parks@noao.UUCP (Jay Parks) (07/10/85)
Comics will never be dramatic. Mainstream comics, that is. Partly this
realization was spurred by the comics journal article on "Dark Clairmont",
partly it is my own observation.
Mainstreams *can* be humorous, tragic (though rarely), and
romantic, but they will never go beyond a sort of cheap melodrama. The
problem is, there is no danger in mainstreams. What does a character
have to fear? In real life, there is maiming, madness, disease, old age,
and death. Comics seem to have the impression that things like that
are unpleasant topics and they refuse to deal with them. These
subjects are avoided. Sgt. Fury wears an eyepatch, sure, but he never
actually lost an eye. He went off-stage, and returned later with a dashing
looking patch. What character has even been permanently scarred by one of
his life and death battles? And let's not even think about old age.
Admittedly, Aunt May is old. She always was, always will be. She never
*got* old, though, she always was old.
The only danger that a comic character really has to worry about is
death. Not only do other dangers hold no threat, they are ignored in
the mainstream comic universe (OK, Captain Marvel died of cancer, but
that was in a special "look! we can be realistic, too" issue). The only
danger that is acknowledged is death. Now, for a minor trivia question:
name a major mainstream comic character that irrevocably died. I am
defining "death" to be: The character never secretly survived, was never
cloned, didn't have an alien shape-changer take his place, won't have
his spirit brought back, and wasn't regenerated from beyond the grave.
He won't have adventures in the afterlife, and will never communicate to
either the living or the readers. He is DEAD AND GONE (just like in
real life). I'm not counting the earlier mentioned Capt. Marvel. "The
Death of Captain Marvel" was advertised for so many years that even big
Jim Shooter would probably blanch at reviving old Mar-Vell.
Villains cannot die. The hero's code doesn't permit killing,
and even when it does (Wolverine) a good villain is hard to keep dead.
Remember the goons old Wolvie killed in the basement of the Hellfire
club? They were brought back later with bionic parts. Give me a break!
Villains are invulnerable.
Heroes are even more invulnerable. They just can't be killed.
They will always escape, have the Starjammers arrive in time, be saved
by the ancient one, etc.
So. What are we left with? There is NO DANGER. This is not
necessarily bad, in the 30's all the cheap serials did this (the hero
would fall off the cliff and die. Next episode, it would turn out that
he had been saved at the last second.) The problem is that this is not
dramatic writing -- it is melodrama.
The point behind all this raving is that there IS hope for serious
comic writing. It isn't in the mainstreams, though, it's in the
independents. The only acceptable brought-back-from-the-dead scene I
have ever liked was in Elfquest. When One-eye was (almost) brought
back, I could have believed it. From the very first, we were told that
these people were not human. The rules they lived by were not the same
as those governing human beings -- they lived in an immortal, magical
world.
The next closest scene was CAMELOT 3000, when Guenivere was dying
and Lance brought her back by the power of his faith.
Both of those scenes showed us a lot about the characters and the
world they lived in. The deaths were NOT arranged for a quick thrill, or
to give a catchy ending.
If you disagree, I would be glad to hear examples of a good dramatic
scene in the mainstreams.
Jay Parks
(decvax!hao!ihnp4!seismo)!noao!parks :uucp
P.S. The irrevocably dead character was Spider Man's Uncle Ben.moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (07/13/85)
In article <423@carina.noao.UUCP> parks@noao.UUCP (Jay Parks) writes: >Comics will never be dramatic. Ah, never ever say never :-). I think rarely would be more appropriate. > So. What are we left with? There is NO DANGER. I think maybe you're confusing Marvel with the whole comics scene. I have to admit, it is AMAZING how many dead Marvel heroes have risen from the dead -- Phoenix & Guardian had the most hoopla about their passing, and their walking around (or soon will be). Warlock's living in his soul gem, apparently not paying rent or income tax. SpiderWoman also has this distinction. As to villains, yah. As many have said, it seems to be the Marvel Age of Death. Only Captain Marvel seems to stay dead But all mainstream comics? Well, perhaps it's how one defines mainstream. I would point to First's Jon Sable comics for making death a very real alternative. Although Sable himself (as the main character) is probably invulnerable (unless his sales go down :-) ), characters around him, very interesting well-developed characters, have died. In fact, one of the very best sub-plots in comics is that Jon, after 30 issues of development, has fallen in love with Myke, his illustrator; and he (and the readers, because these are some of the most carefully drawn-out characters imaginable) is extremely worried that the enemies he has made as a mercenary will come back and hurt her. Yes, I know, this is a conflict as old as Superman; but Grell does this so well that you not only care for the character, but you can see that it can happen. Death also has appeared in Zot (Prince Drufus, though we see the after-life), where it was well-done. I wish I could point to DC, but only Supergirl comes to mind; Abby came back (wonderfully) in Swamp Thing, and lord only knows about Flash. Oh, as to old age, I do recommend the Gargoyle mini-series from Marvel; I thought that did an extremely good reproduction of the fears of growing old, handled very sensitively. So while "melodrama" seems to have a large following, it is not inherently impossible for this to happen in a comic (it has before now -- just came to mind -- Ladner in Master of Kung Fu). And if the alternative press is considered mainstream (I consider it so), this is really not true (although still unusual). I tend to think that the quality of a comic (if it is not mainly humorous in nature) means that drama (and not melodrama) are present; and there are many quality comics out there. > The point behind all this raving is that there IS hope for serious >comic writing. It isn't in the mainstreams, though, it's in the >independents. Whoops! I guess we do agree. Just list this article as "additional justification". :-) "In the end, it will be the insects who rule the earth." -Noted scientist "In the end, who cares?" -Remo Williams "End? What end? You whites will be with us forever." -Chiun, Master of Sinanju If he's not one thing, he's another. ---> Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. UUCP: {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsri}!uw-beaver \ {allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA