Marvel in the Movies

[cawthon777 0]

This is my first time posting in this folder. I used to be pretty hardcore into comics when I was 9 through about 13. Still have a few boxes full back at the house (including X-Men #4 with the first appearance of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants).

 

Anyway, I saw 'The Punisher' last night and was inspired enough to write up this little article for my college paper. I'm a regular columnist and needed an idea for the last edition of the semester.

 

Just thought I'd share and get some feedback if possible. It can only be 800 words max so keep that in mind if you have any suggestions to add.

 

The article is untitled at this point.

 

Thanks,

Graham

 

The other day while out for a drive, with the windows down, sun in my face, and Filter’s “Take a Picture” booming on the CD player, I pondered what to write about this week. Should I propose my idea for no holds barred politics in which two candidates enter the electrified cage of death and only one leaves alive? Should I confess my undying love for Marisa Tomei? Or, better yet, should I use this space to bring attention to Chung Yi, the decrepit one-eyed cat from Whittier, Alaska who went missing during my trip to the foul-smelling fishing town last summer?

 

As I sat in the car and heard the opening chords of Seether & Amy Lee’s collaboration, “Broken”, it suddenly dawned on me. Comic books. Yes, you heard me. Comic books. The song, which is featured in the recent film adaptation of “The Punisher”, is a moving and powerful look into the tortured mind of Frank Castle, a former FBI agent whose family is gunned down as payback for a undercover bust, thus forcing him to lead the life of a vigilante. After seeing the film during its opening weekend, I left the theater reminded as to why I was a comic book fan so many years ago.

 

Though my comic purchases have been few and far between over the past 10 years, I was once a loyal follower of Stan Lee’s Marvel Universe, which featured the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Punisher, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, and so many others. With a staff of writers and artists including Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larson, Frank Miller, and Chris Claremont, I quickly found myself addicted to the rich storytelling and character development found on page after page.

 

While often gifted with superhuman abilities, each character had their own mental anguish or regret that fueled their righteous behavior, thus making their job never quite complete. For Castle, one of the few without actual superpowers, it was the brutal slaying of his family, for which he feels at fault. For Peter Parker it was the loss of his Uncle Ben, whose death came at the hands of a criminal that a bitter Spider-Man allowed to escape only hours earlier.

 

Several of these same characters were feared and hated by a public that didn’t understand them, despite their regular feats of heroism. Many considered the X-Men to be freaks of nature and too dangerous to be allowed to survive. Over time, the plotline to their adventures paralleled that of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Professor Xavier playing the role of the peace-loving Martin Luther King while Magneto could be likened to Malcom X, a man prepared to gain dominance for his people by any means necessary.

 

The recent surge in comic book popularity, due largely in part to a series of successful big budget films beginning with the initial X-Men release in 2000, is evidence enough that good storytelling is good storytelling, regardless of if it comes from Ernest Hemmingway, John Steinbeck, or Stan Lee. While they may not be the literature that is studied on college campuses, comic books and comic book characters have unquestionably become a vital part of American and world pop culture over the past century.

 

They speak to themes we can all understand and appreciate by disguising them in the form of easily accessible entertainment. With great power comes great responsibility. If you want peace, prepare for war. We fear what we do not understand. And while I may never get into my old hobby as I once did, I’m glad to see that Hollywood is warming up to the idea of comic book films and thus reaching a whole new generation of fans who can enjoy the stories and characters as I once did.

 

In closing, as this is my final article of the semester, I bid you farewell until the fall. Whether you’re spending the next few months on the beach, working 9 to 5 in the hellhole known as retail, or have an internship lined up with an adult film company, enjoy your summer. Come back to campus darker, richer, and more sexually experienced than when you left. Do it, peer pressure!

[Steviekick 0]

Pretty cool, but I think you will get some heat for the Malcom X/Magneto comparison.

[thuganomics 0]

Bah. The King/Prof. X & Magneto/Malcolm X analogy has been used several times before with no one caring. Hell, Singer himself used it while discussing the back story of X2.

[Steviekick 0]

Bah. The King/Prof. X & Magneto/Malcolm X analogy has been used several times before with no one caring. Hell, Singer himself used it while discussing the back story of X2.

Wasn't aware of that. Than never mind.