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10 comments:
Cool cover!
I think that may be what's missing from "modern", "contemporary" comics. That pause. The Titans did that with A Day in the Life. Starman did that with both Tales of Times Past and Talking With David. Star Wars has done that a couple of times with the Ben Kenobi journals. Shifting gears between each grand, monumental Crisis. I think The Avengers may have tried that a couple of times with Beast and Wonder Man.
Two things work against the 'pause' issue in the current market. It really only works for books where next issue is going to sell the same no matter what is in this issue, like all three of your examples, and there are very few of those these days. Also, given that all stories are now plotted to fit into the collected 'graphic novel' format, where do you put the pause issue in the collection? The action needs to start right away, the big finish needs to be at the end, and you can't change gears in the middle.
Ross, that is THE scene I identify with Cyborg. It is not just a "pause scene" or showing a "different type of heroism". It was a moment of significant character development, when Vic Stone stops feeling sorry for himself and seeing himself as subhuman after the accident that made him Cyborg and becomes able to get on with his life.
I can just see a team-up between these two being instigated, in-story, by a pending gang war between "Fats" Morgan and Tobias Whale.
Many of the scenes I remember best from the comics of the past were like that: the Justice League taking time out to visit a children's hospital (JLA #36), Flash helping to raise money for charity by performing Hamlet -- playing ALL the parts (Flash #197), so many times that Superman and/or Batman assisted in charity fundraisers, the two JLA Super-thons (JLA #114 and Super Friends #5), and even Iron Man performing at a children's benefit (Tales of Suspense #41). To me, these moments make the heroes seem much more human and easier to relate to than any amount of Marvel-style angst.
Well put, Bob.
This kind of superheroic public service could be done today, if the writers were so inclined. For reasons already stated, I don't think an entire issue could be devoted to that sort of thing, but it could be done for one or two pages, or even be something worked into the plot.
In a graphic novel I wrote some years back, featuring characters from my abandoned-before-it-started comics line, I had the heroes take some time from dealing with their crisis to honor a young man with Down's syndrome who had written an essay on what it is to be a superhero. (That young man later played a pivotal part in the greater story; I won't say what right now, just in case it ever actually does get published.)
I certainly remember that story of the Flash performing Hamlet, which Other Bob cited. I also remember a more-recent Spider-Man story where he visited a terminally-ill kid in the hospital, and even (after a bit of convincing) pulled off his mask and revealed his Secret Identity for him.
Well said, BG. :-)
Bob Greenwade said...
"This kind of superheroic public service could be done today, if the writers were so inclined. For reasons already stated, I don't think an entire issue could be devoted to that sort of thing, but it could be done for one or two pages, or even be something worked into the plot."
Or as one of several stories in an annual, which is one way that I think DC has used the idea in fairly recent years: For example, a trade paperback that I bought recently included a story (from an Action Comics annual, I think), about [pre-Flashpoint] Supergirl helping to answer Superman's Christmas mail...
Simreeve, you just reminded me of two other post-Crisis examples of this type of story, both of which worked very well: Superman #64 ("Metropolis Mailbag") and #76 ("Metropolis Mailbag II [Funeral for a Friend, Part 4]").
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