Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Dwayne McDuffie, Comics "Icon"
Truly sad day for comic book and animation fans.
Dwayne McDuffie -- someone who I never met, but who I admired more than I realized -- died today, at the ridiculously not-old age of 49. Many of you might not have heard of him, but the odds are that you're more aware of his work than you know. If you -- or your kids -- ever watched the Static Shock cartoon, then you knew Dwayne McDuffie. If you -- or your kids -- have ever watched Ben 10: Alien Force: , then you may well know Dwayne McDuffie. If you were a comic book fan in the early '90s and discovered a brand new line of minority-focused comics called Milestone, then you definitely know Dwayne McDuffie. He was the co-founder and creative mastermind; Static was the line's premiere character. Milestone took hardy comic staples and turned them upside down with a diversity angle that was hardly PC. Take the "Spider-Man" origin -- nerdy kid given superpowers -- but make him a Cosby-type black youngster instead: Voila!! You get Static.
Another great McDuffie creation: Icon: Take the Superman origin of a "strange visitor from another planet," but make him a near-immortal black man who's a wealthy Republican businessman (with the Dickensian name of Augustus Freeman) and team him up with a smart-talking teenage black girl sidekick! In other words, Icon becomes a black Superman AND Batman! The DC-published line only lasted a few years, but its influence is still felt today. (Proving that the line was ahead of its time, a Milestone creation called Xombi, a techno-created zombie is being revived during these "Walking Dead" times).
McDuffie wasn't afraid to "call out" his mainstream bosses if he saw tedious, stereotypical depictions of minority characters. A late-80s in-house memo distributed to his then-Marvel colleagues is both hilarious and awesome to behold.. Of course, that willingness to speak truth to power is never without consequence: DC removed him from writing Justice League of America a couple years ago for telling-tales-out-of-school on his frustrations with the corporate culture interfering with some of the storylines he wanted to pursue.
That was especially a shame because, a few years before, McDuffie had been responsible for the creatively and commercially successful Justice League Unlimited animated series, which helped reintroduce the African-American Green Lantern, John Stewart to a whole new generation. Indeed, for many kids in the Uh-Oh Decade, their GL was black. For a "cartoon," JLU had a remarkably "adult" (without being smarmy or suggestive) take on superheroes, and included a relationship between Stewart and Shayera, the Hawkgirl character. Forget interracial controversy -- this was interplanetary!!
Anyway, McDuffie was talented, entrepreneurial and, from the various testimonials around the blogosphere and Twitterverse a truly special individual. (His passing was especially poignant given today's release of the "All-Star Superman" DVD for which McDuffie provided the script adaption of Grant Morrison's graphic novel. Pick up a copy in the next few days in his honor.)
R.I.P.
UPDATE: Another long-time Marvel and DC editor, Christopher Priest, wrote several years back on his role assisting McDuffie and the creation of Milestone Media.
Other views here, here, here, here and here.
New York Post reports.
Los Angeles Times reports.
UPDATE II: A final observation on our changed media landscape: A few years ago, I wonder how many people would have ever known about McDuffie's death today -- or the comics he wrote or cartoons he helped create. His name was trending on Twitter almost non-stop since the news of his passing hit the 'Net around 3 PM EST. We live in an age now where fans of his work operate in a medium that allows them access to reactions of people who personally knew and collaborated with the creators of some of our favorite pieces of entertainment, past and present. Yes, sometimes Twitter is just used as a PR device for an actor's show, movie or play; a writer's next book or article -- or a politician's next bit of spin.
But McDuffie's death shows that Twitter can on certain occasions be something else: It's a legitimate information vehicle; it brings knowledge that won't be seen on either cable or broadcast news any time soon -- and serves as a cyber version of the corner square where those already in the know can share the sadness felt on the passing of a creative mind who touched them in a unique way. Twitter isn't needed when a mega-celebrity like Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett dies. Those are names that the old media would broadcast immediately everywhere at any time. But in an increasingly niche-market and niche-interest world, Twitter is as indispensable for everyone in the manner that the old AP and UPI newswires were for the journalistic aristocracy.
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Dwayne McDuffie -- someone who I never met, but who I admired more than I realized -- died today, at the ridiculously not-old age of 49. Many of you might not have heard of him, but the odds are that you're more aware of his work than you know. If you -- or your kids -- ever watched the Static Shock cartoon, then you knew Dwayne McDuffie. If you -- or your kids -- have ever watched Ben 10: Alien Force: , then you may well know Dwayne McDuffie. If you were a comic book fan in the early '90s and discovered a brand new line of minority-focused comics called Milestone, then you definitely know Dwayne McDuffie. He was the co-founder and creative mastermind; Static was the line's premiere character. Milestone took hardy comic staples and turned them upside down with a diversity angle that was hardly PC. Take the "Spider-Man" origin -- nerdy kid given superpowers -- but make him a Cosby-type black youngster instead: Voila!! You get Static.
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| Dwayne McDuffie, 1962-2011 |
McDuffie wasn't afraid to "call out" his mainstream bosses if he saw tedious, stereotypical depictions of minority characters. A late-80s in-house memo distributed to his then-Marvel colleagues is both hilarious and awesome to behold.. Of course, that willingness to speak truth to power is never without consequence: DC removed him from writing Justice League of America a couple years ago for telling-tales-out-of-school on his frustrations with the corporate culture interfering with some of the storylines he wanted to pursue.
 |
| Icon & Rocket's first collected appearance, "A Hero's Welcome." |
Anyway, McDuffie was talented, entrepreneurial and, from the various testimonials around the blogosphere and Twitterverse a truly special individual. (His passing was especially poignant given today's release of the "All-Star Superman" DVD for which McDuffie provided the script adaption of Grant Morrison's graphic novel. Pick up a copy in the next few days in his honor.)
R.I.P.
UPDATE: Another long-time Marvel and DC editor, Christopher Priest, wrote several years back on his role assisting McDuffie and the creation of Milestone Media.
Other views here, here, here, here and here.
New York Post reports.
Los Angeles Times reports.
UPDATE II: A final observation on our changed media landscape: A few years ago, I wonder how many people would have ever known about McDuffie's death today -- or the comics he wrote or cartoons he helped create. His name was trending on Twitter almost non-stop since the news of his passing hit the 'Net around 3 PM EST. We live in an age now where fans of his work operate in a medium that allows them access to reactions of people who personally knew and collaborated with the creators of some of our favorite pieces of entertainment, past and present. Yes, sometimes Twitter is just used as a PR device for an actor's show, movie or play; a writer's next book or article -- or a politician's next bit of spin.
But McDuffie's death shows that Twitter can on certain occasions be something else: It's a legitimate information vehicle; it brings knowledge that won't be seen on either cable or broadcast news any time soon -- and serves as a cyber version of the corner square where those already in the know can share the sadness felt on the passing of a creative mind who touched them in a unique way. Twitter isn't needed when a mega-celebrity like Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett dies. Those are names that the old media would broadcast immediately everywhere at any time. But in an increasingly niche-market and niche-interest world, Twitter is as indispensable for everyone in the manner that the old AP and UPI newswires were for the journalistic aristocracy.
Labels: black, Comic Books, DC Comics, Dwayne McDuffie, Superheroes
Friday, July 09, 2010
Comic Book Friday: Superman In Gotham
CollegeHumor considers the implications of Superman flying in to stamp out crime in Batman's city:
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Labels: humor, parody, Superheroes
Friday, May 04, 2007
Oh What A Tangled Web
Spider-Man 3: Fanboy dream -- or nightmare?
On the surface, it should be the former as its packed with far more action than the first film. Given all the soldout midnight performance around New York Thursday night/Friday morning, the flick should easily hit the $120 mil Spidey 1 took in in its first weekend.
On the other hand, a young man exiting the theatre where I saw it may have delivered what could be an early epitaph. Responding to his buddy's, "So whadidya think?" the guy said, "I saw Love, Actually over the weekend. I didn't need to see it again." Ouch!
Another viewer was overheard saying, "I really wanted to like it. I guess I still do, but I'm afraid I'm gonna wake up tomorrow ticked off that I didn't get to bed until 4:30. " Ouch again.
I sympathize with these reactions: Three was the both the magic number and the unlucky number for this movie: Three super-villains (including an alien symbiote), three overlapping romantic triangles, major psycho-drama including fatherhood and parenting issues (one of the supervillians turns out to be a bad father -- don't you just hate that?) plus enough plot to fill three comic-book movies may just simply be too much. At 140 mins., it becomes something of an endurance test (consider yourself lucky -- the third Pirates of the Caribbean is supposedly nearly three hours).
Creatively, I have the same criticism here that I've had in other Marvel-related films: There's this annoying trend of grafting the origin of the villain onto that of the hero. That was the biggest flaw in the first Fantastic Four movie -- putting Doctor Doom on the rocketship w/the would-be FF.
That happens here with the revised origin of The Sandman -- he's now the actual triggerman who killed Peter's Uncle Ben. The resolution to his story is beyond unsatisfying; it is infuriating and borderline offensive in its moral equivalence. I'll discuss more of that after the weekend when more people have had a chance to see the film. I don't want to give too many spoilers here.
James Franco as Harry (Goblin II) Osborne is the real standout in this edition. There's a real arc to his character and you're truly made to care about him -- even when he's at his most evil -- which interestingly, occurs in a scene when he's not in his Goblin outfit. Franco also manages to carry himself in such a way that he physically looks like he is related to WilliamHurt DaFoe (who played Norman "Green Goblin" Osborne).
The movie could have been tighter and better without pushing Venom (played here by Topher Grace) into it. It was just too much. Indeed, without Venom, the writers might have come up with a more plausible conclusion to The Sandman arc. And, yes, it would have been possible to have introduced the black suit/symbiote without going all-Venom. Heck, they've managed to mention/use Doctor Connors in all three movies without turning him into what he becomes in the comics, The Lizard, right? Sometimes less actually is more.
Tobey Maguire looks like he's having fun when he gets to show off his dark, symbiote-influenced side. The extended scene where he is under the symbiote suit's influence is quite disturbing even as it is initially played for laughs. Kirsten Dunst is good as usual as Mary Jane Watson though she gets to offer only two emotional extremes: depressed/angry (at Peter) and threatened/endangered by the villain of the moment. The tender and sweet Mary Jane we saw in the first two films is hardly seen here. And that may reflect the main problem of the movie. The first two parts of the Spider franchise (especially the very first) had a good balance between action/adventure and emotional content that avoided being maudlin. This time around, the emotional content became unconvincing soap opera (thus the Love, Actually comment).
Bryce Dallas Howard is completely unbelievable and irrelevant as Gwen Stacy, a likely rival for Peter's attentions. The Gwen of the comics was vivacious in a completely different way from Mary Jane -- and one could see how Peter could be attracted to both. Not with this Gwen. She could just as easily been Miss Blonde X.
On the other hand, James Cromwell was born to play Stacy police chief dad (but, then again, is there a cop who James Cromwell was not born to play -- when he's not playing creepy turncoats on 24 and L.A. Confidential?).
Anyway, that's it. Alas, Spider-Man 3 comes to me as a disappointment -- too long and too convoluted, though with a couple of good performances and plentiful special effects. It should make well over $200 milliion in the first 10 days or so. Will it make back its reported $350 million? Now, that's an interesting question.
On Monday, I'll address the Sandman arc conclusion that I found so appalling.
UPDATE: Corrected to reflect the proper name of the actor William who played the Green Goblin. This will teach me not to write reviews at 4 a.m.
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On the surface, it should be the former as its packed with far more action than the first film. Given all the soldout midnight performance around New York Thursday night/Friday morning, the flick should easily hit the $120 mil Spidey 1 took in in its first weekend.
On the other hand, a young man exiting the theatre where I saw it may have delivered what could be an early epitaph. Responding to his buddy's, "So whadidya think?" the guy said, "I saw Love, Actually over the weekend. I didn't need to see it again." Ouch!
Another viewer was overheard saying, "I really wanted to like it. I guess I still do, but I'm afraid I'm gonna wake up tomorrow ticked off that I didn't get to bed until 4:30. " Ouch again.
I sympathize with these reactions: Three was the both the magic number and the unlucky number for this movie: Three super-villains (including an alien symbiote), three overlapping romantic triangles, major psycho-drama including fatherhood and parenting issues (one of the supervillians turns out to be a bad father -- don't you just hate that?) plus enough plot to fill three comic-book movies may just simply be too much. At 140 mins., it becomes something of an endurance test (consider yourself lucky -- the third Pirates of the Caribbean is supposedly nearly three hours).
Creatively, I have the same criticism here that I've had in other Marvel-related films: There's this annoying trend of grafting the origin of the villain onto that of the hero. That was the biggest flaw in the first Fantastic Four movie -- putting Doctor Doom on the rocketship w/the would-be FF.
That happens here with the revised origin of The Sandman -- he's now the actual triggerman who killed Peter's Uncle Ben. The resolution to his story is beyond unsatisfying; it is infuriating and borderline offensive in its moral equivalence. I'll discuss more of that after the weekend when more people have had a chance to see the film. I don't want to give too many spoilers here.
James Franco as Harry (Goblin II) Osborne is the real standout in this edition. There's a real arc to his character and you're truly made to care about him -- even when he's at his most evil -- which interestingly, occurs in a scene when he's not in his Goblin outfit. Franco also manages to carry himself in such a way that he physically looks like he is related to William
The movie could have been tighter and better without pushing Venom (played here by Topher Grace) into it. It was just too much. Indeed, without Venom, the writers might have come up with a more plausible conclusion to The Sandman arc. And, yes, it would have been possible to have introduced the black suit/symbiote without going all-Venom. Heck, they've managed to mention/use Doctor Connors in all three movies without turning him into what he becomes in the comics, The Lizard, right? Sometimes less actually is more.
Tobey Maguire looks like he's having fun when he gets to show off his dark, symbiote-influenced side. The extended scene where he is under the symbiote suit's influence is quite disturbing even as it is initially played for laughs. Kirsten Dunst is good as usual as Mary Jane Watson though she gets to offer only two emotional extremes: depressed/angry (at Peter) and threatened/endangered by the villain of the moment. The tender and sweet Mary Jane we saw in the first two films is hardly seen here. And that may reflect the main problem of the movie. The first two parts of the Spider franchise (especially the very first) had a good balance between action/adventure and emotional content that avoided being maudlin. This time around, the emotional content became unconvincing soap opera (thus the Love, Actually comment).
Bryce Dallas Howard is completely unbelievable and irrelevant as Gwen Stacy, a likely rival for Peter's attentions. The Gwen of the comics was vivacious in a completely different way from Mary Jane -- and one could see how Peter could be attracted to both. Not with this Gwen. She could just as easily been Miss Blonde X.
On the other hand, James Cromwell was born to play Stacy police chief dad (but, then again, is there a cop who James Cromwell was not born to play -- when he's not playing creepy turncoats on 24 and L.A. Confidential?).
Anyway, that's it. Alas, Spider-Man 3 comes to me as a disappointment -- too long and too convoluted, though with a couple of good performances and plentiful special effects. It should make well over $200 milliion in the first 10 days or so. Will it make back its reported $350 million? Now, that's an interesting question.
On Monday, I'll address the Sandman arc conclusion that I found so appalling.
UPDATE: Corrected to reflect the proper name of the actor William who played the Green Goblin. This will teach me not to write reviews at 4 a.m.
Labels: Comic Books, movies, Spider-Man 3, Superheroes
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Comic Relief
Since I have the week off from work, and Ragged Thots hasn't seen a good post on comic books in quite a few moons, I thought I'd saunter over to Barnes and Noble and check out the selection.
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Now, admittedly, I haven't read comic books on a regular basis since about 1981. I lost track of the Marvel Universe after the Hellfire Club storyline in X-Men. My favorite comic book at the time was Daredevil. I have, on RAG's recommendation, checked out Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. I'm also happy to find out that Neal Adams is still alive and kicking. As a kid, I always enjoyed more esoteric comics like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and the Creeper (I won't ask how Steve Ditko came up with the idea for a superhero whose costume is comprised of fashion brief underwear and a red feather boa).
So, God Willing, later I'll post something about a mans re-acquaintance with the polychromatic effulgence of his youth. Any recommendations? Also, any thoughts out there on the lameness of Made-For-TV superheroes (Space Ghost, Blue Falcon, etc.) vs. Originated-in-Print ones? Ralph Bakshi's answer to that question here (any Marine Corps readers out there, feel free to laugh at the Boatswains Mate with super powers).
Labels: Animation, Comic Books, Marvel, Superheroes
