Comic writers: The Moment you add "Dark" to the name of a character, you have failed

Chris Claremont gets the only exception to this rule.  He pioneered the "Dark" prefix to character names with "Dark Phoenix" during an era that wasn't so far gone from an era when Magneto self-identified his organization as The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.  If it is 2011 and your character is suffering from a "Dark" prefix slapped onto their name, please turn in your keys, badge and gun.

I get that many comic readers get locked into ideas of "edgy" around the age of 13 and never let those ideas go.  And I get that many comic readers become comic writers.  What I don't get is the un-ironic use of "Dark" to describe a character, or when a character supposedly decides "you know what, I'm feeling moody.  I'm now Dark Steve."

The fact that I keep seeing references to a "Dark Supergirl" in the pages of JLA has leaped to the top of the reasons I will not pick up the current run by James Robinson.

so is that "Dark" Donna Troy laying there?

In the very specific case of Supergirl,we just got done with a multi-year run of pretty much a "dark supergirl" (that somehow managed to never call her "Dark" Supergirl).  Adding the prefix AND seeing her put on a black outfit and a sneer is, frankly, a wee bit redundant 

But, really, comics...  isn't this kind of the ultimate break in the "show don't tell" rule of writing?  Even if someone is a bit "edgier" or more prone to suddenly listening to Nu-Metal, is this the best way to convey that idea of character growth/ change?

I'm not against writers exploring characters going down some twisted alley ways, but if your median reading age for your title is over the age of 10, do we really need it spelled out?  Don't writers owe it to readers to at least try to show a small bit of subtlety?*

But, you know, at least I get the feeling there's some level of camp to Dark Supergirl.

Hey, did you know X-Men comics gave Wolverine a be-mohawked, tribal tattoo'd son?  Who, no doubt, listens to Korn?

he is to the 00's what Cable was to the 90's.  "Dark" Wolverine: in 2021, regret shall be thy name.

They did.  He isn't Wolverine Jr. or Son of Wolverine.  He's "Daken" (seriously) the "Dark Wolverine".  This character, from a third person perspective, is, of course, very silly.  I'm sorry.  He's a trainwreck of suburban white bread totems for edginess that you pick up in high school and feel a little silly about when old classmates start posting forgotten scanned pics to Facebook.


Here's Your Problem

Let's recall that it doesn't matter if we're talking about Ben Grimm or someone whose name is, quite literally "Victor Von Doom", every character believes that what they are doing is the right thing.  Every single one, going right back to old Lucifer thinking his management style was better than that of The Big Guy.  Every character (and actual person) is the hero in their own narrative.  And this is exactly why we find characters like Lex Luthor so compelling.  Every once in a while, Lex has a point. 

"Evil", on the other hand, is only a motivation in children's stories.  While comics come out of a kid-friendly environment, we can agree that the last time we pretended we were letting kids read any mainstream comics was probably 1997.  So the label of "Dark" is even... odder.  It would seem that's a pretty loud way of making your new intentions or motivations known.

And frankly, I find the superhero comics industry's insistence on using the term as baffling as why anyone would think adopting the lifestyle of a juggalo signaled anything but that you make poor choices.

Do comic writers embrace that their characters believe that what they're doing is the best or correct thing?  As a reader, if the characters consciously select the wrong/ evil option, then the character begins to lack motivation, and in fiction (as in life) motivation is usually a character's reason for existing.  "Dark" may be how someone else perceives your character, especially if that character has made some sort of transition.  But self-identifying seems a little tricky.

Moral ambiguity in the heroic tale

Readers of this site know that I am a fan of Superman, who, to the untrained eye, stands above all other characters in demonstrating the sharp relief of "good guy" versus "bad guy".  He's the original guy in a white hat. 

But liking Superman doesn't preclude some appreciation for interesting tales of moral ambiguity.  I'm also a fan of the world of film noir, in which moral absolutes dissolve in a glass of bourbon (only to be reinforced by Hayes Code-era approved endings), spaghetti westerns, crime novels, and roller derby.  And part of what's been interesting to me about Superman stories is that he's a character who was developed in and who lives in exactly that kind of messy world.

The point of our friend, Logan (the Original Wolverine) was that he was a hero in spite of his memory lapses, flaws, and extremely rough edges.  He was, in the 1980's, the epitome of "dark hero".  There's just such a hint of "yes, but this goes to 11" that goes from interesting to bad writing.

Nothing about the comics medium nor the genre of superhero stories should mean that we can't explore the idea of moral ambiguity or moral relativism.  Adult readers should be able to manage ideas that don't fall merely into camps of good vs. evil and bad vs. good slugging it out in the street.

Curiosly, I think we were a lot better about exploring these ideas and taking them to their logical extreme in the 1980's.  Moore's Watchmen more or less exemplified this sort of exploratory reasoning for the super-powered set (both literal to the story and figurative).

somebody's got to make the hard decisions

And yet not one character in all of Watchmen identified as "Dark". 

In many ways, I have to blame the fact that Miller entitled his similarly complex exploration of superhero as righteous fascist in Dark Knight Returns and two and a half decades later, the xerox-of-a-xerox-of-a-xerox leads us to iffy concepts of moral ambiguity like "Dark Wolverine" or campy problem children like "Dark Supergirl".

The Exceptions

In addition to Mr. Claremont's invention of "Dark Phoenix", there are three additional places the use of the word "dark" is appropriate.

1)  I think its likely okay to use "dark" in the title for a character, maybe.  Batman can continue to go by "The Dark Knight".  Its descriptive, and sounds more like a sports nickname a reporter might have assigned than his actual name.  One can imagine Batman reading the paper in the batcave, seeing a headline that says "Dark Knight Protects City" and thinking well, I'm not going to fight press like that.  That said, its hard to imagine another character with a similar title in this era.  But Batman gets a pass. Batman will, rightly, always get a pass.

2)  If that was the character's name to start off with, indicating "hey, I'm a shadowy guy/ gal.  The whole 'Darkhawk' thing is meant to be spooky to begin with."  Its still a little hokey, but its the name.  We'll go with it.  But keep in mind, you're now in the company of "Darkwing Duck".

yes, this duck is strangely bad-ass

3)  This isn't actually a naming convention, but clearly, only Gail Simone understands how unintentionally hilarious the word "dark" has become, creating the battle cry for D-list new character "Misfit".  When I first saw her battle cry was "Dark vengeance!  Ssssssssss!" it was a great Simone moment, and perfect commentary on the whole concept of "dark vengeance" in comics and their suburban, white-bread readership.

When I think of characters in comics who went "dark and edgy" in their quest to save the world, the ones who were meaningful don't have "Dark" slapped on their name as some sort of code that's necessary for the audience of the typical Power Rangers episode.

4)  (late addition)  I also give Darkseid a pass.  He is, after all, a living embodiment of a concept of dictatorial fascism, which we westerners tend to think of as "evil".

5)  (late addition)  I'm also giving a pass to certain genre story titles.  Again, that's a 3rd person perspective on the story, not a character saying "hey, lookit me!  I'm evil."


Speaking of "dark", I think this video featuring a "grim'n'gritty" reimagining of Archie comics sums it up.






*Given the internet's reaction to Grant Morrison not laying exposition over every single panel in the picture books, I can see why you'd be reluctant to give the readers that sort of credit

Signal Watch Reads Comics: Knaves' Ward - Luster of Vengeance

Its always cool to see what sort of creative things you Corpsmen are up to.  This weekend, Horus Kemwer had his directorial debut shown at a film festival in Beaumont, which had participation from our own JimD and Daniel Lloyd.  That's the movie Pleadings, by the way.

Well, that same Horus Kemwer has a brother who is doing the indie comic thing, and I recently received a copy of one of his works, Knaves' Ward:  Luster of Vengeance.   I believe the kids are using the term "speculative fiction" these days for works that don't focus on "science", exactly, in their fiction.

Firstly, let's get this out of the way:  this is a DIY, straight-from-the-mind-of effort by the contributors, Matthew Isaac and David Goodman.  Its not as polished as work from a mainstream company, and there's no doubt there's a certain rawness to the work. In the manner of many independent comics, Isaac is responsible for both story and art chores, and in this outing is finding his way with both.

What the look and feel of the book reminded me of is the unmitigated creative explosions set off during the black and white indie days of the 1980's.  Isaac may be too young to remember walking into a comic shop and seeing shelves full of books that were unleashed on the world in the wake of the rise of the direct market and the fallout of the pre-kiddie-explosion Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Back then, Dark Horse published Concrete and titles like Boris the Bear and the notion that a Dark Horse title would ever see a movie seemed laughable.

The story itself has roots in socially conscious sci-fi work of the early 20th Century, such as Lang's Metropolis.  We only get snippets of the world of Knaves' Ward, but there's a sharp contrast between wealth and poverty, haves and have nots, and some of the have nots are all-too happy to play the pilot fish to the sharks of the upper classes.

An amnesiac awakens from surgery, cold, metal cybernetic replacements where his hands were.  From here, he has to fight to survive and recover his past.

I quite liked the story, and I think it shows that the creative team has a lot of potential.

Isaac's work is featured at his site, Eye of Infinity.

"Star Trek IV" and "Gilda"

Yesterday we spent the day helping Wagner move into her new pad down here in South Austin, so by the evening, I wasn't excactly pressing Jamie to make sure we got a night out on the town.  An order to Domino's later, and we had our evening mapped out.

STIV: TVH

I'm no true Trekker (I'm more of a Trekkie), but I love some original-cast, original-series Star Trek.  For Christmas, Jamie had got me a Blu-Ray set of the first 6 Trek films, some of which I haven't watched in years. 

I think we all knew about Trek growing up, but I wasn't really sold on the premise until 1984, when my folks moved us to Austin and Trek ran every weekday afternoon on the local UHF channel, KBVO.  No need to recount much more here, as, thanks to the power of the internet and 8 years of blogging, I've already done so elsewhere. 

Kirk and Spock try to decide if Pier 39 is too touristy

But what I would recount here is that seeing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in the theater was an eye-opening geek-tacular experience in my youth.  Yes, its the sit-com episode wherein the crew travels to 1987 to recruit some humpback whales in order to prevent an alien intelligence from accidentally destroying Earth with their megaphone.  But it was also the movie where people were so excited, they were cheering, standing up to applaud, etc...  really, pretty incredible.

The movie holds up remarkably well, and the Blu-Ray edition I have cleans up all the fx and optics that had gotten a little funky over the years.  The plot is, perhaps, a little silly, but its good, clean fun, and does what sci-fi does so well, and that's uses a metaphor to explain the issues of the day (ie: we need to be careful how we deal with our planet and the species we share it with, as we cannot predict the tragedy their loss will bring us). 

Also, it gives us all the line we use (inaccurately) when we see ourselves flying into the Bay Area:



Kids today won't get the scant Cold War references either as Chekov gets picked up as a Russian spy on our naval vessel, the USS Enterprise, nor the stalemate of Federation vs. Klingon that plays out in the bookend scenes. 

Its also unfortunate that we don't get a bit more time to explore the Enterprise crew dealing with the late 20th Century or get more cultural comment (and it is kind of hilarious that the single-use device, the communicator, is the size of a brick).  But I can say that to this day, when my computer at work does not do as I say, I still find myself repeating Scotty's condescending "hellllloooo, computer...".  (Yes, I work on Windows machines.  Don't judge me.)

Anyway, I still love this movie.


Oh my Goodness, Rita Hayworth
After Jamie toodled off to bed, I watched Gilda, a post WWII decidedly noirish flick about everything from tungsten cartels to romantic obsession, to philiosophizing men's room attendants.  Starring Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, its a reminder of what an "A" noir looks like in comparison to, say, 5 Against the House. 

Not the most subtle advertising for why you should watch this flick

I'd pose the question of whether or not the movie would have been made without Casablanca as a predecessor, as it seems a product of somewhat similar setting, characters, etc... only without anybody having anything honorable to fight for, and sinking into noirish territory rather than the turn to the just-cause that Casablanca provides as the alternative. 

It does, however, feature Rita Hayworth as Gilda, the quickly-obtained wife of a shady night club owner, who has good reason to butt heads with his strong arm, Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford).  There are some comparisons one could make to the Coen's development of the Tom/ Verna/ Leo triangle in Miller's Crossing, although here its all a bit more...  tuxedo-clad. 

The role of Gilda is remarkably well-written, with some seriously snappy dialog, and became the role Hayworth would be associated with for the remainder of her life.  She would also inspire looks and other characters in countless movies afterward.  And I find it hard to believe Jessica Rabbit, and countless other "oh, that woman singing is trouble" scenes would have existed without Put the Blame on Mame. 

Its definitely a film I'll want to watch again, and not just because of Rita Hayworth.  There were a lot of plot threads, some things I'll want to see again as per how whole scenes were thought through (such as the use of disguises during the Carnival sequence), etc...  Its a smart, clever movie and I can see why it turns up in so many lists.

As easy as it is to just want to applaud Rita Hayworth for her Hayworthness, Glenn Ford and George Macready are also both really good as well.  I haven't seen all that much of Glenn Ford's work, but I can see why he was a popular actor.
I hear San Antonio residents will be able to see it on the big screen this summer as part of the TPR Summer Film series!  So, you know, go check that out when NathanC begins promoting the film season.

Oscar Weekend! I Love the Oscars!

Sorry.

The Sting and Five Against the House

Last night we watched The Sting (which I'd never seen) and then, after Jamie had drifted off to Sleepytime Junction, I watched a an ostensibly noir flick called Five Against the House. 

There's not a whole lot to be said about The Sting.  It's already a popular movie and I'm late to the game on the discussion.  I always like Paul Newman, and Robert Redford was most definitely, as always, Robert Redford.  I guess I was a little surprised to find the impetus for the characters setting up "the sting" was pretty much the "young handsome male" has his "aging black mentor" killed off by the movie's villain, ie: The Simpson's Mendoza.

The first meeting of The Handsome Men's Club

George Roy Hill was a talented director, and I think all of that's on display here.  But aside from Robert Shaw as the movie's villain, it sometimes - especially in the first act - it feels a bit like "hey, we're modern actors having fun playing as if we're in an old timey movie!" rather than just playing it straight as a period movie. 

I don't want to say I didn't like The Sting, but its not going to find its way to the top of my list.

For Christmas, I received two different collections of film noir from Jason.  Its pretty neat, as I really don't know many of the movies, so every time I put one in, I don't know what to expect.  Last night, because it featured Kim Novak, I pulled Five Against the House from the selections.

It's a heist flick, and more along the lines of a B-Noir than something like Out of the Past.  The set-up is that, basically, four college buddies get bored and decide to see if they can rob a casino they visited once.  Now, two of those buddies are law students who've served in Korea, so they're a bit older.  And Kim Novak is a nightclub chanteuse girlfriend of the one who isn't suffering from PTSD.

While the movie is enjoyable enough, and the actors and plot more or less engaging enough, somebody knew the movie had one big selling point:

well, it got ME to watch the movie

It is a bit unusual in that its not a movie about guys pushed to an extreme, seeking revenge, etc...  quite literally, it starts off as a movie about four fun-living college buddies who decide to rob a casino because they're bored and they'd like to try to do something they think can't be done.

The movie is fun enough, but I'd mention it for two reasons.

1)  There's a shot very, very similar the one used in The Graduate; the famous "Dustin Hoffman framed by Anne Bancroft's leg" shot. Its almost hard to believe someone didn't remember that one.  Kim Novak, ya'll.

I'm not crazy, right?

The movie is oddly frank about sex for a 1955-era flick.  It seems Novak has been with a few dudes prior to meeting our hero (to his credit, he's pretty open minded on that score), and Brian Keith flat out announces "hey, I had sex" in an early scene after meeting a casino patron. 

2)  Soderbergh is a really smart guy, and I have to believe that when he was prepping for a big budget remake of the goofy-fun Ocean's 11, he also checked out a huge number of other casino heist movies to get inspiration.  I can't help but think that part of his inspiration for Yen's part of the plan was inspired not by what actually happens in Five Against the House, but by what they tell other people they're doing, which is smuggling an ex-jockey into the casino in a box (which they've rigged up with a tape recorder and speaker).

While its not what Soderbergh did, its not too hard to make the leap.  Then again, how many ways can you really get an inside man into a casino, I guess.

I am in favor of a good heist movie (see:  The Killing), but this one is set up a bit oddly in that it all seems to lack real motivation, and that the stakes are non-existent for our leads.  The most dramatic tension occurs between the romantic leads, and whether Kim Novak will flake on our baritone-voiced hero.  The heist feels a little gimmicky, and there's not a lot of the usual fun in understanding the set-up, which... after watching The Sting, which is all set up, it just felt wrong.

5 Against the House is not going to go down on anyone's list as better than The Big Sleep, and were it not for the slow roll out of the PTSD storyline and its conclusion, I'd have a hard time labeling the movie as noir at all (not all heist movies are noir movies.  See:  Ocean's 11 and its remake,  Ocean's 11).  But it was okay, I suppose.

More Signs I'm an Idiot: Alison Brie

Despite the fact I've seen every episode of Mad Men, and I've seen NBC's Community about a half-dozen times now, somehow I'd never put together that both Mad Men's Trudy Campbell and Community's Annie Edison were played by actress Alison Brie.

Alison Brie

also, Alison Brie

Maybe all you white people look alike to me or something.  I have no idea.

I was watching the election episode of Community, and some facial tic or line delivery Brie delivered was 100% Trudy Campbell, and I sort of froze like a deer in the headlights, opened my laptop, looked to IMDB and then told Jamie of my revelation.  Jamie was, of course, perfectly aware of Brie's dual roles and confirmed, yes...  it is very weird I never noticed that before.

I do seem to have a sort of blindspot when watching TV and movies, and any actresses under the age of 30 all sort of look the same to me.  Jamie can confirm that I have no idea what the difference is between virtually any of the popular starlets at any time (I only know who Amy Adams is because she was in Talladega Nights.  Which is kind of sad for Amy Adams), and that I routinely say "who is that?" about the same actors five or six times.  This is true for young male actors, as well.

In general, I kind of rely on actors or actresses having unique characteristics to remember them.  Elisabeth Moss has the icicle eyes and, let's be honest, a pretty specific look.  Christina Hendricks has, um...  Christina Hendricks.  But if you asked me to pick say, Rachel McAdams out of a line-up, I would give up before starting. 

So, I often wonder if I do this with people in everyday life.  Do I walk past the same people at the grocery and not notice them even though they're there every single time I'm there.  Is there a librarian at the reference desk I've somehow never realized was always there when I pass in and out of my building?  I have to assume the answer is yes.

I'll also note that, yes, not only are Community and Mad Men very different programs, shot differently, with different tones, different make-up on Brie, etc...  and Brie does, in fact, handle the two characters a bit differently, and maybe she's just that brilliant of an actor.  But, she is just one person, so... you know...

I also once spent an entire weekend in Vegas with someone two years ago, and only realized I'd known him before when he put on his glasses the last day.  So, yes, apparently I would be the guy who would be all "Wait...  Clark Kent is actually who?"

Mayor Leffingwell accurately geeks out on Austin as "Green Lantern" of cities

Over at Newsarama, Austin's own Mayor Lee Leffingwell, the guy I actually voted for in our most recent mayoral election, compared Austin to superhero Green Lantern.  And he did it with surprising accuracy fit for a comic geek.

Click here for Newsarama's take.

And our local NBC affiliate

"Austin is the Green Lantern," said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell. "We are a city without fear. We are a city that can create anything we can visualize, through sheer force of will. We are a city with a special charge to shine a light into the darkness and lead the way to a new and better day."

one way to beat I-35 traffic

I now expect to see t-shirts reading "Keep Austin Oan".*

"Lawyers-are-Pigs Guy, you have been determined to possess great will..."

*in the wake of crushing suburbanization and a massive jump in transplants to Austin who were surprised by the laissez faire attitude of our fair city when it comes to letting folks be folks, Austin adopted a "Keep Austin Weird" slogan to encourage and support the creative and technological arts. the slogan has since been endlessly co-opted.

Lady Movie Stars in Interesting Hats

Its been a long week, so let's agree to take it easy and see if I can't do better next week.

Sirens of the silver screen of yesteryear.  Period and costume specific hats.  Lets take a look.

Here's Marie Windsor in a decidedly non-Noir get-up.

an odd answer to "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable"

Maureen O'Hara as a PIRATE

Ahoy.

Veronica Lake goes militaristic

if this had been on a recruiting poster when I was 18, I would have been career military

Ingrid Bergman as Joan of Arc

only Bergman could work a suit of armor

Jane Russell goes out west

I'm sure we had a theme but I've quite forgotten what it is right now

Gene Tierney pioneers the tiny hat

well, it does match the coat

And, of course, Dietrich in the hat she made famous

special bonus picture: Sophia Loren in a hat

I'm sorry.  Google made me do it.

Birdemic + Rifftrax = I'm Gonna Need a Drink

Rifftrax is ready to go with its commentary track for the recently released Birdemic: Shock and Terror.

Really, RiffTrax and Birdemic are a marriage made in heaven.



thx to KDB for posting to fb

One more post about Dwayne McDuffie

I was surprised by how down I got when hearing about the untimely passing of Dwayne McDuffie.

As I said, I haven't read all that much of McDuffie's work, but I did like what I did read (I wish he could have gone on forever once they handed him Firestorm).  And somehow many of us who were fans of the Justice League Unlimited TV show knew that McDuffie's hand with the show as writer, producer, etc... I wasn't really into superhero comics during the period when the Milestone titles hit the shelf the first time, but I absolutely remember looking at the books on the shelf when they debuted and thinking "well, obviously.  Good."

McDuffie's passing as Static gets his own title within the DCU proper is, in some ways, a painful reminder that DC once again took too much time, even after acquiring the Milestone characters, to deal with valuable properties that gave the DCU a more diverse representation and, of course, were actually pretty good ideas.  He should have been here to see DC make something of the promise of Milestone.

Its also a tragedy that All Star Superman was released on Tuesday, with McDuffie passing before seeing it released.  While only Morrison could have written the original series, those of use who follow these things knew McDuffie may have been the only person who could have brought the series to the moving picture and done it justice.

But, man...  Its been a couple of weeks, hasn't it?

Between Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and whichever other places flaring up...  things are getting a little creepy working for the State of Texas and we're kind of watching the yahoos in the Capitol and hoping providence leads to solutions rather than posturing...  add in Wisconsin, the tragedy in Christchurch....  it all just feels like a lot.  And only the passing of a writer I like (heck, a writer I respect) maybe that's on a scale I can understand.

Just one more thing, you know?

There are now posts out there about how we need to respect creators now and let creators know we love them now.  Fair enough.  I agree.   The internet, this site included, too often goes for the low-hanging fruit and spends its time finding ways to complain about creators (loudly). 

What I'm kind of curious to know:  is this what it takes for the major publishers to realize what they squandered?  Or, more likely, what could have been had DC spent more time looking to McDuffie for answers instead of insisting on whatever editorial mandates came from top down in just the last few years?  Is this a discussion happening at all in the industry?

Weren't fans initially happy to hear about characters like Static making their way to the DCU from Milestone's walled-off world?  Weren't we all a little giddy when we heard the same Dwayne McDuffie who steered the JLU ship to greatness was coming to DC to write JLA?  And even inbetween all the mucking about with the JLA, weren't those issues still something pretty impressive, with a bold and exciting new cast sliding into place?  And what would have happened had they simply treated McDuffie with the same gravitas afforded other writers, and, frankly, often far lesser talents?

Maybe the comic money didn't matter to McDuffie.  After all, I have to assume the work on shows like Ben-10 and others had to have been a decent living wage.  But who can doubt that he loved those characters, and wouldn't have wanted to do right by them on the page?

Obviously I have no idea what DC's policies were toward McDuffie, character management during Batman RIP, New Krypton, etc...  but I can also guess, given how things shook out.

What makes me wonder is:  how is that good editorial policy?  How does it help to paint a writer and creator like McDuffie into a corner?  And who at DC or Marvel (or any company with a shared universe) is dealing with that situation even now?   And who knows what could have been...

Its an odd way to commemorate a writer, by wondering what else could have been, or perhaps that's exactly the point when someone goes too early.  But I don't think it should go unnoticed by DC that its not just an artifact of social media - your audience is universally mourning the loss of someone they liked, they admired and who told stories they loved and would have told more. 

Its not a secret that something seems a bit broken at Marvel and DC these days in how they've worked with creators and who they've chosen to work with.  I just wish it were not the unfortunate passing of someone who should have had decades ahead of him to shed light on how the creators that make the stories are appreciated by the people who read them, and when they've earned that trust that its the job of editorial not to direct but to steward and support.