Posts Tagged Comics

This kind of goes along with my previous post concerning the way censorship and ratings in the US tends to be heavy-handed when it comes to nudity while allowing all sorts of violence to be branded “kid-friendly.”

There’s a phenomenon that I come across fairly regularly where people will ignore the ratings on a piece of media, buy the piece of media for their children, and then complain that “OH MY GOD, SUCHANDSUCH HAS NAKED PEOPLE/LOTS OF BLOOD AND GORE/HORRIFIC IMAGERY THAT MY PERFECT CHILD SHOULD NEVER SEE WITH THEIR INNOCENT EYES!”

At which point I tend to want to take the package, point at the rating (which inevitably is M, R, NC-17, etc.) and go “Yeah? That’s why it’s rated for ADULTS ONLY!”

At which point I get a blank look, and/or: “But it’s a cartoon/video game/comic book/etc. and cartoons/video games/comic books/etc. are meant for kids.”

Where did this come from, this automatic assumption that just because something drawn, either with traditional animation or art media or digitally, it therefore is intended primarily for children?  This is almost certainly a purely Western notion, because Japanese anime doesn’t seem to make that assumption (though I have seen Westerners assume thus in regards to Japanese anime).

First of all, as the first generation of at-home gamers (of which I am a proud member) grew up, video games grew up with them. Right now, the vast majority of gamers are ages 25 and up, both male and female. We’ve long ago outgrown shiny happy fairy-tale castles with a pretty pink princess inside, and most of us look for darker, grittier, more cynical, and yes, more realistically violent games.  For those of us who are parents, of which there are no small number, most of these games are such that we would never allow our children to play, though we may play them ourselves.

These video games are rated “M”, which is clearly marked on the video game package, along with the translation “For Mature Players.”  These are video games that are made for adults. Why, then, do some parents buy these games for their children, ignoring the rating, and then complain about the content?

The same seems to go for any animated cartoon, though shows like Beevis and Butthead, South Park, etc. have made a dent in it, I still see and hear of parents letting their children watch “cartoons” and then throwing a fit when they find out that it has some sort of inflammatory not-for-the-kiddos content in it.

Again, the ratings for these “cartoons” are clearly displayed on the television during the opening credits, are clearly available over the internet for anyone who wants to see them, and yet the parents are raising hell over these shows containing more mature content when they’re clearly marked as being not for kids.

But… but…. but… they’re cartoons.

Yeah? There’s been dirty pictures drawn all over the place since the first caveman picked up a stick of charcoal.

The same “but it’s made for kids” philosophy extends to comic books and any movies based on comic books too, as we all saw with release of Watchmen and the Legendary Blue Wang. I saw plenty of moms and dads leading their little kids into that movie, and then leading them right back out with hands over their eyes.  I had to wonder if they had completely failed to notice, on purchasing the ticket, that the movie had a great big “R” next to it?

No, because you see the thing is that these people who ignore the ratings on things and then end up burned inevitably turn on the distributors, the creators, the writers, the artists.  They are EVIL EVIL people for exposing their precious children to these things!

But it’s not the creators’ or the distributors’ fault. They made a product that was intended for adult consumption, and clearly marked as such on said product. This mark is a warning for parents, it says “This is not for kids.”  If the parent then chooses to ignore that warning, then it’s the parent’s own fault for what they have chosen to expose their child to.  You were warned. You chose not to heed that warning. It’s not our fault if you get burned.

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I read a lot. At any given time, I might be reading several books at once, and I average finishing somewhere around three books a week.  And since it seems to be time for such things, I decided I’d give a little list of the favorite books I read this year.

These books may not have been published this year. They might’ve been republished in a new edition, or won some awards that brought them to my attention, or they might’ve just been sitting on my waiting-to-read stack for a while, but each of these I read for the first time this year, and would recommend to anyone.

1. Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
   Winner of the Newberry and countless other awards and medals this year, and of course written by my favorite contemporary author, this is one of the best examples of what makes Neil Gaiman so great. His books may exist in the realm of the fantastic, but they are a prime example of just how much truth can exist in fiction.
2. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
   This is available on Doctorow’s website as a CC licensed e-book, for those with empty pockets, and it’s definitely worth the read, and the purchase. Cory Doctorow is one of the best emerging authors in the sci-fi/fantasy/speculative fiction genres. There’s nothing pulp about any of his work, and Little Brother, written for an adolescent audience, is just as pointed in its commentary as any of his others.
3. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
   This is written by the same woman who wrote The Time Traveller’s Wife, which I have not read.  This book is about the “life” of a young woman buried in Highgate Cemetary in London during the Victorian Era. (There did seem to be a lot of good ghost books lately…) Obsession is the major theme of the book, with each character seeming to have his or her own version of it, from obsessive love to obsessive hate and everything in between.
4. Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman, art by Andy Kubert (Pencil), and Scott Williams (Ink)
   As usual, my favorite graphic novel of the year was written by Neil Gaiman,  though this is a departure from my usual Sandman love. I’m usually a Marvel fan, when it comes to comics, but this gorgeous hardcover edition of Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? was too beautiful to bypass, and proved to have a wonderful tale within. It answers the question of  what happens to the world, when a bat dies.
5. Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, Art by Will Conrad, Ink by Jo Chen
   It’s unusual for me to have two graphic novels on my list, but these two were awesome enough for it. Of course, I’m a rather fervent Browncoat, but even putting fan-bias aside, this is an excellent comic.  Perhaps, with the television executives unwilling to give Joss Whedon the free reign he needs to produce truly great material, comics will provide a place for us to find the great writing that we all love him for.

So my post scheduling isn’t working lately, and until I figure out what’s messing it up I probably won’t be on my usual schedule. Plus, this morning I received some really disturbing news from The Best Boss Ever, which has me really nervy and worried, but I’m not going to blog about it because, while I may not be the smartest geek in the world, I know better than to blog publicly about work.  I won’t blog about work since I have The Best Boss Ever and don’t want to endanger that.

Good bosses are hard to come by.  Let’s just say that if there’s someone you haven’t hugged lately and you need to, do so. They might be taken from you at a moment’s notice.

And in the middle of all of this nerve-wracking news I get a tweet that says that Disney has bought out Marvel comics.

What?!?!

I had to stop a moment and sit down.  My beloved Marvel comics. Purchased. By Disney. The producers of elephants in tutus.  It naturally wasn’t long before the idea of Wolverine dressed as a Disney princess drifted across the Twitter airwaves. (Gee, thanks for that image, @furiey and @knightless...Damn you, tweeple. Damn you. That is so wrong.)

My first initial reaction to this news was utmost horror, but looking at it logically I have to admit that this doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.  Disney did the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, after all, and while none of the sequels had all of the charm of the first, they were in no way horrible. Although, I do still wonder how Johnny Depp still manages to be sexy when he’s filthy and his teeth look to be rotting out.

This purchase means money.  Money that Marvel needs in a time where all print media, comics included, is losing readership left and right. A few blockbuster films might help that and encourage people to at least check out the comics, but Disney has an unparalleled ability to market licensed characters in the form of just about any purchasable item you can think of, and that could just be the thing to help Marvel along.

Provided, of course, that it’s done the right way.

I am more than a bit worried for Marvel’s more mature and independent-minded properties.  Will they have to deal with the bowdlerizing influence of Disney? Will Disney try to make Marvel’s comic books into comics just for kids? – The potential is definitely there with some lines for censorship to remove all meaning from the stories.  Take the increasingly apparent parallels between the struggles for mutant rights in X-men and the struggles for gay rights and civil rights in politics today.  Will those political ideas that give the X-men comics so much meaning to so many people be expunged from the books?

I hope that Disney’s controlling influence in that manner will be light to non-existent.  As much as Marvel may need this new partnership, I would hate to see it destroy the quality of content that I have come to expect from them.  I’ve always been a devoted Marvel fan, and I hope that I can continue to be so.

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As I was saying before I was interrupted by the Firefox 3.5 update.

I haven’t done one of my random all-encompassing update posts in a while, though, and I don’t have any real over-arching theme for today, so here goes some randomness:

• Remember that comic artist friend of mine, Steph Sakurai (aka S. Cherrywell), that I’ve mentioned on and off here? Well, she’s found a publisher for her first print book at Slavelabor Graphics, an indy comic publisher known for dark humor, but also for their contract work on several Disney properties, including Gargoyles. Steph’s book is due out in January, so start looking for it in your comic shops then!  I’ll have more information, and possibly some cover art previews for you closer to the release date. (For Steph’s webcomics, see Intragalactic and Gorgeous Princess Creamy Beamy)
• I’ve submitted a story to the NPR/New Yorker Three-Minute Fiction contest. If you’re a writer and have something short enough to submit, you should too! It should be any piece of short fiction that can be read in three minutes or less (about 500-600 words), and the winner will be read on national NPR stations.  Once the contest is over, I’ll be putting a copy of the piece up here on my portfolio.
• The hastily declared National GLBT Month of June has passed without comment here, rather as I expected.  Pride parades never seem to make it to small town bible thumping Georgia.  It was a nice gesture on the President’s part, but nothing more than a gesture. I can see both sides of the issue here, the President not wanting to endanger other issues by coming out too heavily on the side of Gay Rights, and the people who complain that what he’s done is no where near enough.
• The costumes still aren’t started, but I have a good picture in my head now of what I want, and fortunately it won’t take nearly as much work or time as The Giant Pink Dress.  Bryant’s costume may still change, however. Looking for some more ideas.
• The cats are being cats. This morning “Brother-Mew” decided he wanted to go to work with me again and went marching out into the garage in front of me and waiting for me at the car.  I  considered asking my boss if we could possibly employ him for part time “work snuggies.”
• Finally, before I bore you all completely to death, a quick congratulations goes out to Kari of Mythbusters on the birth of her baby, Neil Gaiman for winning the Locus award, and my boss for managing to make it through a whole vacation only calling the office once a day.  A fond farewell to Blogatelle, one of the best WoW RP blogs I’ve ever seen. That site, even non-updated, will continue to be a resource that I send new roleplayers to for information for as long as it remains.

And that’s that.  I promise I’ll have, you know, an actual topic when I post again Friday.

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One of my close friends, and one of the most talented people I know, Steph Cherrywell, has just begun publishing her newest webcomic, Intragalactic. Steph is one of the best artists I know, particularly in terms of characterization, and her characters always seem to remind you of people you know, even when they may be in fantastical situations or settings. She’s also been kind enough to help me along in my first forays into the visual arts.

The new comic is just now getting put up, but that’s the best time to get started reading them, as you can easily start from the beginning and get to know the characters, so get on over there and subscribe.