Comic book thoughts...
(To the low-bandwith folks, sorry about all the images in this post.)
Marvel Comics once had a series of comic books called "What If?" where they just asked stuff like "What if Galactus had killed Mr. Fantastic?" and would spin a story off that.
It was an interesting concept: Fantasy within a fantasy universe. At the very least it was fun to see your favorite characters mucked around with.
Which leads me to my own "What If?" idea. This hit me on my way home from work and I haven't been able to get it out of my head.
What if the characters from The Lord Of The Rings movies were played by the characters from the Back To The Future films?
Think about it and you'll get goosebumps.
Playing Gandalf: Doc. ("Great Scott! It's a Balrog!")
Playing Frodo: Marty.
George McFly could play Sam; Biff and his gang could play the Orcs. Does anyone else see the possibilities?
And speaking of comic books...
I love Superman. He's my favorite superhero. I think the best comic book ever is Action Comics #1 (see above). It captures everything I love about superheros and comics in general.
Who can forget panels like this:
Or:
The illustrations in this comic are beautiful, the story is romantic and exciting. I wish there were more like it.
Unfortunately, Superman has seen some low points since the wonderful Action Comics #1.
In the 50's and 60's Superman's adventures became silly to stupid and Superman himself (along with his pals) seemed to fall prey to the idiot atmosphere. See below:
Sure maybe you could accept the super dog, Krypto
But did we really need Steaky the super cat?
Beppo the super monkey seemed like sick joke:
Comet the super horse was the only member of The Legion of Super-Pets that seemed to retain some dignity.
Somewhere in the seventies or the eighties the folks in charge realized that Superman's universe resembled something that you'd find in a muppet movie and they decided to make things cool. And they were successful with some great titles by some great artists.
But in the 90's things really started bogging down. They went too far and finally Superman suffered the ultimate indignity: a mullet.
Thankfully, this didn't last long.
Now I'm seeing a Superman revival of sorts. It seems that artists and writers have finally got him again.
Alex Ross is a perfect example:
Superman isn't Batman. He isn't a dark character and that's what I love about him. For Oddessy fans, Superman is the Mr. Whittaker of comic books - he's a father figure. He's optimistic and relatively happy. Unlike most superheros, he had a good upbringing with the Kents, devoid of tragedy. (Though the comics skirt the issue, I imagine he's something of a Christian too. You gotta believe that the Midwestern Kents were, at-least, church-goers.)
It's strange that one fantasy character has had such an impact on the world; but I think Superman represents everything we want heros to be. In Batman we see the reality of the world but when we look at Superman and we see things the way want them to be.
Geeze, who knew that you could get so philosophical over comic books?
Marvel Comics once had a series of comic books called "What If?" where they just asked stuff like "What if Galactus had killed Mr. Fantastic?" and would spin a story off that.
It was an interesting concept: Fantasy within a fantasy universe. At the very least it was fun to see your favorite characters mucked around with.
Which leads me to my own "What If?" idea. This hit me on my way home from work and I haven't been able to get it out of my head.
What if the characters from The Lord Of The Rings movies were played by the characters from the Back To The Future films?
Think about it and you'll get goosebumps.
Playing Gandalf: Doc. ("Great Scott! It's a Balrog!")
Playing Frodo: Marty.
George McFly could play Sam; Biff and his gang could play the Orcs. Does anyone else see the possibilities?
And speaking of comic books...
I love Superman. He's my favorite superhero. I think the best comic book ever is Action Comics #1 (see above). It captures everything I love about superheros and comics in general.
Who can forget panels like this:
Or:
The illustrations in this comic are beautiful, the story is romantic and exciting. I wish there were more like it.
Unfortunately, Superman has seen some low points since the wonderful Action Comics #1.
In the 50's and 60's Superman's adventures became silly to stupid and Superman himself (along with his pals) seemed to fall prey to the idiot atmosphere. See below:
Sure maybe you could accept the super dog, Krypto
But did we really need Steaky the super cat?
Beppo the super monkey seemed like sick joke:
Comet the super horse was the only member of The Legion of Super-Pets that seemed to retain some dignity.
Somewhere in the seventies or the eighties the folks in charge realized that Superman's universe resembled something that you'd find in a muppet movie and they decided to make things cool. And they were successful with some great titles by some great artists.
But in the 90's things really started bogging down. They went too far and finally Superman suffered the ultimate indignity: a mullet.
Thankfully, this didn't last long.
Now I'm seeing a Superman revival of sorts. It seems that artists and writers have finally got him again.
Alex Ross is a perfect example:
Superman isn't Batman. He isn't a dark character and that's what I love about him. For Oddessy fans, Superman is the Mr. Whittaker of comic books - he's a father figure. He's optimistic and relatively happy. Unlike most superheros, he had a good upbringing with the Kents, devoid of tragedy. (Though the comics skirt the issue, I imagine he's something of a Christian too. You gotta believe that the Midwestern Kents were, at-least, church-goers.)
It's strange that one fantasy character has had such an impact on the world; but I think Superman represents everything we want heros to be. In Batman we see the reality of the world but when we look at Superman and we see things the way want them to be.
Geeze, who knew that you could get so philosophical over comic books?
9 Comments:
Okay, the "Lord of the Rings" "Back to the Future" thing had me laughing out loud. Michael J. Fox would make a perfect hobbit. And I agree Superman is awesome. I wish I had super powers to make the kids stop crying. Between Lily's teeth coming in and Jack's bad mode, I am looking forward to nap time now more than ever. How would Superman handle two screaming children? Now that would be an interesting comic. Could even the strongest man alive handle that? I wonder. -Suzanne
Actually, hon, that issue was explored at least once in an early addtion of Action Comics. Just check the Superman collection in our bookshelf.
Superman is stuck babysitting and he calms the crying child by uprooting a tree and playfully swinging it around. (I would stop crying if someone did that, wouldn't you?)
*laughing* I don't even want to know how the idea of Christopher Llyod playing Gandolf entered your sick mind! I just hope it's not contageous. That picture of "marty" as Frodo is great. Cool post Levi. Fortunatley, I have DSL so the images loaded all fast and prettifull for me.
~S
You're right, dear son, Superman is the zenith of superheroes. I could never understand his attraction to Lois, though. She was so fickle and dopey, and not as pretty as Lana the red-head, or especially the beautiful mermaid. I hated her hairdo in the 60s, the era I read the most. It always looked like a big, black sausage stuck around her hairline. I think you're readers would find it interesting that you named your firstborn daughter with L.L. initials, per your hero's love-interests. (Which were his beloved dead mother's initials, as well. How super-fruedian.)
The last picture of Ross' is superb. The aging, but still studly SM, the King of Superheroes.
Hey, if you're going to transplant characters, how about the cast of I love Lucy for the Fantastic 4? Or Seinfeld for X-Men, all self-absorbed? Love, your ever-worshipful mother
Ok levi I changed my mind. This is my favorite post!
I'ts so good to hear from a fellow superman lover for once. Everyone in the world is adoring of Spider man right now, Spiderman is cool but no comparison to Superman. It is hard standing alone , fighting the good fight for Superman. I'm glad there are still some people who have not been swayed by the glitter of the spiderman movies in to making Spiderman their new hero.
- roz
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Oh yeah, I'm totally a Lana fan. Way more than Lois.
And Spiderman may be good, but Superman is the tops in my book.
And yeah, Mom, It's weird how both my children's names have connections to my heros. Jack: CS Lewis. Lily Leona: Superman. Interesting... Maybe I'll name my next child Billy Corgan Nunnink.
Hmmm...or not.
levi
i was just reading about superman and i now how more stupid can they get with SUPER MONKEY or HIS MULLET! well i just wanted to say that. love you babo.
~your little sis
Superman rocks!!
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