The Big Picture: Done With Dark

[LawlessSquirrel]

We got Thor first? Wow, was not aware of that. (FYI: Watch to the end of the credits)

I more-or-less agree. I love me some dark reboots, but I really wouldn't want every reboot to take that route. As for the whole loving something primarily targeted to kids...I really can't debate that since I hit a rather big Chipmunks phase myself lately. For relevance's sake: the thing that I liked about the recent movies has been that they keep the feel of the older movies while still being a reboot. Which does make it an ironically guilty pleasure considering the dark-nature of everything nowadays that I'm expected to gravitate to almost exclusively.

 

[daxterx2005]

I know this is kind of off topic, but seeing Thor brought up made me think about the Avengers movie coming out.
Am I the only one who would rather them write the hulk out of the movie apposed to replacing his actor?

 

[malestrithe]

I do not blame Todd MacFarlane for the state of comic books today. I blame Alan Moore and Frank Miller for making the dark age of comic books possible.

 

[Sunder845]

I;ve just got into comics, and reading some of the stuff from the 90s a lot of it is like eating chalk. Bland yet still disgusting.

The 90's taste like Necco Wafers?

 

[MightyLB]

If I could hug you, Bob, I would. You got it dead on. There were some other points I was going to bring up, but other people covered them first.

Keep going, Bob!

 

[Lord_Kristof]

I can understand why Bob is tired of the gritty reboot and all, but I wouldn't have comic books any other way.

My favourite comics of old: Batman vs Predator, Spider Man (around the Venom and Carnage period), Batman (around the Knightfall bit) and X-Men (same period, early 1990's).

My favourite comics of now: Sin City, 300, The Killing Joke, Watchmen, Batman: Year One.

So yeah, I really don't see why the gritty reboot is a bad thing. I get it that it can be silly - with Transformers, which I haven't watched, I can't really see it working out because it's too 'silly' to begin with. With Thor... I'm having my doubts, because for me the whole Avengers thing doesn't add up. You've got Iron Man... COOL, that's a really cool character. Then you've got Cap America... yeah, maybe, could work. The Hulk. Umm... ok, why would he join them, but alright... and Thor. A cool character by himself, but one that doesn't fit the same Universe as inhabited by The Punisher, the X-Men and Spiderman. It just doesn't make any sense... a genius multi-millionaire, a WWII supersoldier, a mutating brute and... a Nordic God? What?

So yeah, for someone who's into comics, but not a comic-book geek... does not compute. I'll surely enjoy the movie and all, but it'll take a lot of suspension of disbelief on my part to watch the Avengers without feeling like a five year old who's easy to impress by anything.

 

[Jman1236]

Hit the nail on the head BOB, speaking of dark, anyone see the concept art for the Voltron live action movie?

http://www.scificool.com/images/2010/09/voltron-movie-concept-art-1.jpg

Seriously WTF IS THIS?!?!

 

[K V MAN]

am i the only one that as soon as BOB said look back at the transformer movies i said no, i shall not


any way great topic today

 

[thenewprince]

Uh, yeah. Gritty reboots have gotten silly. I thought we realized this as a culture somewhere around the mid-nineties.

By the way, Nolan's Batman movies are really the only recent superhero movies that might be considered gritty reboots. I don't think anyone is going to call Iron Man "gritty".

Agreed mate

 

[Mister Benoit]

I;ve just got into comics, and reading some of the stuff from the 90s a lot of it is like eating chalk. Bland yet still disgusting.

Ahh I got into comics about 4 months ago due to "The Walking Dead" and after finishing that am half way through both Sandman and Y: The Last Man.

Also have read some stuff friends have passed me like Superman Red Sun.

Feeling really nice to be reading stories again >.> Super Heroes just don't do it for me though.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

Great episode. However I never though of Transformers as too grim or dark mainly because the robots weren't the stars. Every time I saw Shia Labeouf it became "Don't care about you social problems, go back to the fighting robots." People came to see transforming robot fight but they were given an angsty teenager instead. That's not grim or dark; that's just frustrating.

I would also say that a dark gritty remake needs a original to be a darker reflection of. Batman Begins was great for me partly because I came in thinking of previous silly Batman movies like George Cloony's. It made a great comparison to see whimsical childish figures portrayed in a new darker manner.

 

[Casual Shinji]

That's the ever present pendulum of human want for ya.

I don't mind dark and gritty superhero movies, but with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight it lost its superhero wonderment. Which is why I hate Nolan's Batman. No matter how dark or violent the movie is it should still feel like a superhero movie and not like a John Grisham novel.

 

[ace_of_something]

You for got to blame Rob Liefield or whatever his name was as well. The guy who drew people without feet and women that technically had no organs.

One thing I do want to know as I'm not a comic buff myself even though I like superhero movies...

Is Spiderman going to be in The Averngers movie? I don't think I've ever seen him on any of the original comic book images of them that Bob has shown but seriously, what is Marvel without Spiderman?

No, spiderman will not be in The Avengers. Spiderman is getting a reboot of his own. Everyone has been recast and it's now going to be more of a teen/highschool driven story. Think Twilight with Spiderman.

Or ya know... what spider-man started out as for the first decade or so.

 

[LordLundar]

Wasn't Incredible Hulk always about impulse-control issues? I don't know much about the comics, but he's always been "Monstrous Anger Man", hasn't he?

Originally Hulk was actually pretty intelligent and capable of rational thought. That's been rebooted recently with Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes where he's a lot more rounded out of a character and not just "Hulk SMASH!!!" all the time. In fact, he spends most of his time as Hulk and can turn it on or off at will.

 

[GiantRaven]

I agree with Bob, but not really for his reasons. I don't like grim and gritty settings because... Well, they just don't appeal to me. Never have. I don't like excessive violence and I almost loathe anything sexually-related, mostly because it makes me feel like a pervert or sicko whenever I watch something like that.

Also, WALL-E FTW! My favorite movie of all time, by the way.

I agree. Some writers/artists try way too hard in that regard. It makes me almost embarrassed to be reading comics sometimes.

 

[ran88dom99]

Go Bob. If only Lucas had seen this video before those episodes...
Pls do a video on webcomics. There are about 20k of them and they are good.

 

[walsfeo]

Your NEVER too old to see the appeal of a Space Viking and his magic Hammer!

And this little fact makes me hope they do a second Thor movie and make it about Beta Ray Bill.

Bob, I liked this episode. I wish there had been more meat to it, but I liked it. Even if you did trot out your favorite dead horse.