Batman Comics: Last Moment of my childhood July 14, 2008
Posted by symbolicgodzilla in comics, entertainment, heroes, movies, webcomics.Tags: adam west, batman, batman & robin, batman begins, batman returns, comic, entertainment, heroes, ishtar, jim carrey, joel schumacher, movies, saturday morning breakfast cereal, superhero, the dark knight, the phantom menace, the wash, tim burton, webcomic, webcomics
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In today’s comic, from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the speaker remembers a harrowing experience from his youth:
I remember when Batman died for me. I love the old campy Adam West Batman film and show which really were what first turned me on to comic books. I also loved the dark Tim Burton movies and as I watched them started to see the potential for comic book heroes to be more interesting than just running around with laser vision. The problem was when Joel Schumacher took over Batman. As much as Batman Forever didn’t live up to the earlier potentials, Jim Carrey was a great Riddler and that pretty much carried that film. For me Batman died a little death in the hands of Joel Schumacher’s second outing Batman & Robin which earns the dubious honor of actually being one of the few movies that I have actually turned off and left unfinished. I sat through Ishtar. I sat through The Phantom Menace (though I was on a date with a cute girl which was the main reason I did that). I even sat through The Wash.
I usually have a good eye for picking movies, which is lucky, because it is quite hard for me to shrug off a horrid piece of filth once it is in my dvd player. I at least find enjoyment in campy cheesy films such as American Ninja or Dog Soldiers. So the moment when I couldn’t find any reason to continue watching Batman & Robin, starring my hero of heroes dressed in leather and psychological illness, I akin it to the death of childhood experienced in today’s comic. Christopher Nolan holds in his hands a chance to resurrect that innocence with the Dark Knight Returns. Maybe I’m getting my hopes up to high. I should stop reading the reviews.
Monster movies + scientific advancement + Ridley Scott + a new Dinosaur Comic June 26, 2008
Posted by symbolicgodzilla in comics, entertainment, monsters, movies, webcomics.Tags: alien, alien vs predator, avp, comic, creature from the black lagoon, criticism, culture, dinosaur comics, entertainment, freddy, godzilla, jason, monster, monster island, monster movies, mothra, movies, nuclear power, predator, ridley scott, scare factor, symbolism, symbols, vampire, video games, webcomic, werewolf
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I used to be convinced of something very similar to what T-Rex is on about in today’s Dinosaur Comic- if only more creatures of darkness donated themselves to science maybe we would have a better world. We could use the powers of the Creature from the Black Lagoon to enhance undersea exploration. We could replace our nuclear power plants with giant Godzilla monsters kept happily penned in on a reservation where we’d only need them to spew their atomic breath into some sort of container every so often. But to keep their menace our monsters need to be kept at a distance and always misunderstood, otherwise they lose their value.
It’d be like Monster Island, without the violence. Here’s the comic (click to enlarge):
The problem with such a scientific refuge is that inevitably the monsters would fight, as has been proven by such fine documentaries as Frankenstein vs. the Wolfman, Godzilla vs. Mothra, and Alien vs. Predator.
Incidentally, Ridley Scott has been quoted as saying that he won’t have an Alien 5 because Alien vs Predator reminds him too much of Jason vs. Freddy, which makes a certain kind of sense. Now that they are battling it out with each other, these alien monstrosities have lost a certain amount of the fear they used to generate from the silver screen. Of course, I played the AVP video game and kept getting killed easily despite playing as an alien so that really killed the “scare factor” of the franchise for me first. Plus, simply the fact of learning too much about how the aliens germinate and spread across space has removed the fear of the unknown that they represented. They’re no longer this incomprehensible alien predator, they’ve become one more space monster to fight. Aliens (the second alien movie) realized this and made it much more of an action movie.
So our monsters, our werewolves, our Godzillas, our aliens need to stay out of the light and need to stay mysterious or they lose the power they represent to us and they cease to reflect our fears. In the light of overexposure, they become cheesy jokes.
