Captain America: Civil War

[MechaPilot]

well considering that Batman is based on The Shadow. . .

I'd like to see The Shadow come back again in film. I thought the last one we had with Alec Baldwin was fun in a campy, pulpy sort of way (kind of like how I still enjoy watching the 1980s Flash Gordon film and Barbarella), but I'd love to see a more serious treatment of it now that special effects are better and superheroes aren't treated like kiddie-fare.

My superhero dream would be if a quality film company put together a TopCow cinematic universe with the Darkness, Witchblade, Magdalena, Danger Girl, Lara Croft, etc. Of course, it'd also be great to see some of those titles cross over into either the Marvel or DC universes.

 

[Umbran]

My superhero dream would be if a quality film company put together a TopCow cinematic universe with the Darkness, Witchblade, Magdalena, Danger Girl, Lara Croft, etc. Of course, it'd also be great to see some of those titles cross over into either the Marvel or DC universes.

Witchblade had a great first season as a TV show. It would have had a great second season if the writers had actually expected to get one, and the star hadn't had to go into rehab.

Which is to say, for really well *written* comics, the TV series might be a better vehicle than a movie.

 

[Tonguez]

My superhero dream would be if a quality film company put together a TopCow cinematic universe with the Darkness, Witchblade, Magdalena, Danger Girl, Lara Croft, etc. Of course, it'd also be great to see some of those titles cross over into either the Marvel or DC universes.

theres been both Witchblade and Danger Girl crossovers with Batman iirc and also a Witchblade/Daredevil (?) - It might be cool to see them appear on the Netflix series.

although with Doctor Strange opening up the movies we could fit them in there too. but given that Marvel gods are now aliens, I am wondering just how much occult action horror is going to go down in the Marvelverse.
I suppose Ghostrider is out there...

 

[MechaPilot]

theres been both Witchblade and Danger Girl crossovers with Batman iirc and also a Witchblade/Daredevil (?i - It might be cool to see them appear on the Netflix series.

although with Doctor Strange opening up the movies we could fit them in there too. but given that Marvel gods are now aliens, I am wondering just how much occult action horror is going to go down in the Marvelverse.
I suppose Ghostrider is out there...

I have heard of, and seen cover images of, a comic where Danger Girl crossed over with Batman, but I've never been able to get my hands on it to read it. I also recall something about them crossing over with the G.I. Joe comic, and the Wikipedia entry mentions something about them also crossing over with Army of Darkness (which just sounds awesome to me).

I'm not sure about magic in Marvel, as you say, we'll have to see what they do with Dr. Strange, and if Ghost Rider is ever revived. However, I know DC has an as of yet untapped pool of magical characters to draw from: Zatanna, Constantine, Etrigan, etc. There was even rumor of a Guillermo Del Toro directed justice league Dark, but that's unlikely to ever come to fruition (Guillermo always has like 50 projects he's interested in).

As far as Witchblade and Daredevil, a quick Google check didn't bring anything up. However, I actually own the first part of the three part Witchblade Punisher crossover, so I know they have crossed over with Marvel at least once.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

I hated Civil War in the comics, but this might be better. I haven't liked Iron Man and the people who followed him since Civil War, and dropped a lot of titles from my pull list as a result. It was sort of the beginning of the end for me when it came to reading Marvel comics (which I had been doing since the 70s).

Putting Constantine back in the main DC Universe and making him a pale version of his former self is what ended things between me and DC.

 

[PurpleDragonKnight]

I hated Civil War in the comics, but this might be better. I haven't liked Iron Man and the people who followed him since Civil War, and dropped a lot of titles from my pull list as a result. It was sort of the beginning of the end for me when it came to reading Marvel comics (which I had been doing since the 70s).

I was talking about this to a bunch of friends tonight: although I collected Civil War like no other and anticipated each number more than the last, each new issue was like someone jabbing my Marvel childhood gut... I felt it disheartening to see heroes pitted against heroes because of politics, like there's not enough political garbage strife in the real world already. You read comics to get a boost from uncompromising heroes who stand together no matter what. In the 80's they kept sending that red headed lawyer government dude at the Avengers to make trouble for them, and each time Beast would drop from the ceiling, tousling his hair or stealing his shades while they were running to the Quinjet to deal with a real emergency, laughing at the dude on their way out. That kind of camaraderie is sadly lacking from the comics these days, and seems to be proportionally lacking from many institutions in the real world too, out of concerns for political correctness that are blown out of proportion. The result: more dour and grim and ever more dark comics, as we descend in the last refuge of entertainment that is still acceptable: gratuitous violence.

Damn you Civil War. Damn you Batman vs. Superman.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

I felt it disheartening to see heroes pitted against heroes because of politics, like there's not enough political garbage strife in the real world already.

One of the reasons I disliked it so much was due to who was in the presidency at the time (in the real world). Some aspects of the storyline hit way too close to home.

 

[Staffan]

Which is to say, for really well *written* comics, the TV series might be a better vehicle than a movie.

Personally, I much prefer the slower story-telling of a TV series to a movie or even movie series. You can layer so much more depth, both in the plot and in the character-building, in a TV series. For one of the best examples, see Babylon 5 - particularly the character arcs of Londo Mollari and G'Kar.

One of the best things to happen in comics was Claremont's run on the Uncanny X-Men, where you had a single writer on the book for over 15 years. This allowed time for characters to grow, some characters to leave, new ones to join, and major changes that felt organic (e.g. Storm being depowered for a few years, and still kicking all sorts of ass as the team leader). The reason the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix saga was so awesome wasn't that it was cosmic and stuff, it was because it was told over a span of four years, with Jean gradually growing in power due to the Phoenix influence and then becoming corrupted through the machinations of the Hellfire Club.

Now, comics are more movie-like, with the six-issue story arc being the standard as opposed to the episodic/continuous story. You also have the plots being disrupted by This Year's Event: House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and so on, as well as constant relaunches in the belief that people are loath to jump onto a comic at issue #256. That makes it hard to work on a continuing story.

 

[Umbran]

I felt it disheartening to see heroes pitted against heroes because of politics, like there's not enough political garbage strife in the real world already.

And, in producing that feeling,t i think the line did what it was intended to do. This is by no means the first time they've used the comics to make relevant political statements - Captain America has split from the government more than once for various reasons that were thinly veiled statements on the times.

You read comics to get a boost from uncompromising heroes who stand together no matter what.

With respect, maybe *you* read them for that reason. Leave room for other folks wanting other things from comics, please and thanks.

That kind of camaraderie is sadly lacking from the comics these days, and seems to be proportionally lacking from many institutions in the real world too, out of concerns for political correctness that are blown out of proportion.

Um, no. If they were concerned about political correctness, they'd be all sweetness and light and never disagreeing and never saying things that would discomfit anyone. Taking a pointed stand and showing, "this kind of conflict is *wrong*," is about the opposite of political correctness. Showing otherwise supposedly good (but perhaps flawed) people become enemies is political *reality*.

 

[megamania]

well considering that Batman is based on The Shadow, Doc Savage and Zorro I'm not sure where you would draw the comparison line.

So true