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John August... The Screenwriter Of SHAZAM... Says ‘Old Things Suck’?
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
John August is a very smart guy, and a damn fine writer.
He’s also one of the few working A-list writers who makes himself readily available to people via his blog, something that only a handful of guys (Craig Mazin, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Josh Friedman) bother trying to do.
In his most recent blog entry, August demonstrates a solid working knowledge of Captain Marvel, and he offers up a well-considered primer of material he’s been reading as he preps for adapting the character to the bigscreen. So overall, I’m pleased as punch that he’s the guy writing SHAZAM! I would love to read William Goldman’s script sometime, but I’m sure August is going to produce something fascinating by the time he turns his script in.
But, boy howdy... the down side of having a blog is that sometimes you say something that’s just guaranteed to pee in the punchbowl of the exact audience you’re courting, and I’ve gotten a whoooooooole bunch of mail this weekend that would indicate that August did exactly that.
I’ll let “Valence” tell you what’s up:
Hey Harry,
Did you see this?
Here's the geek-baiting highlight...
"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.
Vintage fans are free to disagree. There's a vast but finite amount of comic books to last them through their days."
Let the people know.
Thanks,
Valence
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Yeah the art was pretty crude in those early days, but there was the purity and simplicity to the stories that still make them worthwhile.
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What a shock.
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Captain Marvel really works *best* as a Golden Age hero. Dr Sivana, Mister Mind, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny - the "people" that surrounded Captain Marvel - are all kitschy and goofy and don't deserve the gritty superhero treatment that the movie adaptations have suffered from.
Make it big and goofy and larger than life - Spy Kids meets Dick Tracy. -
Old things do often suck and Shazam is pretty much the poster child for old comic book things that suck. New things can suck too however and we shouldn't forget that. Just to prove that new things can suck as much as old things "Grindhouse" managed to come in fourth behind a sequel to an Ice Cube movie (are you fucking kidding me?) so nobody should get to upset about the shocking revelation that Shazam comics from what might as well have been the early 1800's aren't quite holding up these days.
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Shazam is only going to suck like that if they try to make it something it's not. Given the typical superhero treatment that movie is going to suck like nothing we've ever seen before. Making a movie like he describes will probably still suck to most people but it will at least be accurate and the real fans will feel that it doesn't suck which is the whole point of making a movie out of something like Shazam to begin with.
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Old comics are Old comics. Good only on the basis of the fact that they're classics. But the future is here. I'll take Ultimates over Avenger's any damn day, particularly for translating into a film. Right on Shazam-man. Will Shazam still be Shaquille?
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That was awesome...Mentor & Bill Batson in the 70's RV. Then they coupled ISIS with SHAZAM and had solid gold TV for kids (followed by JASON OF STAR COMMAND, of course). Should be interesting to see what August comes up with, I can see his viewpoint to an extent.
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Used to buy those at the drug store, they featured comics dating back decades. Silvanus was such a naughty boy.
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of the comic book. Way to get off on the bad foot.
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computers and wrote stuff on papyrus and pottery. We will improve on all of their mythology. Nice.
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Right on, right on!
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If this is a Golden Age style romp, like the much-underrated 'Rocketeer', then it'll work. If they're going for a wordy, 'issues' approach a la Singer, then it'll die on it's arse. Simple as.
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Sucks all of the charm right out of it. Uncool, man!
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DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
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Many older comics sucks. Hell, many new comics suck, but they at least show a more consistent level of professional talent. Most of the old comics were written and drawn by guys who couldn't work anywhere else, or had to grind them out so fast that there wasn't much time for a good polish. That is not to say that they lack charm or entertainment value, nor should it be seen as a broad condemnation of all the old books. Some still hold up relatively well. But saying the Honeymooners suck? Well that just twists my nuts.
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The only "pee in the punchbowl" I see here is that this specific quote has been (very) unfairly taken out of context. If read in context (as it should be) within John's original well-reasoned, thoughful, lengthy, insightful, and dead-on post, it makes complete and total sense.
Basically, John is simply saying that it makes no more sense to directly base/adapt this film on original/vintage/classic Captain Marvel comics any more than it would have been to directly base/adapt a Superman or Batman movie on original/vintage/classic Superman or Batman comics. The comics medium has grown and evolved over the decades, and there's richer (and yes, better) material to be mined from such work John references in his post.
The key here is that John is clearly doing his homework, reading everything across the entire Captain Marvel canon, and has the taste and sense to be choosy regarding what he'll draw upon. IF ONLY MORE HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITERS WOULD DO SO!!!
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i've tried reading several golden age anthologies (captain america, superman, and batman to name a few) and they've all been brutal to get through. now i love silver age marvel comics, but even those can be tough reads at times, so i can totally sympatize with his sentiment.
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I get the point August's trying to get across. It's the perfect insight into an writer/adapter's mind. Trying to do an adaptation of that work, I can see how the source material, especially with a character as old as Captain Marvel, could get quite frustrating.
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CM has a lot of potential. It absolutely does not fit a more modern "mature" structure. BillyTheFish is right about comparing it to the The Rocketeer in tone, thought I'm not sure it actually needs to be set in that era. But much of what you guys are talking about - Mister Mind, Hoppy, Uncle Marvel, the Talking Tiger - wouldn't be in a first film, and need not ever show up. What works best with CM is that idea of a child being turned into a superhero. Who didn't have that fantasy as a kid? I think an emphasis on that angle - a boy in a superman's body, with the knowlege and midset of youth awkwardly combined with the Wisdom of Solomon.
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He sources a lot of more recent Capt. Marvel material that takes a different approach to the character. They've never been able to make Cap modern and cool. The fact is, while it is helpful to examine the context, what he said above is exactly what he meant - he is not into the Golden Age version of the character.
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this character, he comes across as sad and even cursed. Which of course might be appealing to more current views, but is entirely besides the point.
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because they were new...of course they are dated now that they've been copied thousands of times in other media. Plus many of them were made for little kids, so intelligent adults always thought they sucked. There are very, very few non-sucky comics being produced today, but that is true with any art form. I don't know that the AVERAGE comic now is any better than the AVERAGE comic back then.
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That was a better treatement of the whole "Shazam" concept, although I guess I should say "Marvelman". Alan Moore really is a fucking god.
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Apr 09, 2007 12:49:55 AM CDT
Yeah, if only CITIZEN KANE and CASABLANCA were in color
by triumph poops!
Boy, those movies suck. Black and white, just a bunch of old tired shit that's hard on the eyes and couldn't possibly make for a cool movie at all. Too bad they didn't know how to make GOOD movies back then. But, boy, it's a good thing we have people like John August who do NOW!
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...I mean, how often has a CAPTAIN MARVEL/SHAZAM movie gone into turnaround, so its not like it couldn't or won't happen again, at which point his script gets filed away.......It then sits on a shelf and gathers dust for a few years, gets older......which means the NEXT guy that the studio brings in to tackle the project can legitimately pick up August's screenplay, take a whiff of it and say "Man, OLD stuff really sucks."Ah, sometimes a fitting justice is worth waiting for. I'll set my egg timer now!
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...comics suck as I am that black-and-white movies do. I don't know if he's saying that tongue-in-cheek to make fun of pure ignorance or what. Anyway surely there are far more worthwhile comic book properties out there to adapt than Shazam.
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...but August is right about the comics. Admit it. Read a Batman story from 1940, then read "Arkham Asylum" or "Batman: Year One." Then come back and tell me which one was better. Bringing corny old Captain Marvel up to date is just the sensible thing to do.
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A 8 Year Old Boy being Bullyed by a 12 Year old and Wishes he was Big and Strong and Could Kick ass SHAZAM!!! Boom wish granted... I wish I could save those people from a Burning Building SHAZAM wish granted...
Cpt Marvel by his very nature is not a Dark Character..... if The writer tries to make this gritty and Dark it will fall flat on his face.... -
There's no need to. Take the route Lucas and Spielberg did with Indiana Jones. Those films had modern structure but they were planted firmly in the serials of yesteryear. Captain Marvel should have the same feel. It's a movie serial about a boy who says a magic word and becomes a champion.
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and will never have any power. The only thing they influence is how times The 5th Element gets re-released on DVD. The superhere movies that make money are ones that appeal to a broad audience and have little to no respect for "canon" and other shit like that. You all can screech in your little echo chamber called the internet, but nobody else cares. (This is coming from someone with a Watchman character as his name.)
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Apr 09, 2007 2:44:43 AM CDT
Don't compare comics to film, there's no comparison...
by film_fanatic_in_the_original_black_and_w
Two different creatures, entirely. The comics are what they are. Blasting someone's opninion about them is an incredibly dumb thing to do. Let the guy have his opinion. You have yours. That's it. Can't we all just get along?
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Make Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. One or two or five or nine lesbian scenes and we're talking gold.
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So there !!!
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and how Tom Hanks was pretty good at being a kid in an adult's body? Do that and get Weta to do the effects on Andy Serkis, you know what I mean...It could be cool.
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I wouldn't have a problem with a modern Capt Marvel. What is important to me is that the spirit of his character is captured - goodness, hope and innocence. However the choice of setting is vital to the reception of any film. It could be really easy to turn off a large part of your potential audience by simply using kitsch and retro styles because thats part of the world in which CM was first created. It's important to understand the essence of what those original stories were saying about the characters and the world they were in, what made it unique and work out how you would express those ideas today. On the other hand there are some stories that can only be told in an historical setting - for instance Capt Marvel vs. Captain Nazi. Now there is a film I'd pay to see.
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One of the most common dreams of every pure, innocent kid is to be able to grow up at an instant and have the power to make the wrong things right. Hell, it's why kids used to read comics. Kids saw the indecency of the world through eyes uncorrupted and wanted to set things right. That, in essence, is Captain Marvel. There was no political motivation. There was no governmental viewpoint. There was no sexual tension. It was a ten year old kid that simply wanted to protect the world from the evils that separated one from another. The seven deadly sins were the enemy. Captain Marvel was the kid lost in every man. Just look at Jeff Smith’s SHAZAM: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL…he has it nearly on the nose. Read Keith Giffen’s JLA run where the Big Cheese does his best though is a butt of jokes. Watch JL: UNLIMITED and see the difference between Superman and Captain Marvel (“We like having him around.”-Batman). Or Paul Dini’s HOPE. In my book there are only two Captain’s… America and the original Marvel.Captain Marvel wants to believe in the best of man because he IS what IS best IN man.For years I’ve had this fantasy trailer in my head. It begins in black and white with old war footage. From WWI to Korea before it becomes color with Vietnam through current clashes. As the footage is shown there are words shown over the moving pictures…Lust…Gluttony…Greed…Sloth...Envy…Pride…Wrath… Then a black screen. Suddenly more single words fly at the audience in bold letters… WITH. ONE. MAGIC. WORD. A pause…then a young, tiny voice with the word emblazoned to accompany…SHAZAM! What follows is a plethora of images of the good Captain turning tides of many evils until it ends on an image of him holding a young, frail girl in his arms while on his knees. Looking to the sky he screams “Whatever you want of me, just save her!!!” The girl, of course, is his sister who would be Mary Marvel. Him, in the end, giving some of his own power and soul to save a sister he has never known..The story of Captain Marvel can be among the absolute BEST of family movies EVER produced. I like most of August’s scripts. Heck, bald means better writer in many a most part. Just need the right crazy haired director at times.The ending I had in mind, and I know y’all never asked for it, is this: Billy and Mary looking over Faucet t City from a rooftop at night. Billy turns to Mary. “I know we have to take care of…well, everywhere and everything. But, you know what I always wanted to do?” Mary: “What?” Billy: “Go to the moon. And well, now I…we…well, we can.” Mary smiles and they both look up to the night sky. Brother and sister, ready to take on the world, speak as one…and with that one magic word…”SHAZAM!” Hard cut to black.
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I love that one of the most optimistic and positive talkbacks I've read all weekend comes from "Negative Man."
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And mayhap made Moriarty feel funny on the inside. I'll keep my ideas for GREEN LANTERN for another TB to make Mori feel even more fuzzy.
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Apr 09, 2007 6:38:41 AM CDT
because all the modern shazam comics are so great....
by yeah i'm a jerk!
what an idiot. CC Beck was great, and no one at DC has been able to duplicate the success that Fawcett had with the Marvel Family of characters. yeah, old stuff sucks, like the Beatles, Sean Connery James Bond movies, EC comics, and Mozart. fuck John August.
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You will have an audience.
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I agree with his assessment of the comics - and I'm a HUGE Shazam fan. Hell, look at early Batman and Superman. Honestly, look at them. It's all a bit clunky as an art form.HOWEVER, this cocksmoker loses major points for insulting "old stuff." He is one of the ones responsible for Ted Turner saying no one wants to watch old movies. Posturing that we live in such an enlightened age (and that anything before us not fitting our enlightened paradigm must be lesser) is such a sick, ugly, contemptible viewpoint that I think that is really what has poisoned our world. This planet needs to pull th eplug on us and start over. We failed.
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...doesn't mean that it's aged well, or that it'd work or could be successfully reproduced in this day and age. I mean take a look at Batman & Robin, say what you will, but to me Schumacher's film was very much influenced and stylistically and thematically based on the old (and to my mind classic) Batman 60's TV show. But it didn't work at all, even for those that have a fondness for the old 60's Batman, in fact it was nothing short of a fucking train wreck. My point is that slavishly staying true to a certain interpretation, particularly one from decades and decades gone by, guarantees nothing in terms of quality. No, the real trick is to distill these characters down to their core basics, stay true to the feel of who they are, and then work about in creating a good, current, qualiity film for them to live and breathe in. And by 'current' I don't mean that it has to be set right now, I mean it has to recognise that it is a film that's being made now, taking into full account the plusses and minuses that go along with that.Of course I'm sure the automatic backlash will go into full effect here, as statements like this always seem to provoke from the fans, and I've got to admit, his statement about black and white movies sucking personally strikes me as all kinds of wrong if he meant it literally, but I'm not willing to write him off just yet just based on this one statement. I just hope he realises that Judd Winick is also a massive fucking hack not worth following, and instead bases his more modern Marvel take on Jerry Ordway's 90's run The Power Of Shazam, with some slight adjustments.
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That's too general a statement in my opinion, but true in a lot of cases (including Shazam). Each "old thing" should be judged unobjectively on whether it holds water today. Vintage fans have their place & points...but some of the old stuff that folks like is just because it takes them back fro a brief moment. I also don't believe Capt Marvel will not be made "cooler" (if I may borrow a buzz word from the suits. "Edgier" could also be used here) with any current updates/spins you can think of to add to the existing material.
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It's amazing that August would take the Shazam gig, and *then* realize that the concept has no internal logic.
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Captain Marvel: Patrick Warburton. Captain Marvel Jr.: Jesse Metcalf. Mary Marvel: Lacey Chabert. Billy Batson: Austin Majors. Black Adam: Dwight "The Rock" Johnson. Mr. Tawky Tawny: Ron Perlman. Dr. Bodag Sivana: Armin Shimmerman. Uncle Dudley Marvel: Andy Richter. Mr. Mind: (voice of) Gilbert Gottfried.
***** I loved the Jerry Ordway "Power Of shazam" series, but the original Otto Binder and C.C. Beck comics (that used to sell a million copies @ month back in the '40s) are the definitive source. ***** And hell yeah, I'd rather see a Miracleman movie. -
Just to refute the man's idiocy. You're supposed to be able to filter out the silliest "dated" elements of things and focus on the best of them You don't just say it sucks. The latest Superman movie was bogged down by a new post-modern depression. Oh, it's so hard to be Superman, boo hoo. The fool's writing a comic book movie and he thinks he's an arteest or something...
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What he's saying is today's comics are an easier direct adaptation to film. What August seems to bypass is the level of influence films have had on comics.
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Old stuff just sucks, y'know! Let's start a movement to modernize everything and rid the world of all the "old stuff" that's still hanging around making things suck. We could have Micheal Bay direct a Casablanca remake. We could get Justin Timberlake and Christina Agulerra re-record all that boring classical music with synthesisers (and add some sexy lyrics for crissakes!) And hell, lets get Alex Ross to repaint all those shitty old paintings in the Louvre. Mona Lisa needs bigger tits! Old stuff stop sucking and move aside! It's a modern world now, baby!
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Haha. And today's comics aren't consistent with their own rules? Or is it that they're constantly rewriting the rules? Can you find any logic in Wonder Woman's sudden ability to fly? Or the completely indecipherable, constantly changing back history of Hawkman? Old comics had less depth because they were aimed at kids. Today's comics are aimed at nihilistic 25 year olds who can't stop wishing their comics were "darker". It's just so short-sighted and brainless to just dismiss old things because they're different. If "Shazam" is good enough to make into a feature film, it's history is good enough to at least consider.
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The blanket statement "old stuff" sucks doesn't hold water, but there is a lot of validity in it when you look at it as a general, non all-encompassing statement. With film, there is an obvious break before and after one movie. Jaws. Jaws changed the way films look, and how they were made. There are incredible films that were made at the dawn of the age of film (Melies {sp}), through Eisenstein, through Hitchcock, etc. But if you look at the total amount of film output, the majority of it is garbage. Of course, that is also true today. For every Citizen Kane or His Girl Friday, there are loads of garbage. Moving to television this is also true. I think I Love Lucy is not funny. I think the best example is the original seasons of Saturday Night Live with Murray, Belushi, Radner, etc. They just don't hold up at all. I know a lot of it is topical humor, but everything that was cutting edge, racy, etc. is just bland today. There are moments of brillance, but they are spread out amongst a sea of mediocrity. I can only imagine that this also applies to the realm of comics also.
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And the works of Shakespeare. Those pyramids really blow, come to think of it... Couldn't they have built them rectangular? Sheesh. Old things :(
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I swear I'm not baiting you, but to follow your logic: Yeah, slavery was cool. I miss the Inquisition. You know what rocked: The Black Plague, Polio, The Crusades, crucifixitions, Germany in the late 30's and early 40's. You could take the best (or in this case the worst) of anything in any era and it should stand up as being good or bad today. The key is looking at the chaff, not the wheat (or something like that) and seeing how that stacks up today.
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Alright a'ready Mistuh Febyooary or whutevah! Insultin' our fav'rit mooks from Brooklyn? One'a deese days, Mistuh Febyooary... BANG...ZOOM!!!
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Those vintage collections are a whole lot of fun, especially if you're a longtime fan of the series/character... and old Captain Marvels in particular can be very enjoyable on their own level... they almost read like old film serials in print form. And for some of these characters to have been around as long as they have, their original stories would've had to contain some essential, classic quality. HOWEVER, all of the criticisms pointed out by August do indeed hold true... even the very earliest issues of Batman or Superman seem amateurish and off-the-cuff. Often, these stories are fun curiosities but don't hold a candle to many of the updated storylines... which have more realism, complexity, depth of character, and relevance to our own time. Think about it: do you honestly prefer Bob Kane's Batman over Frank Miller's? Stan Lee's the Incredible Hulk over Peter David's? I think that these modern qualities are what August meant to stress, and what he'll be going for with his movie... and I for one am glad to hear it. Do we really want a Cap. Marvel movie that seems like it was made in the 1950s... it might be interesting in the hands of another filmmaker, but I'd much prefer what you know will be August's own modern, quirky take on the character.
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August is proving he's not the right man for the job??? Is kitschy stuff also bad stuff? Is campy writing, bad writing?
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What about the fucking Ultimate ANYTHINGS? Pure CRAP that Marvel wants to put the kybosh on because it sucks so bad. THAT'S how smart it is to re-invent things - fixing shit that ain't broke. What a fucking asshole thing to say. A simple "I will do the best I can with a different approach" would've sufficed just fine. "Old things suck." What a fucking asshole, pissing on history. Without "old things" that faggot wouldn't BE HERE!
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I guess that sucks too, eh August?
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I'd take virtually ANY Batman story from 1940 (or even 1939) over pretentious crap like Arkham Asylum (15 years OLD) or mediocre overhyped stuff like Batman Year One (20 years OLD). Come on, stuff like that Hugo Strange story from Batman #1 with the monsters in the wide-brimmed hats? Raw power, that's what that primitive stuff had. That's why these characters have lasted and that's why old stuff has to be carefully considered when making new-stuff versions of it. But yes, absolutely, these adaptations are for commercial films made for a modern audience. The new version of Dr Who did this (on TV), Batman Begins did too. Supermnan Returns stumbled because it tried to recreate the OLD Reeve Superman films without taking into consideration the action and dynamism that today's summer blockbusters require.
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...as a reference then it's all good. O'course I'd just get Jeff Smith to write it and cut out the middleman. Oh well. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Peter Jackson for JLA!
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His main criticism was how the writing at the time doesn't hold up to today's standards in COMICS. Which one of you morons brought up Shakespeare? When did Shakespeare write a comic book?Come on people, keep on topic here. And don't pull that crap with "Have you read today's comics?" because yes, there are some bad titles out there right now (I'm looking at you, Wonder Woman) and yeah, there were some good titles back in the day (Captain Marvel may not have been one of them); like all rules, there are exceptions, but don't parade them around like this writer is an idiot that doesn't understand that.Jeez...
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does it not make sense? jesus christ, read detective comics 27- it's an absolute mess.
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I basically agree with John August's premise that "old things suck." I think he was talking specifically about the realms of comics and film, not playwriting or theater in general. Personally, I can't watch most black and white movies for more than ten minutes. I get bored with the slow pacing and yesterday's hot topics and production techniques. Call me an unabashed modernist, or a product of my time, or whatever, but I'm not a fan of old movies. I watched "Citizen Kane" twice on DVD, and thought the film would've been wonderful for my grandparents or parents to see, but it just didn't speak to me. I appreciate the history of film and loved seeing "Visions of Light," a documentary about the art and history of cinematography, so I don't dump on old films. I just don't prefer them or suckle them to my breast like so many cinemaphiles do.
I'm glad John August wrote what many people in my generation are scared to admit: it's not a requirement to love old comics or films. It's just as valid to only love modern comics and films.
I'm now interested to see what August does with Shazam.
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Or maybe it sucks now.
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Damn you Capt. Marvel!!
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The whole time I was reading that I thought you were talking about the writer of that horrible Shaquille O'Neal movie. Wasn't that called Shazzam or something? Kazzan? Shitstan?
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Yes black & white movies are terrible, my thanks to the wisdom of the great man who brought us Jurassic Park 3, Go, and Charlie’s Angels 1 & 2 for making me realize I've been watching moldy old cinematic tripe over the years...
It looks like we’re in for another Hulk & Fantastic Four….
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What a fuckin' jackass.
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As proven by my well worn copy of Granny Trannies 7...
I think the line that really casues trouble is the B&W movie one, he is essentially saying all old movies suck, which is an insane statement, but seems to be the general feeling in America. Remember when you could catch old movies on TV, well now unless you watch a specialized channel the defintion of an old classic movie is The Breakfast Club. -
Awesome! I hope he makes jokes about Starbucks and Britney Spears. Maybe he can be in an emo band too!
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Yeah they do, with their GUMS!
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Yes, Schindler's List FEATURES music, and words. That doesn't make it a musical. Honeymooners features jokes. That doesn't make it funny.
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2 1/2 plus hours of Billy Batson stalking and pining over some chick from his 7th grade class yearbook club while Dr. Sivana comes up with some improbable real estate scam, Cap lifts progressively heavier objects, and Kal Penn gets all his lines cut! I can't WAIT!
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Let me say that his comments that "old things suck" are being taken way out of context. August tends to write his blog with a droll sense of humor. This was definitely not meant to be taken seriously.
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The Magna Carta *does* suck. That's why it hasn't been part of the British Constitution since the early 19th century. You inadvertently made August's point: things evolve, and while the original may have been impactful at the time, it doesn't mean it's relevant any longer.
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the MORE it sucks"
You must be a Knicks fan. Or a Lions fan. -
I want a serious take on the character like Superman. I don't want to see Mary Marvel etc.
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period in which they were created. They can fall short of being period pieces, but they need to get pretty close to get the spirit of the characters correct. You can't update Marvel, it's uncool to be Captain Marvel today.
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they update something, they do not improve upon the original concept. The original concept is generally what attracted the broadest audience to being with.
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Judd Winick.
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to be paid to art created now. People seem to dissmiss things that have modern sensibilitys or styling. But art should reflect the time in which it is made. Some people do concentrate too much on art of the past. Being around and witnessing the release of a film etc is something that you should cherish because you are experiancing it in the time it was created. People would give anything to be around for the release of the 1st Starwars or any other pioneering peace of art and people in the future will feel the same about a lot of art that is made now.
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Telling a bunch of 15-year-olds that old stuff sucks is about as daring as telling a crowd of frat-boys that "tits are great"
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So fuck you for that, too!
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I'm cool.
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That's news to me because that shit is fucking brilliant seventy years later. Oh, and I guess those old Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller Orchestra recordings suck too. And I certainly can't forget Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT or Jack Cole's PLASTIC MAN. What a bunch of old sucky crap that is!
Thanks, Mr. August, for enlightening me with your brilliance and saving me from things I thought I enjoyed until you came along. Asswipe.
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And the tiger was Talky Tawny.
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Apr 09, 2007 10:47:18 PM CDT
I watched SHAZAM as a child! This is great news :)
by allpowerfulwizardofoz
So very very happy to hear that a movie is in the works. I absolutely loved SHAZAM as a kid. Between that, Land of The Lost, H.R. Puffinstuff, Electro Woman and Dino Girl I have fond memories of the show. I own a bootleg DVD set that contains that the Isis power hour!
Now granted as an adult I hope they make a serious Captain Marvel movies stemming from the source material of the old comics but somehow I get the feeling this could turn out to be quite campy. Not really sure what to make of the statement that "old things suck". I will disagree but I am open to the idea of a movie either way because it will be great fun to see someone bearing that costume again. -
The significant difference between Superman and Captain Marvel - and one the Fawccett lawyers should have emphasized in the DC vs. Fawcett lawsuit - is the different approaches. Captain Marvel was a FUNNYBOOK. (As was Whiz Comics and Marvel Family). Comic books aren't always comic, but funnybooks are funny. Do a Captain Marvel adolescent power fantasy movie straight, without Mary, Junior, Tawky Tawny, Mr. Mind (the worm) and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny? Sure, it could be done, and it might be interesting. (Just write it as fan fiction. I called my small press comix version "Zeus") Just as you could probably make a straight sci-fi story about "My Favorite Martian" by cutting out all the goofy humor stuff. but what's the point. If you want a "serious" Captain Marvel story, why not just make a Miracleman or Prime movie? Taking Captain Marvel and trying to edit out the humor would be like trying to make a tasteful, respectful, serious concentration camp picture based on Hogan's Heroes. Why bother?
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It's not his declaring "old things suck", though frankly that makes him sound like an arrogant, pretentious douche (and by the way, the HONEYMOONERS is classic TV and the cast's brilliant work still holds up to this day)......It's the fact that this is guy who foisted upon the world CHARLIES ANGELS 1 and 2, which were such utter unwatchable shit that his word processor should have been taken away from him at that point. But, hey, that's okay -- he really redeemed himself with that classic JURASSIC PARK 3. Nice work having a dinosaur eat a phone and then beeping! (mocking eye roll...)
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Just thought you'd like to know.
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Okay, this is my first time posting here since I fear the idiocy of the people responsible for this sight (Here's lookin at little mister "Children cannot be allowed to see a gloved hand touching a woman's face or they will grow up to touch women with gloved hands and the world will end because of posters for a B movie.") but how many of you people that keep bringing up Citizen Kane have actually seen it? It isn't considered a classic because it's a good movie, it's considered a classic because it was revolutionary, the plot is silly, the directing is bad and at times, the acting is downright horrible. It just sucks, but we respect it, because of what it is, what it represents and what it meant at the time, not because we can microwave a big bowl of pop corn and gather round and be enthralled like we can be by modern movies, that's not how life is.
The other day, I found one of the countless web sites that host public domain movies and I watched the original Night Of The Living Dead, and that is a truly terrific movie. I still get chills as Ben gives his soliloquy about how he ended up at the farm house, and I cherished every moment of it, that movie is just as much a part of me as my left arm. But, later that afternoon, I was flipping through the channels when I came across Land Of The Dead, and I enjoyed it more, I became more involved with it, simply because while Night Of The Living Dead knows the strings of my heart as well as it does, Land Of The Dead is simply more engaging. The sound quality is better, the picture quality is immensely better and the special effects were more then just the desperate attempts of prodigies, they were the culmination of a dream.
But that's just the movie part of it. The comic fandom whines and complains about the slightest changes in adaptations, but the truly iconic heroes that are known and loved beyond our little corner of the universe, like Superman or even Batman have been shaped by adaptations, although perhaps none more then Superman. Perry White, Clark Kent's lovable boss wasn't invented by a comic book writer, he was invented by the radio show, same for Kryptonite, Superman flying and heck, even his relationship with Batman.
These things shaped the stories that we grew up with, they shaped the stories that are going on to this day, and to be honest, they probably shaped the stories that we're clamoring for John Austin to respect.
But, ultimately, that's beside the point. What does matter is that, I would take a single well written issue of 52, which is any issue, honestly, over fifty million comic books about Batman having to wear a different brightly coloured costume each night so he can trick a fat guy in a three piece suit, or that randomly feature monkeys because they increase sales. -
it's those gems you find between those sucky things that make it all worth while.
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I had expected the line breaks I put in myself to exist, but apparently, that'd be problematic so you get a big wall of text.
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