Friday, February 13, 2015

Don't Read Everything You Believe

      Funny enough I came up with the title to this post before writing it, and then decided to run with it. It makes sense though, sometimes, regarding comics, we tend to find a character that we are very passionate about and come to know that character to act and think in a certain way. When that character doesn't follow the rules, oh...let's call it his or her "Frame of Reference," we get very angry or distraught because we are not used to seeing or understanding the character that way and we sense a lack of trust in what that character may do in the future. Sometimes, and history has proved this to be true time and time again, characters tend to jump around a lot in regards to what they stand for. Different writers tend to change, and eventually perfect, those characters into what you may like most about them that makes their book a unique experience for you. I won't ever tell anyone to not read something because I didn't like how it changed a characters frame of reference. However, I will make suggestions on which stories to avoid, simply because they make continuity errors and cause confusion to new readers, (hence the title.) As a writer, I can say that when taking on someone else' character, you have a responsibility to that audience to keep certain keys the same. You can bend these keys and stretch them from here to the moon, but you cannot unjustifiably break them. Let me expand upon this a little more with an example.

      With changes in a fictional universe there will always be reboots and relaunches of characters that have been around for more than 75 years. During which time we learn each character's frame of reference and what boundaries they can push and sometimes break, but for the most part they stay relatively the same. They have to though; for example, lets look at Superman and Wonder Woman. Disregarding their gender, if Superman were able to justify killing someone based on their actions, other than to save an innocent, he would be, respectfully, taking on a quality that Wonder Woman has been known to act upon. Now, before you start to "rage quit" my blog, I know for a fact that Superman has killed before, but I stand by an earlier argument that I have made that Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman each make up the trinity of characters that governs the rest of the DC Universe. Here is what it looks like.
     Okay, so it's not my greatest work of art, but let me try and break this down. In my opinion, the perfect judge, jury, and executioner is made up of three parts; these being the brains, or capacity to understand and comprehend the judgement being made, the body, the physical being that is a collective consciousness capable of casting a vote, and the weapon, the muscle or axe that executes based upon the brains dictation. Batman is mortal, as much as that may surprise you, he has the potential to die much sooner than the other two. We have come to know Batman as a fairly reasonable person who doesn't kill, but he does have potential to do so. If Batman became a killer it would be out of temporary insanity; enter the Joker, which is his purpose as a Batman villain. Wonder Woman, who is nearly immortal, has lived a life of an amazon and warrior. She certainly has the capacity to do what is necessary when it comes down to who must die in order to save the day. She has killed to save and has killed out of rage as well. Superman, another God like figure, usually chooses to save people and not kill them, but he has been pushed before, and this is mainly under the circumstances that involve saving an innocent and has no other choice. Obviously, arguments can be made about these characters based on particular stories and situations, but that just brings us back to what this article is about.

      Every character has to have a frame of reference, or a guideline, similar to what I made above so that the characters are governed in their own universe. If they didn't, then why would you buy Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman comics each month, why wouldn't you just buy one and be content? It's because each character has a different capacity for good and evil than the others and we want to see whats going to happen in those circumstances. We want to see how badly Wonder Woman can screw things up for the other two, and just the same with Superman starting a conflict that he is morally conflicted about for the rest of his life. Likewise, we want to see how far the Joker will push Batman to committing his moral taboo. You may also see that I gave each character the capacity for evil, but in regards to the natural DC cannon, they never use it. Perhaps in the Multiverse they do, but not here.

     What sparked this whole discussion was based upon something that is currently happening in the New 52 Batman series. The current story arc entitled "End Game" is borderline rewriting Joker's origin. I highly recommend picking it up if you get the chance, it certainly peaked my interest. Again, this is just another risk that the writers are taking to keep things fresh, heck, it may not even be the Joker, but maybe a possessed Joker or clone, who knows? I trust Scott Snyder's writing enough to see where this is going, but it really makes me think what if everything I know about the Joker has been a lie, and how will that effect my opinions about him in the future. Betrayal could be a good word to use in this case, but Genius is also a possibility. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

      If you guys enjoyed reading this article, please help me get the word out there and give it a like and share. I am looking to get the ball rolling on so many things right now and have big plans for Angelicomics in the future. You, reader, are the hands that are holding this afloat and I need all the support you can give me. I look forward to hearing from you all. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for reading and supporting me on this journey.


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Streams and Podcast: Reaching the Audience You Want



     When it comes to marketing a product or service, the difficulty doesn't come from the product itself, but rather the advertisement of the product. I think many would agree this to be true; and with Valentine's Day only a few days away, by now you have probably had your fill of flowers, heart shaped candy boxes and stuffed animals (but probably not.) When I set out two years ago to make a name for myself by making this blog, I never thought it would become, some sort of, a company name. "Angelicomics" doesn't really make a lot of sense at first glance, but it can be pronounced a few ways. I have always preferred it to be pronounced "An-Jel-E-Comics," but I also like that it can be pronounced "Angel-Eye-Comics. The play on words is a form of marketing. We see it every day and sometimes the signs are subliminal.

Get Me Online!

     So, Chris why are you telling me this? Well, the answer is simply that I want to talk about the expansion that is currently happening with this blog. The benefit to you, the reader, is that now there are many new ways for you to enjoy the awesome content that Angelicomics has to offer. This new type of media I will be doing, and have already started, is, of course podcasting and streaming content. This blog has always been focused on bringing fact and opinions of comic book culture to light. To ask the tough questions and to think critically on them is not only scientific, but necessary for progress.


     My friend Spencer has recently started his first podcast, "Cover to Cover" and I have been lucky enough to be a reoccurring guest on it for the last few weeks in a row. Each week we have been getting together to talk about what has been going on in comics and our thoughts on the cinematic universes for Marvel and DC as of late. I highly encourage you, if you are reading this, to hop over to the "Cover to Cover" site and give it a quick like. I think the material, although spoilers may be involved, will be thought provoking and might help give viewers a better appreciation for comics without actually spending money on them each week, (unlike us nerds.)

and

     The other new form of media sharing I have been embarking on is my Twitch Channel. What can I say about Twitch that hasn't been said before? Nothing new, that's for sure. I only recently discovered streaming and have had a blast learning to use new technologies to make intellectual conversation a reality. For those that don't know, Twitch is a channel streaming site. I really want to use this stream to spark conversations live with viewers and interact with people in real time. On an interesting note, I am able to stream gaming content while I chat. Until I get a webcam, it seems to make for a more interesting stream than just having me sit there and talk. But I am sure everyone would love that too...right? 
http://www.twitch.tv/angelicomics


     Real quickly, I want to give a shout out to the Gem City Comic Con coming to the Nutter Center for its 10th year. Myself, along with the Comic Book League from Wright State University will be hosting our panel discussion for the second year in a row, regarding the evolution of comics. Hopefully with your help we can come up with some awesome questions that need answering about comics and the media surrounding them. If you have an interesting/ intellectual question, please submit it below or you can leave it on our Facebook page by clicking the picture below. Also, Rob Liefeld will be there. Until next time guys.


https://www.facebook.com/Angelicomics