Stirring The Pot

John August was recently announced as the screenwriter for the Shazam! movie (featuring Captain Marvel, but DC can't use that name in the title because Marvel owns the copyright). August has an interesting blog on which he posts his thoughts on the character. I've just been reading it over, and recommend it for anyone curious about the film but unclear as to exactly just who the Big Red Cheese really is. He mentions several of the more recent Captain Marvel storylines, most of which are quite good - which is saying something, because I've never really had all that much fondness for the good Captain.

But what's much more newsworthy are August's comments toward the end of the entry, under the heading "Why I'm not including the vintage collections." Here's part of what he wrote:

"DC publishes hardcover anthologies that gather up decades’ worth of Captain Marvel comics. If I were writing a dissertation on the evolution of the Captain Marvel character, these would be invaluable. But I’m not. So every time I read one of these, I’m struck with the same realization I encounter trying to watch The Honeymooners or a black-and-white movie: Wow. Old things suck.

Yes, I know that will piss off the vintage comics fans, who insist that the original incarnations are the purest forms of a character. But what you quickly realize is that old-time comic books were awkwardly written, crudely drawn, and bewilderingly inconsistent with their rules. They were making up the art form as they went along, and today’s comic books are better for the accumulated wisdom."

Incendiary words, for sure. I certainly saw a similar attitude in Tammy, when she was much younger, in that she had no interest in watching black & white films, simply because they were B&W. And forget about getting her to sit through a silent movie! But as she got older and her tastes matured, she stopped judging motion pictures so crudely.

I'll certainly admit that "most old things suck." But by the same token, "most new things suck!" In fact, I'm a big believer in Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is crap." (I prefer the use of "shit" to "crap", personally.) Most people always seem to be more forgiving of current crap for some reason, though. Many fans of Survivor or Big Brother, over the last few years, will denounce it twenty years from now as "silly" or "pointless," once they're able to look back on it with some perspective. You can see this today in some of the attitude's toward such shows as Dallas or The Dukes of Hazzard (both very popular in their day). But at the same time, a few shows from those eras still stand up well, and find new fans each generation.

And the same is true of comics. Lots of Golden and Silver Age stories are awful to read now, either because of the writing, or the art, or both. But a small percentage of them are pure gold when you read them, forty or fifty years later! And I'm sure the same is true of what's being published now... we just haven't realized it yet! (Well, I'd argue that I have, but no one ever listens to me!)

It should be an interesting film, at the very least...