A new mainstream
A new mainstream |
|
Page 22 of 23  Spawn (all Image, 1993). Art/script: Todd McFarlane. The diabolic costumed hero was an instant hit: despite the absence of any detectable storyline, the comic was kept at the top of the sales charts by fluid artwork, good-looking monsters (and women), and inevitably extreme violence. The sheer number of recent movies based on comics and comic strips demonstrates the point. They include (as well as the aforementioned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman, The Punisher and The Mask): Batman Returns, Batman Forever, The Crow, Dick Tracy, Richie Rich, Dennis the Menace, Caspar the Friendly Ghost, The Shadow, Judge Dredd and Tank Girl. There are also an estimated seventy further comic-related movies in production or pre-production, including, if rumours are to be believed, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Elektra, Sgt Rock and The Fantastic Four. (This is not to mention the numerous recent TV series based on comics, notably the 'Batman', 'Mask' and 'X-Men' cartoons and the 'Lois and Clark' live action shows.) All this activity can be taken as a comment on Hollywood, of course. On the one hand it shows how far special effects have come. It used to be true that comics had one-up on movies because their capacity for picturing spectacular settings and situations was unrivalled. Not any more. Now, film budgets of 30-50 million dollars are commonplace, and advances in computer modelling and animation mean that almost any comics effect can be replicated. It is no exaggeration to say that, finally, 2-D comics have entered the third dimension. On the other hand, it shows how hard-up Hollywood is for new ideas. Rather than forge new myths, the movie moguls have decided that it's easier to deal with ready-made visual material and characters which can be reduced to easily marketable soundbites. For them, comics characters are simply instantly recognizable brand names - a corporate logo, an icon embodying a neat tag-line. And if the back-catalogues of comics publishers can be exploited at no extra cost, and if, then, the film, comics and associated merchandising can be Vertically integrated' into a coherent marketing campaign, so much the better.  Cover to Wild CATS (Image, 1993). Art: Jim Lee. A title that perpetuated the notion of superheroines with breasts larger than their heads  Spawn |