Comics' Mythologization Trend

If the late 80's were the Grim-and-Gritty Period and the 90's were the Era of the Artist Superstar, then today we are surely living in comics' Age of Mythologization. While superheroes and their parables of good vs. evil have long been a sort of mythology for contemporary society, there has existed in the past 5 or 6 years a concerted effort to introduce expansive metanarratives into the histories of many of our favorite comic characters.

Such mythologization is characterized by casting the hero as a crucial figure in a grand conflict or phenomenon that transcends the mere details of his past adventures. It often involves a spiritual or mystical element that ties into the hero's origin and powers, as well as sometimes a similar opposing force associated with the villains. This can allow for the introduction of multiple versions or variations of the hero, either as a historical lineage or a contemporary fraternity.

Though mythologizing a superhero franchise can involve introducing new elements and characters to the universe in question, often comics come with ready-made ingredients to do so. There is already a plethora of costumed identities that have been shared by multiple comics characters over the years. Adding to this is the fact that the longest standing characters have complex histories throughout which they have been reinterpreted and reimagined numerous times. In many cases, a mythology is simply a way of threading together preexisting characters and eras. The best mythologist writers can make it seem as if the entire decades-long span of a title combines to tell a single gigantic story.

The poster boy for this type of character treatment is undoubtedly Geoff Johns in his recent DC work, but he's far from the only writer to embrace the trend. And though DC with its scores of "legacy" heroes and love of parallel universes seems the most likely candidate for mythologization, Marvel has not shied away from the concept either. The following are some of the best examples of superhero mythology from the last few years:

The Flash

Already discussed in-depth here in an earlier post, Mark Waid spent the bulk of the 90's setting the groundwork for today's superhero mythologization during his run on The Flash. The world of Wally West was already filled with others who had taken up the Flash mantle or bore similar powers under a different moniker. Waid showed us that this was more than mere coincidence. The Speed Force, which gave each of these individuals their powers, stood revealed as the shaper of speedster destiny from the beginning of time, and it remains as the foundation of the Flash mythos today.

Spider-Man

When J. Michael Straczynski signed on with the Marvel bullpen to write Amazing Spider-Man, he set out to do more than tell yet another parable of power and responsibility. From the outset of his tenure on the book, JMS cast Peter Parker as the most prominent of many throughout time who had gained the powers of the spider. The radioactive bite he suffered as a teen had merely been the means by which he became linked to this force. This new take made sense, as nearly all of Spider-Man's foes over the years (Vulture, Scorpion, Dr. Octopus, etc) were associated with some kind of animal symbol. All of these revelations came from the mouth of Ezekiel, himself imbued with spider abilities, and brought Peter into confrontation with Morlun, an evil being who sought to feast upon the might of the spider totem. Straczynski's additions to the Spider-Man universe were met with mixed reactions by longterm fans, and it remains to be seen whether these elements will continue to be referenced in the future.

Green Lantern

GL is probably the first character today's fans think of when considering mythologization. This comes from the fact that the newly introduced mythology has actually taken hold as a marketing device for DC in this year's Big Event, Blackest Night. Since the Silver Age, it has been established that a Green Lantern harness the power of the will. What writer Geoff Johns has brought us in stories like Rebirth and The Sinestro Corps War is that there are other colors of light that all correspond to a certain place on the "emotional spectrum." And each color comes with its own ring-wielding corps, with emotionally-appropriate oaths, powers, and motivations.

Iron Fist

In 2006, Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker took the Marvel mainstay (but second tier) hero Iron Fist and cast the nets of mythology outward in two dimensions. Vertically, martial arts master Danny Rand was now the latest in a long line of men to have harnessed the power of the Iron Fist and serve as champion of the mythical city of K'un L'un. Horizontally, Danny shares his status with six other cities' champions, persons of various kung fu and mystical abilities who have at times acted as both enemy and ally to the bearer of the Iron Fist. Given that Brubaker and Fraction currently seem to be enjoying the status of architects of the Marvel Universe, it's safe to assume that Iron Fist has been permanently mythologized.

Superman (and the entire DC Universe)

In one sense, it seems absurd to think that Superman could be mythologized any further than he already has been. As the standard-bearer and inspiration for basically every other superhero, you could consider Superman's mythology to be all of comics. And that is exactly the perspective Grant Morrison took when he commented on the nature of hero stories in Final Crisis. He explains the DC Multiverse, with its variations-on-a-theme battles of good vs. evil as having spun-off from a single foundational story. And we as readers catch a glimpse of the heart of that story, standing in its center is the unmistakable archetypal image of Superman. It's the type of abstract, high-concept that won't be found on the back of an action figure package, but Final Crisis is required reading for anyone interested in how deep the mythology of comics can go.

Ultimate Marvel

On one hand, the alternate world of the Ultimate Marvel label was a way to bring classic characters into a more grounded, real world setting, much like today's superhero movies. But it was also an attempt to streamline and consolidate Marvel continuity, and with this came mythologization. In the Ultimate U, the experiments that created Captain America during WWII were repeated and revised by many scientists and corporations. Such endeavors indirectly led to the creation of the Hulk, the genetically-altered spider that bit Peter Parker, and the introduction of the mutant X-gene into the population. And it all may prove to be just a testing ground for the "real" Marvel Universe, the "origin" of which is set to be told in Ed Brubaker's upcoming The Marvels Project.

Bible Desecration? It's Not Unthinkable.

I've been enjoying Boom Studios' Unthinkable mini-series, written and created by Mark Sable. With its finger on the pulse of our post-9/11 preoccupation with terrorism as entertainment (coming soon on Fox, 24 Season Eight), the book seems ready-made to be optioned by Hollywood. Yet with its real-world setting and distance from superheroes and their mythology, it didn't seem to be a likely candidate to receive commentary on this blog.

But the subject of terror unavoidably brings about the topic of religion, and this is the direction Sable takes us in Unthinkable #3. Set mostly in Israel, the issue explores what an end-of-world terror scenario looks like within the context of the Arab-Jew conflict. However, as ripe as that may be for discussion, it's actually an unrelated panel that sent me rushing to my keyboard eager to nitpick.

As an American intelligence officer interrogates the main characters about the implementation of terrorist plots they may have designed, Sable subjects each to their own ironic form of torture. The lawyer finds his civil rights violated via waterboarding, the computer geek receives electric shock from an XBox 360 power supply, and so on. The character above is the series representative for evangelical Christianity, a Tim LaHaye analogue who predicts the end times in his Left Behind-type novel series. His torture? Having to watch a soldier carelessly tear apart a copy of the Bible.

Based on the fact that the series' featured evangelical is cast as an annoying hypocrite, I assume that Mark Sable isn't acquainted with Christianity as his personal ideology. And in accordance with this, his choice of "torture" for the token Bible-thumper misses the mark. Likely informed by the news stories of Qur'an desecration at Guantanamo Bay, Sable fails to grasp the differences between Christianity and Islam.

Whereas Muslims venerate original language copies of their foundational text, Protestant Christians hold no such sentiments toward any material object. They worship God "in the Spirit," independently from their physical surroundings. Though the truths revealed in scripture are indeed sacred, the pages they are printed on are fundamentally no more to be honored than any other part of creation. Granted, you probably won't find a Christian treating his own Bible in this manner, but witnessing a stranger doing so is unlikely to elicit the melodramatic response seen in this comic.

This is not to deny that Sable conducted his fair share of research on religious matters in writing this issue. That much is apparent from the way he Brian K. Vaughans us by explaining the affinity many evangelicals have for Zionist goals and how it all relates to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Bible-ripping incident is really a throw-away moment in Unthinkable's grand scheme, but the unreality of it all took me out of the story long enough to make a negative impact on the reading experience.

Wednesday Comics: Nice Try, DC. (Seriously!)

Wednesday Comics hit the shelves last week, and it's not a stretch to suggest that it's likely the most original idea that will come out of the Big Two this year. In an industry seemingly cursed with an endless stream of continuity-glazed crossovers impenetrable to those who weren't baptized into fandom decades ago, such a break from staleness should be welcome. I've recently wondered if my adult self would have ever gotten into comics had I not grown up with Super Powers action figures and the old box of 1960s comics at my grandparents' house. Would the comics of today have been readable enough to do the trick? The truth is that, despite the superhero movie boom, Marvel and DC will have to come up with something fresh to attract new readership before the bubble bursts.

Wednesday Comics is exactly the type of creative thinking that fits the bill. It's an out-of-the-ordinary concept being successfully marketed and gaining attention by the mainstream media. Which is why it pains me to say that it isn't going to work.

Yes, though I applaud the risk that DiDio and company are taking here, I think sales for Wednesday Comics will be relatively low. I don't think it will have broad appeal for non-comics readers, and I also think it lacks the content to make it a smash for those who already pick up the monthlies.

Let's start by looking at the tastes of the public at large when it approaches the fringes of the comics world. Namely, there's the high grosses brought in by superhero movies, but there's also the fact that trade paperbacks and graphic novels do okay among the masses. There's no doubt that people have an interest in superhero fare, but they tend to flock toward the genre when it is presented in a more comprehensive, in-depth format. The most successful movies of late have delved into the origins of their heroes alongside exploring their psychological makeup in a real world context. And trade paperbacks, though they're technically the same things sold in the "floppies," allow for a complete story to be told at once.

The problem with Wednesday Comics, as it pertains to mass appeal, is that it moves in the opposite direction from "regular" comics as do the things above. Each segment of a Wednesday Comics issue gives you (at most) the equivalent of two pages of a standard comic. This means that not only will each individual issue be deficient in story depth, but the series' entire 12-issue run won't be long enough to pack much of a cumulative punch either.

If movies like Iron Man and graphic novels like Watchmen challenge the public's preconceived notions about the simplicity of superheroes, Wednesday Comics reinforces them. By adopting the format and length of a Sunday paper funnies section, the series stands poised to breath new life into the scoffer's argument that comics are still "kids' stuff." The "Biff, Bam, Pow!" jokes I heard outside the IMAX theater where I saw The Dark Knight just a year ago served as a painful reminder that the genre still has a long way to go in some segments of the populace.

For the card-carrying fanboy, I also doubt the ability of Wednesday Comics to attract a significant following. Sure, there will be some who are caught up in the artsiness of it all. But when it comes down to it, clever art experiments are not what fill pull lists on a weekly basis. Even though a star artist can bolster the sales of a popular book, basically there are two elements that can launch a comic to the top of the charts, both story-driven. A top-selling book either promises a significant addition to shared universe continuity (think Secret Invasion) or a standalone tale epic enough to convince readers to step outside the comforts of "canon" (like All Star Superman). Wednesday Comics, unlinked to continuity and not long enough to sustain a robust story, meets neither of these requirements.

Also worth mentioning, though it has been much discussed elsewhere, is the problem posed by Wednesday Comics' price tag. I can't imagine either newbies or lifers happily plopping down $4 for something that looks and feels like a newspaper.

So, it is with a somewhat heavy heart that Infinite Kizes predicts the financial failure of DC's endeavor with Wednesday Comics. Even worse is my fear that it will all amount to a wasted opportunity to bring the joy of comics to the unconverted. I do hope that, if this all plays out as I think it will, DC and Marvel won't shrink back from searching out new, innovative ways to deliver their product.

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For an opposing view, check out last week's When World's Collide, by the much smarter and more articulate Timothy Callahan of Comic Book Resources.

The Superman serial from Wednesday Comics can be read each week online at USA Today.

The Curious Case of the Harveys

Taking a short break at work today to browse comics news, I came across the release of the nominations for this year's Harvey Awards (eligible books were those published in 2008). One nomination on the list stood out to me above the rest, as it hardly sounded like standard award-winning fare, to put it mildly. Yet there it was in the "Best Single Issue or Story" category--something called Nascar Heroes #5.

And an artist on that series, Matt Cassan, was even nominated for "Best New Talent!"

Instantly my intrigue was triggered. A Nascar-sponsored comic nominated for an industry award? Could something that seemed more better suited for a Happy Meal tie-in than serious reading actually be good? It wasn't the craziest notion in the world. After all, the superhero comics I love were once (and still might be) considered kid stuff by the public at large. Maybe some up-and-coming Alan Moore or Grant Morrison was working his way up the industry ladder and had crafted a transcendent tale hiding behind the facade of a licensed property. One that boiled the Nascar Heroes, along with issue 5's Nascar Villians, down to their true essence.

Sadly, a quick Google search for the issue turned up nothing in the way of reviews for this issue. The only relevant hit at the time was John Nacinovich's Twitter entry, wondering the same thing as me. I did, however, come across a scathing critique of issue #1 on the blog Polite Dissent. Not too promising for validating the quality of the series' fifth installment...

Well, it seems that such perplexing Harvey noms are a yearly occurrence. Comments on another blog, The Beat, bore this out, referencing years past when offerings from Crossgen and Disney dominated the noms list. There appears to be quite a history of publishers and creators abusing their Harvey voting privileges to promote their own material. Contrast this to the Eisners, which still decide winners via peer voting but hand out their nominations based on the work of a closed committee. It isn't simply a matter of ballot stuffing, as Johanna Draper Carlson notes on Comics Worth Reading. It's more due to a lack of interest in Harvey participation by the majority of creators, leaving the voting mainly up to those looking to self-hype.

And to a certain extent, the ploy works. I definitely didn't wake up this morning expecting to discuss a Nascar comic book. But when it comes down to it, those in the know don't regard the Harvey Award nominations as a reliable source for finding quality comics. If the Eisner Awards are comics' Oscars, then the Harveys might as well be the MTV Movie Awards.

Coming Soon to Infinite Kizes...

Let's face it. The past month or so this blog has, despite its title, been quite finite. Yours truly apologizes for letting things go this long. In the next couple weeks, however, be on the lookout for several new posts, including:

• A breakdown of comics' mythologization trend
• The secret origin of today's wave of comic book films
• Dynamite beats a dead horse
  
• The worst comics columnist on the web
• Doomsday predictions for Wednesday Comics (the title, not the concept)

See you soon!

My Gaiman Disconnect

Upon putting down the second and final chapter of Neil Gaiman's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" (Detective Comics #853), I knew it would be considered a classic. That, before the night was over, I'd be able to get online and find a bevy of 5-star and 10-out-of-10 reviews. If comics were the NFL, I'd soon hear the roar of fans spilling into the streets to celebrate a historically thrilling Superbowl victory. This was by all accounts a great comic. Too bad I wasn't able to join in on the fun.

From an objective standpoint, of course, I could explain to someone all the reasons that they should love this issue. Its near poetic dialogue and sincere and reverent nostalgia. The spectacular highlight-of-his-career artwork of Andy Kubert. The comic's pinpoint observations of the core of Batman's character and the fundamental elements that have allowed him to persevere over the decades. The fact that, after Gaiman, no one will ever again be able to write a "final" Batman story without looking like they've committed plagarism.

Subjectively, though, I couldn't lovingly embrace "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader" the way I knew I was supposed to. The plot device Gaiman utilized to convey his ideas was a depiction of Batman's spiritual experience of death, a fictionalized theory of what happens to a person as they die. And as a Christian, one who has firmly held convictions about what death entails and the role God has to play in it, Gaiman's portrayal of the event took me immediately out of the story. I just couldn't shake the contradiction between what I saw on the page and what I knew in my heart of hearts to be true.

To the unbeliever, my objections surely sound like the science geek who can't enjoy a summer action blockbuster because of all its technical inaccuracies. Be that as it may, it doesn't change the fact that I was seriously distracted by the New Agey details of Batman's "death" in this issue. A Christian knows death to entail a fearsome judgment by God, not the pleasantries of ancestor sprit guides and cyclical reincarnation. From my perspective, the presence of these elements bring undue attention to men like Gaiman's vain efforts to soften the sting of death. They coat it with sentimental stories and warm thoughts, none of which ultimately hold water. All when I'm supposed to be reflecting on the enduring literary legacy of my all-time favorite character.

Readers of this blog will know of my affinity for spiritual and mythological themes in superhero comics. And under different circumstances, I would surely welcome these concepts in Gaiman's story. But given the concrete specificity with which "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader" presents the details of the afterlife, I'll regrettably have to turn my search for such things elsewhere.

Rebirth Rerun

Though I certainly enjoyed the first issue of Flash: Rebirth (and have no reason to suspect that I'll feel differently about the next four), I have recently come to question what the significance of this Geoff Johns series will ultimately be. When all is said and done, what contribution will Rebirth have made to the Flash mythos? From this vantage point, it seems unlikely that it'll actually have much of one to speak of a few years down the line.

Don't get me wrong. It would be obvious to even the most minimally literate toddler why Flash: Rebirth is a big deal to comics fans right now. It marks the reintroduction of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash who's been dead for more than 20 years here on Earth-Real, to modern DC Universe continuity. But this is only its plot significance. What I'm looking for is something deeper, a paradigm shift in the essence of the Flash story, a restructuring of its very foundations.

To best understand what I mean, one must look back to the first time a "Rebirth" label was slapped onto the cover of a DC miniseries. Back then it was Johns again who was involved, breathing new life into the Green Lantern franchise. Story-wise, GL: Rebirth was similar to its Flash namesake, returning the green power ring to Hal Jordan, who had also been gone a while, at various points corrupted, killed, and Spectreized. But that was not all this milestone series did.
In addition to providing a story vehicle for Hal's return, GL: Rebirth essentially reinvented the entire concept of Green Lantern in the DC Universe. The GLs were no longer simply green superheroes with a weakness to yellow. They became custodians of the power of will itself, symbolized by their green color. And yellow light no longer had just an arbitrary invulnerability to the rings. It was now the manifestation of Parallax, the embodiment of fear that had implanted the impurity in the Oans' central power battery (as well as doubt and moral ambiguity in Hal Jordan's heart)!

Such mythological concepts have shaped the telling of essentially every Green Lantern story in the four years since. And even though these tales have been written mostly by Johns himself, there's enough material there for other writers to mine for years to come. In reading the original Rebirth mini, I felt as if the entire history of Green Lantern comics had been building to the revelations contained therein. In my judgment, this is what elevated the series to mythology status, a talent Johns has demonstrated in various degrees in most of the rest of his comics work.

The problem with Flash, however, is that the character already underwent the Johns treatment back before Geoff was even a spot on the comics creator horizon. Throughout the 90's and early 2000's, Mark Waid crafted one of the finest runs on a title that comicdom has ever known. His legendary Flash tenure cemented Wally West as THE Flash for a generation of readers. Furthermore, Waid's creation of the Speed Force, the semi-spiritual energy that powers Flash and all similar heroes, provided a mythological underpinning for Flash comics before it became trendy to do so.
The "Rebirth" story in this case was called Terminal Velocity, appearing in Flash issues 95-100. Though the plot featured a run-of-the-mill Flashes vs. Kobra terrorists conflict, the story was memorable for its introduction of the Speed Force and its haunting tendency to call the most accomplished speedsters to abandon their physical existence to it. Not only did the Force give Flash characters their powers, but it had been behind the scenes of pivotal Flash moments throughout history. Max Mercury's quest for it propelled him forward in time from the 1800s, and it had been the Speed Force itself that created the famous lightning bolts from the Wally West and Barry Allen origin stories.

As I predicted above would happen in future years for Green Lantern, Waid's mythology already has become the inspiration for his successors on Flash. In fact, it appears to be at the very heart of Geoff Johns' plans for Barry Allen in Rebirth. This doesn't mean that Johns won't find clever and creative ways to utilize the Speed Force to tell a new story, but it does mean that room for him to embark upon wholesale reinvention of the Flash universe will be a bit scarce. In other words, while Flash: Rebirth will no doubt earn its place alongside other classic Flash stories in a longbox, it'll be Mark Waid's work that headlines the collection.