Continuity Comics Conversation

Continuity Comics Conversation

I wanted to do a post on continuity, and connected-universes in superhero stories. As comic book culture permeates more movies and television, the question of how to continue the story through multiple platforms is an interest to many fans. In some fans it seems like all they care about. When you see questions about TV shows like SHEILD and Arrow, most questions become less substantive and more about what characters might appear in each show from outside the story. In the comic books, the various storylines and characters of the respective companies know each other and often interact with each other. Fans have enjoyed seeing that in live action so much now, that they are hounding for more, rather than talking about each quality of each project.

Go one day without hearing how this all works

Now tracking the continuity between every project is fun, but will create problems. The main thing is that instead of judging these shows and movies based on their merit and quality, we are now judging all the shows on how they line up to a bigger story. The problem is compounded as more projects tie into the same continuity and bad projects might begin to hurt good projects moving forward. It is worth thinking about, as comic book adaptations do not seem to be going anywhere, and there are more fun ways to enjoy these stories than looking at how they line up.

Cinematic continuity, and its going to get bigger and bigger!

With that in mind, I thought we should look at the comic books and how they have dealt with their interconnected universes, and what lessons we should take to movies and TV:

Comics are the beginning of these massive interconnected stories, where multiple books came together to tell stories with various characters. It is important to remember though, that every single time that comics have tried to add to their continuity, it was an experiment. Superman and Batman were the first characters to meet each other from different books, and were only done as a sales gimmick. The Justice League, the biggest form of a universe-building book, was only created to boost sales of the lower selling superhero characters like Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, and paring them with the more popular ones like Flash and Superman. The reason all of the different Marvel superheroes knew about each other was because Stan Lee and company had the heroes reading each other’s comic books…in the actual comics. The Marvel universe came to become interconnected because a comic creator thought Spiderman reading an Ant-Man comic would be funny.

The first teams and shared universes. 

I bring all of this up to show that no one ever had a grand plan that the overarching story should look like. Even though characters are from the same world, there was never a climax or finally created for them. The Marvel and DC Universe came about because a bunch of creators tried different things with the library of heroes they had, to either boost sales or just because they were board. And of coarse, there were amazing stories told by having characters come together. Writers and artist getting to use low selling characters as guinea pigs for their ideas led to some of the greatest character retcons and everlasting stories. Looking at the famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow run of Denny O’Neil and Neil Adams as just one example, the team only brought those characters together because Green Arrow got canceled. At the same time, a smart creator can make a good story when they put their minds to creating something knew.

Great stories that needed more than one character to tell...

At different points of this experimentation the comic book continuity got to big and made it hard to understand what was going on.  Stories like Crisis on Infinite Earths and retcons like Spiderman’s One More Day were created in order to help fix continuity. Afterwards new people could feel welcome to pick up new stories with fresh jumping on points. The other stories that came about, were when to help sales, mega stories were created that force the readers to buy many different books. This is called a crossover: If Superman was telling a story across four books that have Superman in them, the reader needed to buy all four issues. That is the challenge with continuity; if you don’t feed the idea that all of these different stories have consequences in each other’s books, than you are not really telling a relevant story. At the same time, if you spread the story to thin fans will be disinterested and leave.

Necessary Cluster-you-know-what

Don’t get me wrong; some of my favorite stories are crossovers. Writers and artists worked incredibly hard and did great work in the realignment stories like Crisis and the stories still work through the test of time. But what is left with all of these counterbalancing stories and different interpretations is that comic book continuity becomes impossible to read in a linear fashion. If someone wanted to read the first Batman story, at this point that could really mean over 10 different stories.

This is the fear with building these interconnected worlds in TV and film. I feel that a general audience is far less patient. You can’t tell them to work harder to understand the story going on. More than that, if the continuity falls apart because stories are bad then people could give up on the story all together. As a mega fan, I love getting back-story and seeing actors I love popping up everywhere (look at Nick Fury by the great Samuel L. Jackson, who is all over the Marvel universe in TV and movies). But at some point the bubble can burst, and if that does the fans will be the ones that suffer.

(Read stories like this since you like it, not to follow a timeline)

So the answer to enjoying continuity stems from continuity in comics. At this point in comic books, where there are so many different continuities and variations on how to read a story linearly, we the readers actually control our own continuity. Comics lend themselves to becoming linear stories, but it is up to the fan to choose how to compile the story best for them. It also allows the readers to omit the stories that they do not enjoy. If you do not like when Superman was a living lightning bolt, just don’t re-read those issues and you will be fine. In comics, more than any other medium, the fan can create the story they want to believe in.

So that’s what this post is all about. As fans, even when continuity is offered to us to keep us interested we should create our own continuity to watch and re-watch what we enjoy. If we do not like a new movie that comes out, just don’t count it in the story you want. If they produce a TV show that never ties into anything, but you still enjoy it, enjoy the fact that you have two stories that you really enjoy. I wanted to talk about this because as mainstream culture embraces these great stories, and might sometime reject it as well, it is important to remember that the viewer gets to determine the worth of the stories given to them. Enjoy watching the companies try and tell the stories they want to tell, enjoy when things take interesting complications. But at the end of the day, no one can construct the continuity of a story across multiple platforms other than you.

And with that, lets get back to watching how good things are, and not worry who is coming through door number 3.

Dov Smiley is an independent comic book publisher and founder of the Smiley Spot. His current works can be found at jonahcomic.com, as well as amazon under the same name. His full portfolio can be found at dovsmiley.blogspot.com

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Review

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Review

By Dov Smiley

Full Disclosure. I love DC Animated movies more than any live action movie. They get to me as a comic book fan like nothing else can and I love watching every new movie that comes out. This month, the newest installment of these films, Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis came out marking the 22^nd consecutive DC Direct animation movie. This movie is the first, long form telling of Aquaman’s origin and is clever in incorporating the cool new aspects of the New 52 Aquaman story by writer Geoff Johns.

Comic Art by Ivan Reis 

A bit of context before the review:

Since 2007, DC Comics has released three different animated films based on their comic book properties a year. All of these movies are between one hour to ninety minutes long and in their eight-year lifespan; they have varied in approach and attempt. Now, after maintaining less than stellar sales numbers (if you’ve ever watched these movies illegally, for shame good sir or madam, for shame), the new approach has been to create movies that continue the same story with the Justice League. Throne of Atlantis is special since it is the first direct continuation of a past standalone film entitled Justice League: War. This means that the relationships and story beats carry over, in ways past movies never needed to.

Personally, I am less a fan of this continuity than when the movies stood by themselves. Any added value in evolving the characters means that any weakness from past movies comes with the new movies. War was one of my least favorites of these movies, and the same flaws are in Atlantis. It is the same writer who has very distinct ways of writing these characters, often missing the mark for me. The plot does not have enough heart seen in past movies. Ultimately I do wish that Throne of Atlantis could be it’s own Aquaman story, and try to tell the story it wanted instead of taking the good and bad of past movies.

Granted I do not blame the creators of the movie for this. For over 8 years, this group has created wonderful DC Comics movies and taken exciting challenges with some of comic’s greatest stories. Low sales have determined that only Batman, Superman and Justice League movies sell in home video markets. This means for a character like Aquaman, the creators are not allowed to market anything other than these three, without using the entire Justice League. These films started before Netflix and other streaming services. After so long with such inconsistent sales numbers, they had to change the way that they used this medium. DC currently does not have the TV network support it needs to launch an animated TV show right now. In past years, great DC cartoons like Young Justice and Green Lantern were canceled because they did not meet the needs of their network’s young demographics. That means DC’s only current way to tell these tales and expand their cartoon library with new characters is through these direct market movies. I really think that is the world these stories live in, and that is how I am judging these stories moving forward.

But for the review: The movie itself is a fun, if safe way to explore the world of Aquaman. The Aquaman legend and the various characters from the comic are shown in the entire splendor they deserve. The animation as always is top of the line beautiful and this film features true panoramic beauty. Once we see Atlantic politics in action (Personified by the great Sam Witwer as Orm) this becomes a world I want to visit more. Hearing Aquaman being called a “Bastard King” rings too close to Game Of Thrones, but I really had fun in those scenes. The Atlantis of the DC Universe is violent and dangerous, and this movie shows that without the heroic Arthur Curry the world is in great danger from this underwater civilization. And that is the most interesting lesson of the movie. Aquaman is pretending to be a king, which in some ways might make him a great leader in time.

The best parts of the story are the growing relationships between the characters. Watching Mera, Arthurs future wife defend a young and oblivious Arthur is a wonder to behold. The best part of these movies has been the creative ways the female superheroes fight, and Mera is in a league of her own. She is the original “Water-Bender” and seeing her creatively battle and dispatch soldiers with different moves never gets old. The best thing recurring from War is watching Cyborg grow into a more realized character. It is great matching him with the youthful Shazam who warns him to stay human, unlike Cyborg’s overbearing father from the first movie. I really enjoyed the Superman- Wonder Woman date in this movie. I do not think that the writer really nails Superman’s voice, but I thought his Wonder Woman was a huge improvement from War (Helped hugely by the great Rosario Dawson this time around).

Hands down the weakest characterization here is Batman. Now lots of people out there are blasting Jason O’Mara’s voiceover for the sin of not being Kevin Conroy (a sin all future Batmen will have to bare). I personally do not mind the voice, but I don’t think that O’Mara can do anything as long as his dialogue is written so badly. Remember half the reason Conroy is the perfect Batman is because the man got to say the greatest Batman lines ever (I Am Vengeance, I Am The Night! Comes to mind…), and as long as O’Mara keeps getting lines like this he won’t be winning over many fans. His opening scene where he tries to yell at Green Lantern is cringe-worthily bad. I am okay with him being my Batman for the next few movies but the screenwriter has to say some of these lines out loud himself before he throws them on the poor actor.

The movie opens far stronger than it closes. Until the final battle I was on board with everything, but the final fight against Atlantis falls flat. There are cool moves but there is nothing about the final battle worthy of remembrance. The biggest moment where the film lost me was when it deviates from the source material. In the original comic book, the Atlantians can destroy the city by creating massive title waves. This almost happens in the film, but the waves never crash and the finale is a far more generic fight scene between the League and faceless Atlantian soldiers. This leaves the most negative feeling of the whole movie.

I re-watching the film and was surprised how much I enjoyed everything up until the finally. The way the League defeats the villain feels especially anti-climactic. This makes the whole experience feel more like a solid Justice League episode, rather than the movies we have grown to appreciate in this series. Hopefully, the team will push for greater spectacle in the future.

Overall, Throne of Atlantis is definitely a fun way to check out Aquaman, and besides a lackluster finale is a fun ride into the DC Universe. Now that these movies are tied together like never before, the hope is that the weaknesses can be improved upon rather than carried over. I am hopeful this will happen, until DC’s success in animation can find the newer distribution platforms out there it deserves.

Dov Smiley is an independent comic book publisher and founder of the Smiley Spot. His current works can be found at jonahcomic.com, as well as amazon under the same name. His full portfolio can be found at dovsmiley.blogspot.com

My take on Aquaman's Throne Room 

Comics In 2014: DC Moving West

For Part 1 of our retrospective click here.
For Part 2, click here.

The final thing to bring up from 2014 is, what is happening to the other half of the big two publishers, DC Comics?

DC Comics were beyond ambitious by telling big superhero stories with three simultaneous weekly series. That means that while most comic book stories have to produce an issue once a month, a weekly series needs to produce the next chapter of their story once a week. I can only imagine the editorial nightmare keeping all of those stories together.  Although DC has experimented with these stories in the past, putting three together was impressive. They varied in success, but having stories with a big cast and cool central themes is something I want more of and hope they learned from this year.

Worlds End, Batman Eternal and Futures End, are three weekly series that become 12 comics a month at least.

While they had some success and setbacks in publishing and huge success in television this year, DC Entertainment felt dominated by their real world story. At the end of 2013, it was announced that the company was moving all of their comic book operations to the west cost to be with their larger parent company, Warner Brothers. They are doing a two-month story called Convergence, designed specifically to give the company the time they need to set up their West Cost offices. No matter what that event brings and what interesting stories they are telling, DC’s biggest year will be 2015, when their comic book fans get to see what changing offices really means to the comics going forward.

The biggest thing to look for is how the comic publisher will be dialed into what DC Entertainment is doing with their TV and movie worlds. What I am hoping for is more connection between the talent involved with DC’s best writers and artists that work in comics, animation, and live action projects. After all, how much better can they collaborate when everyone is involved in each other’s professional lives? I would like to see more comic book creators working in DC’s TV, video game, and movie worlds, and would not mind seeing some of the talented writers on shows like Arrow and Flash work in the comics more.

On the other hand, the fear is that the comics will have to reflect the needs of the live action projects to the detriment of the comics. We have seen with Marvel Comics, a very direct correlation between how their comic books need to reflect what people see in their movies and TV shows (For example, they were nervous that movie fans would be confused that Nick Fury is not black in the comics, so they changed the character in all of the comics to look like star Samuel L Jackson). 

For DC, I think this will be a huge mistake and hope that the comics still have the freedom they need to explore their own ideas and create new stories with their characters. Comics are an amazing storytelling platform in their own right and though they are not as profitable as television and film, they can create far more content for fans and grow these stories even further. I hope that the company sees the comic books as the best form of R&D for their properties; letting them test their characters in new stories with new ideas that can feed the other platforms. I do not want my comics to be a tie-in to the new TV shows no matter how much I enjoy them. I would much rather have a great Flash TV show and a different great Flash comic. Then if the comics produce a new cool concept, the movies and TV shows can use them later on.

It's gonna be crazzzzy!

There are a lot more eyes on DC in the next year to see how they handle the move. I hope we get a better and improved streamlined story from the publishing and get new artistic takes on these ideas. I like where DC as a company is going, and I hope this move means getting better people working together on cool new ideas.

Oh! And this year, they made Wally West (The Kid Flash) black instead of white. The world did not end. Go figure eh?

Dov Smiley is an independent comic book publisher and founder of the Smiley Spot. His current works can be found at jonahcomic.com, as well as amazon under the same name. His full portfolio can be found at dovsmiley.blogspot.com