2013-07-23 Slash Stab Spurt

['J']

kind of amusing that one of the most traditionally optimistic super-hero stories is the one that starts off with planetary genocide.

[Zippy]

Genocide requires deliberate malice. The death of Krypton is usually a natural event, caused by something geological (that only Jor-El notices. The original version attributed it to planetary "old age"...).

Quote removed. The DAMNed

['J']

semantics; call it 'planetary extinction' then.

[antimonious]

In the last panel, I actually see Sandra as more lost for words than crushed, as if she's fascinated by the events on the screen (in not necessarily a good or a bad way). I half expect her to actually think that the reboot/origin is gonna be pretty cool.

On a side note, Tomb Raider (the new one) has gotten me back into all of the old ones. I don't mind a gritty origin story once in a while - I like knowing how some of these heroes became heroes!

Hmmm... maybe I shoulda made her slackjawed to show that she was in real horror in the last panel. Cos she is definitely not supposed to be fascinated by what she saw.

Good to know! Thanks for the clarification

[mac2]

Hmmm... maybe I shoulda made her slackjawed to show that she was in real horror in the last panel. Cos she is definitely not supposed to be fascinated by what she saw.

A trainwreck can be fascinating, until the dust settles and the screaming starts.

[zenaku]

"When did video games get so violent?"
~Wreck-It Ralph

[Raamyah]

Eisu, a masterful job in those first three panels. The look and feel are beautiful in their tragic appearance. I bow to your wonderful skills.

Oh, yes, I can actually feel Sandra's heart crack a little in the fourth panel. Right now I feel pretty bad for her. Not so much later, when she punches someone, then I'll feel better.

[Kradeiz]

What?
Rebooting Batman has been going on since the very beginning of the character. He started as a brutal vigilante with a gun no less; then was tamed down more and more until Wertham's "The Seduction of the Innocent" forced DC to defang him entirely. It was Denny O Neil and Neal Adams who gave him back his bat-gonads.
Marvel comics have always had a darker tone in general. Tony Stark was an alcoholic from almost the beginning , the XMen always were about facing prejudice, and Uncle Ben was shot in the first appearance of Spider-Man.
Soooo... Aside from Superman, who else in movies has suddenly gotten 'gritty'?

There has always been violence in comics, but they have gotten steadily darker over the years. Instead of just facing supervillains and nobody thieves, we now have supers taking on serial killers, child molestors and druglords. A little of it would be fine, adds a touch of realism and the same grit we got in Batman: TAS, but it's gotten to be a bit much.

And it's not just superheroes anymore: The Lone Ranger, Star Trek, more and more old action heroes are being revamped in the now with tragic pasts and angsty presents.

Add in the fact that the biggest superhero movies today (all three Dark Knight movies, Avengers and Man of Steel) all end with their protected cities being half-destroyed and it really makes me scratch my head. What is it Hollywood is trying to say about superheroes?

[Legio]

Never fear, Citizen. Collateral Damage Man is here to save who's left!

Quote removed. The DAMNed

[Spidrift]

Add in the fact that the biggest superhero movies today (all three Dark Knight movies, Avengers and Man of Steel) all end with their protected cities being half-destroyed and it really makes me scratch my head. What is it Hollywood is trying to say about superheroes?

That the ones in movies are more successful than the ones in comics? After all, some of the cities in comics have been completely destroyed.

Anyhow - comics have been playing the Darker and Edgier card for years now, sure, but to pick on Nolan's Batman strikes me as a mistake. In the first two movies at least, it's no darker than the comic has been for decades, on and off (this is Batman, after all - remember his basic origin story?); it's just done with a touch more style and plausibility. There's even some light and shade and humour. If you're going to do dark and gritty superheroes, Batman Begins/The Dark Knight strike me as the way to do them right.

But we digress. That's no excuse for trampling on Sandra's childhood...

[someone]

"Slash Stab Spurt"? They should be more cautious with their onomatopoeia, they might summon a demon accidentally.

What is it Hollywood is trying to say about superheroes?

Maybe this?

[Zorlond]

That guy's got it wrong. Superman is the ideal of what we should be doing. The reality the comic guy's focusing on is the crap people do when they decide to forget ideals in favor of results (because results are easy, ideals are hard). So the movie is just about higher-ups getting sick of dealing with other people with ideals and making sure they don't have any in the first place. Because that makes results even easier for everyone involved.

Quote removed. The DAMNed

['J']

actually, ideals are easy. it's serving both that's hard.

[Motorcycle]

The Lone Ranger has always had the tragic past. Brother gunned down by outlaws with no remorse & him swearing vengeance upon them.

As stated Batman & even Captain America carried a gun at first.

Superman used to beat the hell out of domestic abusers & slum lords.

Simply put, a lot of heroic figures have darker beginnings than most realize.

[thebitterfig]

Slash! Stab! Spurt! Hurl...

As to Supes, while it's true the movie would be better if they simply cut all the fight scenes in half (same with The Hobbit 1), I try to take a long view.
It was initially disturbing to see Zod killed. But thinking about it, it might work over the duration. So we have this mantra: Superman Doesn't Kill. But why? For us, it's because we've known the character for years. For the Man of Steel himself? If it's because he killed someone once, and refuses to ever do it again, that doesn't seem like a bad story.