| Author |
|
Clifford Boudreaux
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2012
Posts: 443
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 6:45am | IP Logged | 1
|
|
|
Twenty or more years ago, DC "darkened" Congorilla. Essentially, no one up there has had anything like a clue ever since.
I remember that, although I think it had quite a lot to do with DC making a last-ditch effort to salvage some of their White Imperialism characters... which were so unbelievably politically incorrect they're virtually unusable in their original forms.
If memory serves, Neil Gaiman had deconstructed the political message of several such characters in a Swamp Thing Annual, which got the ball rolling on Congorilla and B'wanna Beast and a couple of other such characters.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133324
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 6:52am | IP Logged | 2
|
|
|
Twenty or more years ago, DC "darkened" Congorilla. Essentially, no one up there has had anything like a clue ever since.++ I remember that, although I think it had quite a lot to do with DC making a last-ditch effort to salvage some of their White Imperialism characters... •• Doesn't it hurt your brain, constantly striving to come up with "justifications" for these things? As Sigmund Freud might have said, sometimes a bad idea is just a bad idea.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Clifford Boudreaux
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2012
Posts: 443
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 8:12am | IP Logged | 3
|
|
|
That's the sort of thing they did back then. Stupidly misguided but DC was into bringing back No Hopers like Congorilla at the time.
There's plenty of good books that came out of it. One of my favorite books of the time is a mature reader take on a classic Jack Kirby character.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Stephen Churay
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 8369
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 8:29am | IP Logged | 4
|
|
|
How are the other current Superman titles not "all-ages"?
========
Could you read the current storyline (H'EL ON EARTH) to your child
without saying HELL over and over? Plus, there's a lot of stuff that
deals with adult subjects in adult ways. Nothing terrible, just not
something a kid should deal with. Think about it like this, if you have
kids and go through money troubles, you generally try and keep that
worry away from them. You let them be kids and not worry about adult
problems. It's sort of like that.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
Kip Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 March 2011
Posts: 2880
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 8:45am | IP Logged | 5
|
|
|
They are also canceling Young Justice. Maybe we are seeing a reboot
of these "all age books".
BTW, wouldn't H'el sound like HL not Hell? It is a two syllable word.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Clifford Boudreaux
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2012
Posts: 443
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 8:52am | IP Logged | 6
|
|
|
Although I will say I was glad Vertigo mostly outgrew doing mature takes on obscure characters and focused on original works (even if they sometimes used an old name like The Losers). Using Prez, Brother Power The Geek, B'wanna Beast to deconstruct out-moded ideas wasn't exactly the recipe for long-term success.
Unfortunately, that's around the time DC pursued the idea without any pretext. Here's Superboy ripping arms off, that's mature, right?
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Brian Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 August 2012
Posts: 476
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 9:45am | IP Logged | 7
|
|
|
"Could you read the current storyline (H'EL ON EARTH) to your child
without saying HELL over and over? Plus, there's a lot of stuff that
deals with adult subjects in adult ways. Nothing terrible, just not
something a kid should deal with. Think about it like this, if you have
kids and go through money troubles, you generally try and keep that
worry away from them. You let them be kids and not worry about adult
problems. It's sort of like that. " My kid is 6. I don't see a problem with the word hell. But then I wasn't afraid to read Tom Sawyer. Of course, my kid would understand H'EL and hell are two different things since he can read. I guess I still need some samples of how the current Superman isn't appropriate for kids other than generalities like "deals with adult subjects in adult ways."
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Michael Todd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 September 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 4115
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 10:23am | IP Logged | 8
|
|
|
Does a scene like this really need to be shown in a Superman comic book? I wouldn't want it in a comic that my 10 year old daughter was reading. 
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
Michael Todd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 September 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 4115
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 10:44am | IP Logged | 9
|
|
|
Nor this.... (not exactly what I would term "kid friendly"). 
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
Donald Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 February 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 3601
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 11:39am | IP Logged | 10
|
|
|
Yep, that's fan fiction published as continuity.
Shame.
The storytelling format used in comics is so ripe for story telling of all types. I love the idea of deconstructing superheroes and using them in new and inventive explorations of the American psyche.
That said, that type of exploration belongs in it's own unique creations. the cannon of superheroes that is owned by DC and Marvel should never have been used this way. It is clearly not difficult to create an alternative to Superman and using him to explore those dark nooks and crannys. The adults that would be reading this know who you are really writing about.
It is poor writing plain and simple to twist the original character to fit you plot needs. If your plot needs something not in character for Spider-man, then you need to write about The Arachnid Kid or whatever.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
Eric Kleefeld
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 12:08pm | IP Logged | 11
|
|
|
The original Donner/Reeve Superman, and the 90's Dini/Timm cartoon series, both showed ways to depict Superman for their own era and culture — and making it genuinely all-ages and fun for a mass market.
Is there nobody today who even wants to do that?
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16502
|
| Posted: 20 January 2013 at 12:31pm | IP Logged | 12
|
|
|
As for the more modern Superman comics not being all-ages, it was a few years back that there was an orgy depicted on the first page of an issue (#655).
Edited by Matt Hawes on 20 January 2013 at 12:38pm
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
Topic Closed)
