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Watchmen wasn't the first "grim and gritty" domino. It wasn't even the
first "grim and gritty" domino that Alan Moore toppled.

••

But it was the one that others flocked to imitate. And, of course, the bulk
of the blame lies with DC and Marvel for encouraging, even mandating,
that imitation.

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And telepathy and teleportation are commonplace out here in the real world?

You enter here into the realms of a bit of absurdity I have noted before, from
OHOTMU, when the text solemnly informed us that altho Fin Fang Foom had
been portrayed as speaking, this was most likely telepathy. Because, you
know, a two hundred foot long telepathic dragon is much more realistic than
a two hundred foot long talking dragon.

**

Hollywood has also been making action movies into superhero movies without costumes for a quarter century. Compare the Luke Sykwalker or Indiana Jones who swing over an abyss to the physical abilites of the same characters in their sequels. Look at what the Connery Bond could do compared to the Craig Bond. Could any normal person survive what John McClane does in the Die Hard franchise?

Ever since Schwarzenegger started getting starring roles that weren't mythic characters (like Hercules and Conan) that were nonetheless mythic in abilities, Hollywood has been upping the ante.

Superhero movies add costumes to these characters, they don't necessarily add much else.

Wolverine isn't the only tough guy who can survive almost anything to have morphed into the indestructible guy who can shrug off absolutely everything. The Hollywood action movie star is right there with him.

SUPERMAN RETURNS wasn't gritty, it was creepy. I've seen zombie movies that creeped me out less.

There seems to be a kind of connective tissue through Spider-Man comics. Gwen Stacy dies in the 1960s, Captain Jean DeWolff dies in the 1980s. Between the two moments (both of which could be cited as grim/gritty), I didn't notice comics having drastically pandered to "realism".

I recall stuff like the Squid being assassinated in DETECTIVE COMICS, and Batman turning into a vampire. Ben Grimm got shot through the arm by Deathlok. The black Giant Man got radiation poisoning from fighting Nuklo. The Whizzer ended up on Skid Row. Ms. Marvel got raped by a creepy Beyonder type and gave birth to his physical form in our world. Wonder Girl got turned out by one of the Greek Titans. Captain America beheaded Baron Blood with his shield.

All in all, these moments I can recite after 20 years or more. Except for the Carol Danvers thing (probably the most inane superhero story ever written involving wonderful talented people), I can't say any of that stuff was bad, but it was rare.

I don't know what to think, but Giordano didn't open the door. What needs to be looked into is why comics didn't change drastically after Gwen Stacy, but changed forever after Jean DeWolff.

••

I'll go back to the ol' bugaboo, fans-turned-pro. When Gwen died -- in
the Seventies, btw, not the Sixties -- the tidal swell of fans becoming the
people who wrote, drew and, ultimately, edited the books was just
beginning. There were still plenty of Old Guard folk there, in positions of
authority, to remind people what these thing were supposed to be.

Couple this to a shrinking marketplace in which a particular kind of fan -
- older, reading for a long time, obsessive about details and "continuity"
-- was becoming, by attrition, a larger and large part of the audience,
and we have a recipe for disaster. When fans who like this kind of stuff
become the people creating the stories, and targeting them for fellow
fans who like this kind of stuff, there's nowhere to go but down.