Retailer Steve Bennett knows where Penance came from, and it’s not those magazines that Joe Q has been hiding from his wife:
It’s the same thing that’s been behind decades of attempts to make the super-hero genre more “relevant,” meaning “respectable”–a desperate fear that someone somewhere is laughing at us for reading super-hero comics, the gnawing panic knowing what we love and devoted so much of our time and energy to is still being held in contempt by the general public and intelligentsia.
So with a bit of micromanaging and a hint of social engineering we now have super-hero comic books that could never be confused with “kid stuff.” This new model owes a debt to such basic cable shows as Nip/Tuck and The Shield which takes genre material (doctors, cops, etc.) and plays with both audience expectations and the envelope of what’s acceptable. This is how we’ve gotten to the point where full frontal male nudity can somehow “sneak” into the pages of Spider-Man: Reign #1.
Of course the difference between these two examples is that no matter how realistic you make super-heroes they’ll never be realistic. None of it, the names, colorful costumes, dedicating oneself to a never ending war on crime, makes a bit of sense; and dressing up super-heroes in spikes and black leather doesn’t make The Pajama Game any more reasonable an enterprise.
January 15th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Yes, everything is because we’re all so deeply ashamed we read comic books. We couldn’t possibly actually like more mature themes and that sort of thing. No, don’t be ridiculous–it’s shame.
January 15th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
The scariest thing is how many editors and creators at Marvel think Penance was a good idea…
January 15th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
That’s fine, but should you really be expecting more mature themes and stories involving Spider-Man and Speedball?
January 15th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Speedball has always sucked. Gritty, mature, leather-clad, whatever - any change is an improvement. And, seriously - I never noticed the Peter Parker penis thing. Say that ten times fast, “Peter Parker Penis, Peter Parker Penis…”
January 15th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Penance has a cool custome and an interesting idea behind him, it may not be good, but its not like Speedball as a character had anything to loose
January 15th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Us fans of the the volume 1 New Warriors Speedball would disagree about Robbie having something to lose.
Don’t worry about the “loose” because I stink at spelling too. That is why I skipped the sarcastic remark.
January 15th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Seriously, didn’t Penance used to fight Spawn back in the 90s? Or was that someone else?
January 15th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
There are examples of more socially relevant comics that did not need to crassly disfigure the Super Hero genre. Works such as the O’neil/Adams GL/GA series, DKR, Watchmen and to some degree, Kingdom Come, are good examples of a legitimate evolutionary phase the medium has undergone while maintaining the integrity of the Super Hero mythology. It’s curious that publishers don’t appreciate the peculiar gifts inherrent in these works as a stepping stone to moving the medium forward.
January 15th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
geez, the guy talks as if it was Peter Parker’s erect penis. It was barely there and an a squiggly line.
he also forgot there are comics for kids like Johnny DC and Marvel Adventures and countless others.
penance, lame name, cool concept, bad costume. still an improvement over speedball.
January 15th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Hey Graeme, I hear Superfriends is still being played on Boomerang if that’s more your speed.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:58 am
Isn’t the whole shame argument just fanboy codeword for “i hate these changes but I want my opinion to appear more valid than just saying i don’t like it”
January 16th, 2007 at 5:07 am
Yes. Maybe Graeme has been reading the Byrne Board a bit too much lately, it’s rubbing off on him.
Seriously McMillan, what’s next? An article questioning where Vertigo and it’s fans gets off for being such self-loathing comic people that are too embarassed to write about Silver Age-era superheroes?
January 16th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Not all comics are about super-heroes either. There’s plenty of opportunity to tell mature stories that don’t involve spandex de-construction.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:41 am
So I wonder what the spikes on his butt remind him off
January 16th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Graeme wins a million cool points just for the title of this post. And from the same source:
“Only a bitter little adolescent boy could confuse realism with pessimism.”
January 16th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
“Seriously McMillan, what’s next?”
Graeme was quoting Steve Bennett’s commentary; he didn’t actually write it.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Your point being? If you think these posts are born in some vacuum and don’t reflectin anyway Graeme’s personal opinions on matters, I’ll gladly point you to the reams of Millarworld entries.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Heh.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
“Not all comics are about super-heroes either. There’s plenty of opportunity to tell mature stories that don’t involve spandex de-construction. ”
I think it’s funny that Netzer quotes a comic book story where the world’s first superhero, Hanging Justice, fought crime to release his sadistic urges doesn’t count as a “crass disfigurement” of the superhero genre, but an psuedo-masochist allegory is somehow.
January 17th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
“Your point being? If you think these posts are born in some vacuum and don’t reflectin anyway Graeme’s personal opinions on matters, I’ll gladly point you to the reams of Millarworld entries.”
Graeme has a stalker.
BTW, good thing he told you how this blog thing works, Kevin. I was beginning to worry …