted with humanity at Comic-con. Comic book connection!

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