I was at the library watching the Batman V. Superman teaser
trailer. And everything I hated about modern DC Superheroes was presented front
and center in that little snapshot of WB’s newest feature film.
First we get the immoral character calling himself Oliver
Queen in the show calling itself Arrow but not featuring Green Arrow on the CW.
Now this movie featuring a pair of super-powered pyschopaths.
Shawn has to ask: Why can’t DC Superheroes Be fun?
Batman V. Superman looks like a very ANGRY film. A film
filled with doom and gloom. A bitter film made by very bitter people who have
no idea what comic books and superheroes are supposed to be. From what I saw
onscreen I dare to say many who work at Warner brothers need to get their head
examined.
In Batman V. Superman the world hates Superman. They see him
as an aloof overlord who does whatever he feels like and seeks to impose his
will on mankind. People call him a false god. They don’t appreciate his good
deeds. He doesn’t inspire hope in people. Instead he instills fear in them.
This is a far cry from the late Christopher Reeve’s Superman
who was considered a friend to the world. A brightly colored hero who inspired
hope in everyone in 1978 and even today when Superman: The Movie is broadcast
on TV in reruns.
Seriously, everything in Batman V. Superman is NOT what superhero
comics are about. It’s not what superheroes are about. It’s the kind of movie
that warps and distorts superheroes and their missions. It’s what dysfunctional
people who have no understanding of the genre THINK superheroes are, not what
they actually are.
Comic book superheroes are not gods. They are not better than
anyone else. They are people just like you and me. And they see themselves as
people just like you and me. And in spite of their human flaws and frailties,
they dedicate themselves to making a difference by helping those in need and
sharing their gifts and abilities with others. Again, superheroes are friends
to the communities they serve.
Comic book superheroes are about HOPE. They INSPIRE others to
DO BETTER. BE BETTER. To MAKE THEIR LIVES COUNT.
More importantly superheroes instill a sense of community in the
kids who read their adventures. They make them understand when people have been
given gifts and talents that they must use those gifts and talents make their
world better. A Superhero volunteers his or her time to fight for those who
can’t fight for themselves and to help those who can’t help themselves. They
know their job isn’t about thanks or rewards, it’s about doing what’s right and
standing for what’s good.
From an educational perspective, Comic book superheroes help
kids make sense of a world they don’t understand. In their brightly colored
costumes they do the things kids want to do but can’t. They have the problems
kids have, and offer them solutions in their adventures as they overcome the
bad guys. Again, they are the friends who brighten up a child’s day and make a
rough day for a tween or a teen that much better.
From what I saw in the Batman V. Superman Trailer, the
employees at Warner Brothers and DC Comics have lost touch with what superheroes
are supposed to be about. What I saw in their teaser wasn’t a superhero movie.
It was a movie filled with the stuff of Super-Villains. From the bleak tone and
dark visuals, the movie should have been called Ultraman V. Owlman: Dawn of
Injustice.
When I heard the line where Batman pondered if he can make
Superman bleed it made me cringe. Batman doesn’t act like this. EVER. Batman is
dark, but he’s also a Knight, a man with a code of chivalry and honor. People
seem to forget that aspect of the character these days.
Seriously, are these the kinds of values DC wants to teach
kids? Is this what DC wants their heroes to be about in the 21st
Century?
It must be because the same dysfunctional ideologies are
projected in the pages of DC Comic books since 2002 are now being transposed
onto film. It’s been a decade and a half of dysfunction at DC Comics and Warner
Brothers and Batman V. Superman is the cinematic manifestation of the mental
illness plaguing the DC offices regarding superheroes.
Batman V. Superman doesn’t feature the actions of heroes. And
it’s not a story about heroes. What I saw in that teaser were the antisocial
behaviors sociopaths participate in. That may as well have been Columbine
killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on in that trailer. Or recent mass
murderers James Holmes and Eliot Rodger. If you read their manifestos, they
have the same nihilistic views about the world.
I’m really getting tired of these dysfunctional types
projecting their antisocial values and ideals onto superheroes. Comic books
aren’t supposed to be real. Superheroes are not supposed to grow up with you.
Their worlds are made to instill hope and inspire others to be the very best
they can be.
I don’t see that in the DC’s Batman V. Superman movie. I
don’t see that in DC’s comic books these days. I don’t even see it in their TV
shows like Arrow. All I see is
anger, angst and despair.
This is why SANE people are turning away from DC Comics in
droves. The world is miserable enough. Who wants to spend $5 to read a comic
with no hope? Or spend $15 to watch heroes whose solution is worse than the
actual problem?
A long time ago in a ghetto far, far away the superhero
comics in my brother’s comic book collection inspired me to become a writer when
I was nine years old. I couldn’t draw worth a crap so I used words to make my
pictures. Even though I grew up in poverty, I saw hope in those comics. They helped
me get through the rough times in a three-room apartment in the South Bronx
that had no heat in the winter or made a getting through week in a hell hole of
a junior high school like IS 148 or a shithole of a high school like Park West
a little easier.
Having those comics to help me get through those hard times was
one of the things that made me want to become a comic book writer back in the
late 1980s’-early 1990’s before the industry collapsed.
And almost thirty years since I wrote my first story I’m
writing my own books. Trying to promote the same messages of truth, justice,
and helping the community in stories like those I tell in the Isis series.
Trying to promote the same messages of family and friendship I learned in
novels like The Thetas. And promoting the concept that good always triumphs
over evil in novels like The Temptation of John Haynes.
Comic books were a big influence on my writing. And I always
pay homage to them in almost all of my work.
I don’t know if I’d ever want to write comics if I got the
chance. If Batman V. Superman and DC’s decade and a half of dysfunction are the
standard for the values of superheroes these days then I don’t know if I want
to work in the genre. From all the gore and excessive violence in DC’s comics and
now being featured in their movies, I’d have to say many who work at DC and
Warner Brothers have some sort of mental health issue. It’s bad enough you
can’t give a kid a superhero comic these days, but now you can’t take them to
see a DC Comics Superhero movie.
Damn. Just Damn.
That’s fucked up. Really fucked up when you consider that
comic books are a medium made for children from its inception.
I can honestly say if Batman V. Superman is the standard for
DC Comics I won’t be supporting any of their movies the same way I don’t buy
any of their comics or action figures anymore. These are not the values of the DC
superheroes I grew up with. When Warner Brothers makes a movie about those
heroes, I’ll gladly pay money for a movie ticket. Until then, my wallet remains
CLOSED as it relates to any DC related merchandise.
From my experience watching the television, superhero programmes were mostly kids' stuff. The kid-friendly Young Justice aired not too long before Arrow and Flash. Here in the Philippines, the latter two air on an adult men's channel. It should be noted that these two characters appeared on the kid-friendly DCAU productions a little over a decade ago.
ReplyDeleteDC has to be different than Marvel!
ReplyDeleteI think they might be going for the oppressed against the oppressors feel!
Matrix style!
I would want it to be like the Superman episodes from the 90's WB series!
Barman and Superman were trying to one up each other to see who was the best!
We'll see with the movie!
On the other hand, The Avengers was on the dark side for a while when Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America were fighting!
Maybe, that's what Batman was talking about when he wondered if he can make Supe bleed!
He is nearly indestructible!