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Monday, May 08, 2006
Where the real is unreal
Brian Doherty's a smart guy, good writer and a comic book fan. So I was glad to see this political reading of Infinite Crisis by the man, although it seems just trying to explain the complications of DC Universe to the unfamiliar hampered him a bit. I would like to see Doherty do a nerd-tastic interpretation of IC that expands on the points he made in the article if just for the smart comic book fans like you, good readers.
Creating political relevancy to your superhero crossover events seems to be the game plan for Marvel and DC. This week saw the first issue of Marvel's Civil War. Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and writer Paul Jenkins were interviewed on NPR about why they feel this story is relevant. When the prequel mini-series to IC were starting DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio spoke about how 9/11 influenced the tone of DC's superhero books. If just the announcement of Frank Miller's Holy Terror, Batman! is any indication than this is the book where the "real world events meet superheroic fantasy" zeitgeist will really penetrate the mainstream consciousness.
It's hard for me to get a handle on this direction Marvel and DC are taking. I know one comic book reader who has a relative who suffered injuries in recent wars and finds such proclamations by Quesada and Miller offensive. To many people Quesdada, DiDio and Miller’s statements can seem crass because these books are also meant to be money-making entertainment enterprises, which can often come in conflict with the politics. It’s a viewpoint I am sympathetic to. But then I try to see this from the point of view of those creating these books. If you’re seeing soldiers coming back Iraq and Afghanistan with horror stories the idea of just going back to your desk and coming up with slam-bang superhero escapism seems trite. An artist is going to try to make their work capable of considering the bigger issues around us. Perhaps it is out a feeling that everyone in the world has a duty to share their insights about the current situation with the rest of the human race, to reach some kind of better understanding. Perhaps it is out of vanity to make one feel like their job, which cannot mean much compared to a soldier or a war correspondent, is worth something. It is most likely a little of both.
I’m uncomfortable with the political leanings Miller displays when he talks about his work being “a reminder to people who’ve seem to have forgotten that we’re up against an utterly ruthless existential foe who is as vile as any we’ve ever faced” and that he is “appalled at the equivocations.” But I can understand the basic standpoint that when serious events are happening in the world you’ve got to make your art, whatever that art is, mean something in the context of what is happening around you. Howard Zinn told us “you can’t be neutral on a moving train.” Does that go for the people who put together Spider-Man books?
Before I end this rambling post I want to mention a book that I think does a great job of relating mythic characters to real life concerns. Paul Pope’s Batman: Year 100, which I have read Miller had something of a hand in brainstorming, does a fantastic job of using the sci-fi and superhero genres to speak of the loss of privacy. The trope of a secret identity is given weight as it signifies what a citizen deserves in his/her country and what the forces-that-be should not be able to take away. The book has three of its four issues released and so far we do not know who The Batman of 2039 is. Hopefully Pope will keep it a mystery to attest to how important private living is. It’s that kind of thoughtfulness and intelligence that is important when making your art relevant, something other comic creators miss. I haven’t made up my mind on how important it is an artist to use current events to stay relevant, I don’t think I ever will, but a book like Pope has me on the side of the artist who seeks to speak truth not just to power but to the world at large.
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