Stupidity of Comics

[Villano]

I think part of the problem is the nature of the DC Universe. Marvel is presented as being like the real world, but with superheroes. No one believes in magic. If a demon appears in the middle of LA, it's just a supervillain or mutant or something. Thor isn't a god, he's just some guy with superpowers.

In DC, everyone knows that aliens and Atlantis and, well, everything else exists. Hell, aliens send diplomats to Earth and you watch them address the UN on television.

If someone gets hurt in Marvel, you hope the doctors can help them. In DC, you have to wonder why people aren't asking why one of the many super advanced alien races haven't given us the cure for cancer. Or why we don't have colonies on other planets (we should have access to faster than light travel after all).

DC is, in a lot of ways, like Star Trek with its holodecks and replicators. Once you've reached that point, you kind of screw yourself when dealing with certain issues.

 

[Klaus]

Let's not forget that the world leaders were prevented from going to war with each other (in World War III, in Morrison's JLA) by a host of _angels wielding frikkin' flaming swords!!!!_.

But I still believe Barbara could make improvements in her condition (using technology from the DC Earth, no need for magic) and still be an interesting character.

 

[Rackhir]

It's one of the fundamental flaws in any sort of comic book universe. When you have ultra tech, magic, time travel and parallel dimentions, then anything is possible. The only reason why any thing doesn't happen is that the writers don't want it to.

I stopped reading most comics for exactly the opposite reason that you are complaining about, though it's kind of the flip side of the coin. No changes ARE permenent, a conclusion I came to largely after reading Clairmont's 14th retread of "Live Free or Die" (the original Brood Saga).

It got to be as far as I was concerned a running gag, that every time an X-man died, it turned out to be a dream of some sort or a ommipotent being brought them back to life, etc... In fact it was the crowning moment in some respects of a champions campaign that I was in where kitty pride had died, when it turned out that the entire campaign had been a computer simulation.

 

[Ranger REG]

Well, I don't know about you guys but, I'd like a major event similar to Crisis on Infinite Earths and reset the DC universe, so that Barbara Gordon is still Batgirl (and walking), Aquaman still have his hand (instead of going for that Pirate-y look), and Impulse is renamed Kid Flash II.

 

[Viking Bastard]

You're way behind. Impulse's been calling himself Kid Flash for over a year and
Aquaman ditched the pirate look for the orange shirt a while ago. There has
somewhat been a Silver Age Renassiance going on over at DC for a while now.

Barbara's still in the chair, though.

 

[The Serge]

And this "Silver Age Renaissance" is one of the dumbest directions DCs been allowing. What this does, more than anything else, is reveal the dirth of ideas the writers have. The nonsense with the return of the orange shirt to the asinine "invisible jet" (for a woman who can fly), to the idiotic best buddy relationship between The Batman and Superman... All of this is in a pathetic attempt on the part of bankrupt writers to return to their past rather than attempting to allow the characters to evolve within a contemporary paradigm. I can't stand it.

From Jeph Loeb (who's great at creating atmosphere and plots, not at writing dialogue or telling stories) to Alex Ross (great artist, but mired in this Silver Age swill), there are too many creators out there imposing their middle age search for nostalgia in their material. It's really ashame because a lot of these characters really lose their impact as a result. Let's remember that with characters like Aquaman, the original costume has less to do with any kind of fundamental design consideration and a lot more to do with the limited palettes artists were working with back in the 40s and 50s. The "new" costume made a great deal more sense from a conceptual and geographical perspective even within a fantasy.

As for the suggestion that DC is somehow less realistic than Marvel, I don't see it. Marvel Universe is no more realistic than DC. The difference that I see between the two is that the degree of technology between different internal titles. The technology The Batman uses in his titles tends to be on the low end (historically in Detective Comics especially), but in Justice League, he has access to truly impressive technology that rivals what one sees across most Marvel titles. I mean, Marvel strikes me as far more dependant upon alien/super technology than DC. From the Fantastic Four to the X-Men, to the various Infinity series, super technology has a far greater broad impact on Marvel titles than one sees in most DC titles.

 

[Alzrius]

Don't knock comics just because you don't understand why the characters don't make what you think are the optimal decisions.

Just because people have better choices available doesn't mean they'll take them; real life is a good enough example of that.

 

[Villano]

As for the suggestion that DC is somehow less realistic than Marvel, I don't see it. Marvel Universe is no more realistic than DC. The difference that I see between the two is that the degree of technology between different internal titles. The technology The Batman uses in his titles tends to be on the low end (historically in Detective Comics especially), but in Justice League, he has access to truly impressive technology that rivals what one sees across most Marvel titles. I mean, Marvel strikes me as far more dependant upon alien/super technology than DC. From the Fantastic Four to the X-Men, to the various Infinity series, super technology has a far greater broad impact on Marvel titles than one sees in most DC titles.

What I was talking about is how the public of the comic book universes see it. The public in the Marvel Universe doesn't know about the alternate dimensions or aliens or gods. DC is the opposite. There aliens speak before the UN.

This was all in reference to the whole "Barbara in a wheelchair" thing. Why doesn't the general public of the DC universe wonder why all those aliens don't help us out in those areas? Whereas in Marvel, the public doesn't wonder why people still suffer from cancer and disablities since there isn't a general knowledge of aliens and supertechnology. Sure, they'll see lasers, battle armor, and flying cars, but that doesn't cause someone to think, "If they have a flying car, why can't they cure cancer?"

As to the "Silver Age Renaissance", I do partly agree with your point. I do think that there are more bad writers than good and they really lack creativity. It's part of the reason I don't read any of the Ultimate line. Make up your own stories rather than going back and doing your own version of the classics.

However, I don't think that everything done lately was all that great. I thought the loss of Aquaman's hand was a terrrible idea and a flat-out bad story (it was much better done in the cartoon). I found his new costume to be pretty ugly, too.

I totally agree with you about the "reinventing" of Wonder Woman. Although, I think that has less to do with a mindset of creators so much as the fact that John Byrne just isn't a good writer anymore. His run was top-to-bottom terrible.

On a side note, I think there is a curse connected to water-based heroes. Both Aquaman and Namor had stupid costumes, but all their future changes were actually worse.

 

[Klaus]

Well, at least Aquaman's costume was explained as being atlantean prison garb...

 

[Welverin]

Why is the original Batgirl still in a wheelchair? Why did Aquaman never get his hand back? It's acceptable for people to come back from the dead, but they can't use some type of super technology to do relatively 'normal' things?

Actually I'd say it's not and they get a fair amount of criticism for bringing people back from the dead, it's a running joke at the very least.