6 Art^-E ntertainment
The
Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007
Clackamas Print
Face Off: Marvel vs. DC comics
Marvel characters believable DC creates brave, bold heroes
Adam 1. Manley
I
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 beautiful
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
fami ly, at that Sure, there were still some of
those reader-alienating perfections—but it was a
new deal for 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-woik-
ers or the supporting cast... but as heroes.
Truly, any reader can find more inspiration
in the dreams of someone like them, with the
same kind of problems, accomplishing some­
thing big - as opposed to gl immering gods and
goddesses, perfect from birth, saving the day
again and again.
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Take the rival companies’ two greatest icons:
Superman and Spider-Man. They both put on
the tights for the 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 the most powerful
being on DC’s Earth. Thus, he feels obligated to
protect it But what does Superman 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, are reaching
ever upward.
Excelsior.
................................................ ...
..in
•> 'J.!
U.WIWT »
breathe new life into superhero legend by
designing the gods’ very downfall. By dis­
playing flawed humanity and the horrors
of “heroics” when placed in a dynamic
Both Marvel and DC comics are fan­ world of savage decisions, in the face ol
tastic companies, each worth explora­ brutal consequences, the gods were made
tion - but while Marvel has a history of real.
V for Vendetta completed the evolutior
heroes, DC creates legends.
of comic icons by introducing theI first
The most popular Marvel characters
tend to be reluctant heroes and underdogs. standalone superhero tragedy.
V is a superhuman more than I
These are characters designed to be easily
superhero, a mythic figure built on th
identified with.
Marvel uses a good approach to writing shoulders of a destroyed civilization ani
feasible characters, but we are discussing doomed man. He is not the champion o
his people, or “your friendly neighbor
a world of superheroes.
DC has always been at the head of hood V,” but rather the very will of hi
the pack when it comes to creating icons peoples’ hearts.
He’s a monster defining himsel
- godlike entities that explode
from the very pages on which through elegance, eloquence and bruta
satire in the face of ultimate suppressio
they are rendered.
From the beginning of and tyranny. He does not identify wit
comics in America, DC cre­ those he “saves,” for he does notfcve
ated the only characters to seek to save them. He inspires them l
survive for more than half a rise up, dethrone and destroy their oppre
sors, and thus save themselves.
century.
Beginning with Batman the Animate
Superman and Batman
remain the two most Series, DC forced animation to evolv
recognizable charac­ beyond its former lackluster appeal an
ters from Marvel break into the world of young adult audi
or DC worldwide ences. Mature characters, real emotion
and throughout and powerful undertones put the dark win
beneath the wings of what became one1
superhero his­
tory. They the greatest animated works to date. Win
are easily subsequent titles ]iks_Superman, fiafma
compared Beyond and Teen Titans, DC contim®
with to break ground through legendary chai
acters by exploring ideology, science fil
Zeus,
Hercules, tion, emotion, and even anime concepts«'
■
Apollo,, their cartoons.
Lastly, the silver screen is the lati
Hades,'
Odysseus, Jason, Beowulf, battleground for the titans of comil
King Arthur, Lancelot and Even in cinema, concepts introduced!
other heroes of legend DC continue to push the envelopU
who outlive the civiliza­ the industry. The same titles to elew
comics two decades past now shock ai ”
tions that envisioned them.
DC sat at the forefront inspire world audiences like never befoi '
of comics’ evolution even Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, and! p
when the genre of superhe­ 2008, Watchmen are all based on sti
ries first published in the ‘80s -
roes demanded réévaluation.
Beginning with the near­ that still hold enough relevance thaj
tandem publishing ofBatman: inspire discussion, and even controvert,
T h e Dark Knight Returns, and then
DC Comics has always and will c®
Watchmen in 1986, DC Comics initiated tinue to explore new venues and idfl
the
forefront of superhero comics. I
the destruction of iconic fantasy and the
foundation of their characters’ godhood.
More importantly, DC continues
DC allowed now-legendary writers portray the most super of superhero«
like Steve Miller and Allen Moore to acters, stories and ideas.
Dustin Ragsdale
The Clackamas Print
1
‘80s cultural phenomena more
V
isual
LITERATURE
by David Stark
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.
The 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 youn§, 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. is
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
era.
Many were saddened and
many upset, but sadly, the
Mb
ill'__________
meets the ey
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n
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, 1 say fare
thee well, Optimus Prime,
You were a great leadej a
hero to millions, and I sajute
you.
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