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RE: “Read a Damn Book – 145: The Avengers – Marvel Masterworks Volume 1”
Umm for Marvels, why read a book when everything is available as movies? just curious
Umm for Marvels, why read a book when everything is available as movies? just curious
I'm assuming this is a satirical question, but just in case it's genuine, here are my reasons: 1. The visuals are very different. Seeing a person in a costume with computer graphics flickering all around them is pretty cool, especially with a big budget production like the Marvel films get---but seeing the artwork in comic form, especially when the artist is as quirky and fun as Jack Kirby was, is an entirely different experience. I love the poses and facial expressions Kirby drew, and nothing that happens in a film with live actors playing the parts can match his staging, his oddball images. He was making ART! 2. The stories are different. Pacing, plot points, and nearly every other element are changed, refined, interpreted differently, compressed for time, and altered when a comic becomes a film. The history is different. The tone and mood are different. They aren't ever the same story. 3. The comics medium requires the reader to make an effort for the story to move forward. As Scott McCloud pointed out in UNDERSTANDING COMICS, a reader can't just passively absorb a comic. A movie happens directly in front of you, whether you are paying attention or not, but a comic requires the reader to examine each panel and then come to some conclusion as to how THIS panel leads to the NEXT panel. The story comes to life, MOVES, only in the reader's head---and I personally enjoy that experience, even with BAD comics. It's not like any other form of media, as it involves art and symbols and syntax, mixing together and creating layers of meaning---and a good comic, as with a Kirby story or Alan Moore or Rumiko Takahashi or Al Feldstein, it's a real pleasure putting the pieces that these artists and writers present for us together, sublime puzzles all, and making the stories come to life. When you read a comic, YOU are directing the movie in your head. (And I'm a damn good director!---when it comes to brain movies...)
Those are the reasons I read comics IN ADDITION to watching the films. They may be remediations of the same source materials, but the EXPERIENCES are not the same...
The question was genuine since I am not a person of sattire. But oh boeyyy see the answer, I love it. What it tells me is there are people for whom the super movies, character and comics - have a heart connection, feelings.
And then there are people like me who see something so broad and deep in a short 2 hour movie with popcorn. We sure does not get to feel that joy that you do.
AMAZING, thanks for replying on my question so genuinely :):) good vibes to you :)