moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (11/26/85)
Back in my last collection of Moriarty reviews, I said the following: > MIRACLEMAN #2 [B]: > > This is a comic where Alan > Moore has done more to shake up the super-hero genre than > anything since Stan Lee started the Marvel super-hero line. David Tanguay (watdaisy!datanguay) wrote me a note asking how it has shaken up the genre, and this is a good question that, I think, would be fun to discuss on the net (David suggested the same thing). This is something more suited to a term paper, but hey, I can always run compress(1) on it... Actually, I'll be the first to admit I could probably argue both sides of the case -- when re-reading the quote in question, it does sound like too much hyperbole on my part; however, MM has a feel which strikes me, when looking at super-hero comics over the last 50 years in retrospective, as being innovative (one disclaimer: I've only read issues 1 & 2! I'm certainly not claiming expert knowledge of this comic). I guess I see MM as the ultimate product of Stage III super-heroes. Stage I SH's appeared from Superman in the 30's on, and are recognized by their characters not even striving for realism (another disclaimer: I am by no means trying to encompass all SH characters for any of these classifications. I'm talking about the "mean" or "average" superhero ( :-) ) that appeared around that period of time). Captain Marvel would be the best example of this -- no one attempted to portray Cap as having emotions, feelings or problems outside the realm of a morality play. Basically Doc Sivana or Mr. Mind would pop up in story, and Cap would outwit and out-muscle them. The characters were basically archtypical -- good, evil, weak, strong, etc. This isn't a criticism of Stage I comics; they are just a different category of comics than the next two stages. I loved the reprints of the Mr. Tawney Cap stories when I was a kid -- but they didn't work on being realistic at all. More typical would be Superman or Batman during the 40's; the comics concentrated on fantastic feats, in general, and didn't work on creating a realistic environment for the main characters. Stage II Super-Hero comics takes place with Marvel's introduction into the field in the early 60's (though there are several good examples of them before -- several issues of The Spirit, and I'm sure you can think of others). Marvel characters, stories and The Marvel Universe had several things which made them different from Stage I comics: 1) Characters had personal problems. Peter Parker had to sacrifice his personal life for Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Thing didn't want to be themselves (at least Bruce Banner and Ben Grimm didn't). Most of them didn't get above melodrama (i.e. Soap opera stuff), but these days things have progressed in some comics -- Matt Murdock's mental breakdown under Miller, Shang-Chi's "games of death and deception", etc. 2) A world which tried to be less utopian and more realistic, which was difficult when the fantastic happenings which occur in SH stories were happening alongside everyday things. Things appeared in real cities, instead of fictional Metropolises and Gotham Cities. Real-world problems were shown: slums and predjudice in the 60's, drugs and family break-ups in the 70's, child molestation and abuse in the 80's. All this happened in different shades of realism, depending on the tone the individual writer and artist took in each title. 3) The idea that all the stories happen in the same place, I.E. the Marvel Universe. Continuity was the watchword -- editors had to make sure that characters and events did not conflict with the way the characters and/or events had been portrayed in other titles. The MU, Earths I to N, Cynosure -- all are extensions of this idea. This style of SH comics caught on, and by the 70's DC was backing a major effort to make their heroes more realistic (or at least, more like Marvel characters). Actually, I think this push for realism has been having setbacks lately; the continuity is so difficult that efforts have been made by both companies to structure and (in the case of Crisis) reduce the complexity of the continuity. Also, less realistic titles are doing well, especially the humor titles like 'Mazing Man, Blue Devil and Ambush Bug (which lampoons continuity continuously). To get back to the original quote, the question (for me, anyway) is whether Miracle Man is the epitome of a Stage II character, or a super-hero comic done so realistically that it stands to get it's own title, Stage III. What, you ask, makes MM so much more realistic than any of the stage II characters? Well, Mike Moran's lifestyle seems very pedestrian and real, even when he changes into MM. His relationship with his wife is skillfully done to sound normal. The reaction of other people (and Moran) to Miracle Man strikes me as ringing true. I'm not sure myself that MM deserves it's own class due to realism; is it more realistic than other SH stories? Or is it due to Moore's skill as a writer? Can a super-hero comics EVER be done with much realism? -- they are inherintly unrealistic (unless there's guys running around in their underwear somewhere). Are there other SH comics/characters which deserve a class III setting (the aforementioned Graphic Novel "God Loves, Man Kills" comes to mind). What do you think? "Simple, candid, crazed and madcap (quintessentially retarded) our hero fights an with a PLUCK and SPIRIT that is totally American to the core!!" Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>