Comments | arthoniel: Something that has been written before, but this time it's SPECIFIC TO ME SO YOU TOTALLY CARE NOW!!

arthoniel

Something that has been written before, but this time it's SPECIFIC TO ME SO YOU TOTALLY CARE NOW!!

Dec 24, 2011 16:40

Here's why superheroes are important. ARTHONIEL-STYLE!

( X-Men and Iron Man and Spider Man, oh my! )

thor, captain america, i call shenanigans, writing, the avengers, this be important, fangasm, history nerding it up in here, movies, fangirl squeery, because i can, iron man, x-men: first class

Comments 12

poisontea December 24 2011, 23:59:01 UTC

I may be more of a DC girl than a Marvel girl (though I wasn't originally!) and at least as much of a Rogues girl as I am a heroes girl (WHOOPS), but I really love this essay. I think you explained things wonderfully and I really got a sense for why you, personally, enjoy comics, and why you believe they're absolutely worth reading and enjoying. C:

I also agree that Superman's too strong -- they have to abuse Kryptonite SO MUCH to even pose a challenge to him -- and also he's... a little too much of a Boy Scout? Nothing wrong with that but sometimes it gets actually unbelievable. I do like Batman, though, and disagree that no one's ever been better than him (several of his Rogues have hurt him BAD and are as good or better at fighting, and his companions have saved his life quite a bit), but I'm actually the LEAST fond of Batman out of the entire Bat family and can definitely agree that he's... a bit of a male power/revenge fantasy? Which can be fun, but a)isn't something everybody's gonna be interested in, and b)is done badly a ( ... )

arthoniel December 25 2011, 07:09:04 UTC

Haha, I'm glad you liked it! I didn't even realize I was writing a whole essay until... well, until I was done. XD

I will admit that I don't know as much about DCverse as I should - I'm only just beginning to get into western comics on any kind of significant level, really - and so I'm working off of just the little bit I already know, so there could easily be a lot of stuff about Batverse that I just... haven't seen, and if you say that these things are so, then I'll believe you. I still have some issues with him being so perfect - he has the money! and the looks! and the skills! and the technology! and the brains! - but they're not major issues. I still love Tony Stark, after all, so I couldn't dislike him for those things that much. XD

And hey, coherency is for losers, anyway~

rapturesmusic December 25 2011, 05:22:23 UTC

First off - HOLY SHIT. Okay. Why don't you write an academic paper about this? I mean, I wrote a paper about Disneyism and shit. If you turned this into a paper, that would ROCK. And then we could be geniuses ruling academia. Also, all those points you brought up? SPOT ON. We rely on superheroes today the same way early civilizations relied on their gods (and later Yahweh/God/Allah). It gives us courage and hope ( ... )

rapturesmusic December 25 2011, 05:22:40 UTC

(continuing from previous comment ( ... )

rapturesmusic December 25 2011, 05:33:39 UTC

DC's villians are generally cookie-cutter at best. The villians featured in the Batman titles break those molds, but even in JL/JLU, you see Batman using brains more than brawn to take them down. Again, another reason I like Batman so much. If someone were to take Braniac out, it would be him. Superman's too much of a muscle-y dunce to truly defeat Brainiac. Or Lex Luthor, actually. >.>;

Marvel's villians are that balance of human and inhuman in the sense that like normal people, they've got their pros and cons, they're just bad guys. BUT you still get that sense that, given half a chance, they wouldn'y be bad guys. Nature vs. Nurture, if you want to look at it from a psychologist's point of view. Were they born fucked up? Or was it their environment that led to them being fucked up? With DC, it's obviously Nature. With Marvel, you have to wonder. =D You kinda touched on that, but I kinda went deeper with it ( ... )

arthoniel December 25 2011, 07:04:38 UTC

I should write a paper about this? You have a paper about superheroes - particularly Batman - here too! We should totally edit them and publish them together. It'd be awesome. XD

I will admit, Batman is awesome, and he's one of the DC heroes I do have true respect for. But, as you have also pointed out, he's very atypical of DC heroes. I want to get to know his character better, though... I'm really only just beginning to get into western comics on any kind of real, significant level, and I've mostly just been diving into Marvelverse, so I haven't seen nearly as much of Batman as I'd like.

Also, I never knew that, about the names! I mean, I suppose, if I thought about it, it would make sense... Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Loki Laufeyson... but having it pointed out to me is awesome. Also, Mary-Jane... had no idea about her name either! That's fantastic. Go Marvel ( ... )

rapturesmusic December 26 2011, 07:13:47 UTC

LOL You should read my paper on Disneyism ( it's right here). I have this...thing about delving into mainstream media and hacking it to bits. Even if I'm being over-analytical, it's good to be a skeptic. And yes, that paper WAS written for a class, and I had friends here that were clamoring to read it, so once I'd written it and handed it in, I posted it here for everyone to read. (On that note, since Disney is fun to pick apart and all that, I'd love to see what you come up with. =D )

Batman...like I said, he's the ONLY DC hero that comes close to being something like the Marvel heroes. He's like Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and Wolverine (Oh. My. GOD. Can you imagine the epicness of a fight between Batman and Wolverine?!), all rolled into one. That and he's so dark. I mean, c'mon. What's not to love?

I just remembered a line from the 1993 cartoon that aired on FOX Kids (holy shit that makes me feel so old). "I am vengence. I am the night. I AM BATMAN!" <--- That line, right there, sums up everything about Batman in three sentences. ( ... )

arthoniel December 28 2011, 04:58:22 UTC

Oh man, Disney. I'm holding off on that one, actually, because I am taking a course on the films of Disney this coming semester! I mean, technically, I'm not actually in it because it got capped when it wasn't supposed to be and all sorts of weird stuff, but like hell if I'm not sitting in on it. XD

And it's true, Batman is pretty badass. And I really wish they'd do a modern Marvel and DC crossover somehow... it'd be insane and awesome. Because I would love to see that Batman/Wolverine fight too!

I'm well aware that Thor is just Marvel making a profit off of existing Norse mythology... but hey, it worked for them. And it is inspiring me to get more into Norse mythology... I mean, I've always loved Greek and Roman mythology, so why not Norse mythology too ( ... )

Thread 6

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rapturesmusic December 26 2011, 07:38:46 UTC

Good point. I'd forgotten about the angst arcs. But that was another thing DC abused. Lois was ALWAYS the damsel in distress. I laughed when I first saw Megamind, because they were making fun of that with Roxanne Ritchie and Metroman. HOWEVER, if you remember Superman (1978, starring Christopher Reeve), they DID delve into that, and Lois was originally killed. He was only able to "save" Lois by flying around the Earth so fast that he went back in time and was thus able to thwart both missiles (with a little help from Luthor's girlfriend ( ... )

arthoniel December 28 2011, 05:06:13 UTC

I really do love how topical and modern Marvel always is. They very much have their finger on the pulse of what is really present in the minds of their audience... I'm particularly thinking of the first Iron Man movie with Robert Downey Jr., how they updated his origins to be that he was held captive by Middle Eastern terrorists. But I also just re-watched that yesterday, so it's kinda super present in my mind. XD