What do comic fans want movies for anyway?

[paulvonscott]

Despite the similarities in mediums (etc. blah yawn and so on) what the hell do comic fans want a movie for anyway?!

A movie could never be Watchmen or Dredd at its best.  It's as if we are all seeking some validation from the normal world that we were right.  That if only people could see Watchmen as we saw it that they would understand.

More people watched the Dredd movie than EVER read the comic.  Isn't that weird?  Is that why we are so upset that it was so bad?

I'd rather spend an evening in reading Carlos & Wagners outpourings than see the film again.  Ever.

Or deep down do we believe that comics are just a pseudo medium and that books and film are real and we are in the middle, the useless lumps we are?

I would say 'discuss' at this point, but it's obvious I'm am idiot already :)

[2000AD Online]

I think I said something similar on Thread 572. 'Validation' is a very good way of encapsulating it. Yes, I would like to see Dredd reaching a bigger audience but on the condition it remains true to the essence of what Dredd is. The Stallone film completely missed the point. Dredd is to all intents and purposes a fascist. And when Rebellion refers to him as a superhero I think it shows, to be polite, a slight misunderstabnding on their part as to how the character is generally perceived.

[paulvonscott]

Well, he dresses up in a silly costume (to them) and fights crime.  He does things a normal man can't do.

That really is a superhero.  We see Dredd as just a guy.  But let's face it he isn't.  He may tbe the embodiment of HUMAN WILL, but he ain't normal.  A normal man doesn't have all his skin burnt off and survive, jus because he's too stubborn to die.

Remember Batman vs. Judge Dredd?  Okay a fairly shabbily treated idea, but the point made was that they aren't that different.  Is Batman a superhero?  Who would doubt it?  Dredd and Batman may work in different ways, but they do a lot of the same things.

[2000AD Online]

Ah, but is the Batman really a superhero? Or just a costumed crimefighter? Does Bruce go out and fight crime because he's better than us or because he's a little deranged due to the fact his parents were killed in cold blood before his very eyes?

[paulvonscott]

Hmmm.. I agree, but that's a comic book fan talking.  Batman and Superman are the same thing in most people's eyes.  Yes, It's true!  How can the son of Durel (or whatever his bloody name was) and the Wayne orphan even be compared!  

Well, by 99% of the people who will see a Dredd film, very easily indeed.

Dredd's in a comic and he fights crime in a funny outfit.  While we see that as a particlular thing, most just go, 'oh, a superhero'.

[2000AD Online]

Sad but true. The world out there simply doesn't care.

Which is probably a good thing.

Y'know, the other day I was re-reading 'The Last American' and it occurred to me that, despite his appearance, it's still possible to use Dredd as a commentary on that very world out there. As proved by 'America' and the various other democracy story lines.

[JJP]

"Dredd's in a comic and he fights crime in a funny outfit. While we see that as a particlular thing, most just go, 'oh, a superhero'."

On the subject of what makes a superhero to non-comic fans, I remember being bribed/threatened into attending my little brother's piss-poor drama presentation evening at school.  One of the classes had "Superheroes" as its theme, and one of the groups chose do do Charlie's Angels of all fucking things.  Almost stormed the stage shouting "which part of the "Super" prefix didn't you half-witted midgets understand?".