The
6 ArtÄMintertainment
Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007
Clackamas Print
Face Off: Marvel vs. DC comics
Marvel characters believable DC creates brave, bold heroes
I
Adam J. Manley
The Clackamas Print
“Excelsior!”
It’s a Latin word meaning “ever upward”
Alternatively, it’s a printing term for three-point
type: “a size smaller than brilliant” But perhaps
most culturally notable is that it’s the rallying cry
for all ‘True Believers” of Marvel Comics.
The term embodies the characters of the
Marvel Universe: Always just shy of brilliance,
reaching ever upward in their struggles through
life. Marvel heroes connect with readers because
life for these characters is not as swimmingly
perfect as those of the D.C. Universe.
DC makes icons: Shining Olympian gods to
be put on a pedestal and worshipped. This isn’t
to say their stories aren’t interesting to read, but
they’re harder to connect to.
Think of DC heroes as the high-profile poli­
ticians and activist celebrities of the super-hero
genre. Yes, they do a lot And, yes, we are inter­
ested - perhaps too much so - in what’s going
on in their lives.
But Marvel heroes? They’re the firefighters.
They’re the cops on the street The soldiers in
Iraq. They’re the everyday heroes with every­
day problems that we, as readers, can connect
with. They are us.
Marvel led the way when it came to human­
izing comic books. The Golden Age of comic
books - an age of two-dimensional charac­
ters and amusing, but predictable, storytelling
- ended when Fantastic Four #1 hit the stands.
Here, finally, was a comic series not about
an invincible man from Krypton or a beautifiil
bondage queen from the Mediterranean - not
about the fastest man on earth, nor the world’s
greatest detective.
It was about a family, and a dysfunctional
family, at that Sure, there were still some of
those reader-alienating perfections — but it was a
new deal far comics.
Marvel's ultimate success would come later,
with the likes of Spider-Man, the X-Men, The
Hulk, and more. The geeks, the outcasts, the
emotionally repressed and the just-plain-not-
perfect would parade across the illustrated page
- not as the villains, not as the upstart co-work-
ers or the supporting cast... but as heroes.
Truly, any reader can find more inspiration
in file dreams of someone like them, with the
same kind of problems, accomplishing some­
thing big - as opposed to glimmering gods and
goddesses, perfect from birth, saving the day
again and again.
Take the rival companies’ two greatest icons:
Superman and Spider-Man. They both put on
die tights for die same reason, though it was
Marvel’s Spider-Man that put it in the most •
memorable terms: “With great power comes
great responsibility.”
Superman is arguably die most powerfid
being on DC’s Earth. Thus, he feels obligated to
protect it But what does Supermini risk, going
out to save the day? Are run-ins with a red sun
really that common? Is there a radioactive green
rock just waiting to mug him every day?
Spider-Man isn’t bullet-proof. He doesn’t
get the hero-worship Superman does. When the
spotlight points at him, it means he’s about to
get a pounding or he’s being declared a public
menace. But he fights anyway. He risks dying
every day because it’s right It’s something all
ofuscando.
Sure, most of us have put on a Superman
cape and jumped off of something stupid. But
that’s when we realize that we aren’t invin­
cible. We aren’t gods. We’re people, average
schmucks who - like Spidey
- have no choice but to get up
and try again, because there’s
no magical deus ex machina
to save us.
We connect with Marvel
heroes because we, too, are a
size smaller than brilliant.
We, too, air reaching
ever upward.
Excelsior.
Dustin Ragsdale
The Clackamas Print
Both Marvel and DC comics are fan­
tastic companies, each worth explora­
tion - but while Marvel has a history of
heroes, DC creates legends.
The most popular Marvel characters
tend to be reluctant heroes and underdogs.
These are characters designed to be easily
identified with.
Marvel uses a good approach to writing
feasible characters, but we are discussing
a world of superheroes.
DC has always been at the head of
the pack when it comes to creating icons
- godlike entities that explode
from the very pages on which
they are rendered.
From the beginning of
comics in America, DC cre­
ated the only characters to
survive for more than half a
century.
Superman and Batman
remain the two most
recognizable charac­
ters from Marvel
or DC worldwide
and throughout
superhero his­
tory. They
are easily
compared
with
Zeus,
Hercules,
Apollo,
Hades,
Odysseus, Jason, Beowulf,
King Arthur, Lancelot and
other heroes of legend
who outlive the civiliza­
tions that envisioned them.
DC sat at the forefront
of comics’ evolution even
when the genre of superhe­
roes demanded réévaluation.
Beginning with the near­
tandempublishing of Batman:
h e Dark Knight Returns, and then
Watchmen in 1986, DC Comics initiated
the destruction of iconic fantasy and the
foundation of their characters’ godhood.
DC allowed now-legendary writers
like Steve Miller and Allen Moore to
breathe new life into superhero legend by
designing the gods’ very downfall. By dis-1
playing flawed humanity and the horror!
of “heroics” when placed in a dynamij
world of savage decisions, in the face o:
brutal consequences, the gods were mad(
real.
Vfor Vendetta completed the evolution
of comic icons by introducing the fir
standalone superhero tragedy.
V is a superhuman more than
superhero, a mythic figure built on th
shoulders of a destroyed civilization an
doomed man. He is not the champion o
his people, or “your friendly neighboi
hood V,” but rather the very will of hi
peoples’ hearts.
He’s a monster defining himse
through elegance, eloquence and brut
satire in the face of ultimate suppress«
and tyranny. He does not identify wit
those he “saves,” for he does not eve
seek to save them. He inspires them I
rise up, dethrone and destroy their oppre
sors, and thus save themselves.
Beginning with Batman the Ani/naH
Series, DC forced animation to evol’
beyond its former lackluster appeallai
break into the world of young adult aut Ì
ences. Mature characters, real emoM
and powerful undertones put the dark wit
beneath the wings of what became one i
the greatest animated works to date. Wi
subsequent titles like Superman, 5am
Beyond and Teen Titans, DC contini
to break ground through legendary chi
acters by exploring ideology, science 1
tion, emotion, and even anime concept!
their cartoons.
I >
Lastly, the silver screen is the lati
battleground for the titans of com '
Even in cinema, concepts introduced
DC continue to push the envelop! I
the industry. The same titles to elfl
comics two decades past now shock’s
inspire world audiences like never befo "
Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, and n
2008, Watchmen are all based on si (
ries first published in the ‘80s - stol JC
that still hold enough relevance that th! (
inspire discussion, and even controvert
DC Comics has always and will col
tinue to explore new venues and idea»-
the forefront of superhero comics. W a
More importantly, DC continues! w
portray the most super of superhero chi
acters, stories and ideas.
■------------------------------------------------ —----------------- - —.— ------------- -- ——
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1
‘80s cultural phenomena more than meets the eyd
What premiered in 1984,
had a total of 98 episodes
and one movie, was beloved
by children and is a major
cultural icon?
If your guess was The
Transformers, you’re right.
For those of you who don’t
know, The Transformers was
the story of two alien fac­
tions whose war spilled over
onto Earth. The first group
was called Decepticons and
was led by Megatron, a meg-
alomaniacal general with the
bad tendency to retreat when
things turned against him.
The second group was the
Autobots, led by Optimus
Prime, a creature whose com­
passion drove him to do what
he believed was right.
Thjj show was an allegory
for the Cold War and covered
topics ranging from the arms
race to terrorism. Throughout
it all, we watched as the
characters grew and learned
from their experiences.
Since a fight between giant
robots could be seen as too
foreign for young viewers to
relate to, there was the token
human boy, Spike Witwicky,
whose innocence and dedica­
tion to do what’s right often
drove the heroic Autobots to
do what they had to do in
order to save planet Earth.
, Transformers remained at
the head of the game by doing
what had never been done
before; they killed someone.
In 1986, Transformers: The
Movie came out in theaters
and introduced new charac-
ters and killed some of the
old ones,
The Movie saw the death of
fan-favorite, and icon to chil-
dren everywhere, Optimus
Prime.
Prime’s death
has remained
one of the
most
con­
troversial in
history, and
many parents
took
their
children out
of the the­
ater when he
died.
But
the
public would
not allow for
their hero to
stay dead -
and the com-
pany bowed
to the pres-
sure, and in a
two-part epi­
sode brought
back Prime.
But three
episodes
later,
the
show ended
and brought an end to an
Many were saddened and
many upset, but sadly, the
Internet PS
fact is that many parents no
longer allowed their children
to watch a show about people
who were in a violent war.
And though it comes near-
..
ly 20 years late, I say fare
thee well, Optimus Prime,
You were a great leadei a
hero to millions, and I saStfl
you.
___________