The Other Side of the Kirby Conundrum

Okay, so I eventually did make it out to see The Avengers, despite the misgivings I expressed in this post here. As if anyone REALLY though I was going to completely boycott the most anticipated super-hero move of the past ten years. Apparently, the only person I managed to fool was me. Go figure.

(I'll get the review out of the way quick: The movie was good. There's no reason for the Hulk to be as enjoyable as he was, but that actually happened. I like my entertainment to be a little more thought-provoking, but I still liked all the punching. Also, Thanos is cool.)

My main hang-up with The Avengers (and superhero comics in general) is how the corporations that own the trademarks treat the men and women who CREATE the characters that build their companies. I specifically cited Marvel's treatment of Jack Kirby, but, really, it's been DC comics who have been the worst offenders - at least, if Alan Moore is to be believed.

The tricky part, though, is that DC comics owns one of my favorite characters, Batman. And I love Batman. His original creators told some fun stories about Batman, but, for me, the best Batman stories have come about in the last fifteen to twenty years - between Batman: The Animated Series, The Dark Knight, and Grant Morrison's recent run in the comics, there's been a lot of good Batman stuff to love.

And it's not like Mr. Kirby never intended anyone else to write his characters. The work he produced for Marvel was work-for-hire, so I imagine he MUST have known his work would be used by other writers. And, every now and then, those writers do a pretty bang-up job.

So, on the one hand, we've got creators who are treated unfairly with regards to the creations they worked so hard on. On the other hand, we've got the creators who are paid now to continue to tell stories with those characters. Sometimes, the stories are awesome. Othertimes, you get Halle Berry's Catwoman. Both groups of people are artists, and both deserve support. After all, we don't penalize the actor who plays Hamlet, even though he didn't invent the character.

Still, I get the sense that even other creators understand that there's a problem. To go back to The Avengers, Joss Whedon (Firefly is still overrated) directed a near-perfect superhero film. However, he's gone on-record to say that he may not be involved in Avengers 2, as it's "an enormous amount of work telling what is ultimately somebody else’s story, even though I feel like I did get to put myself into it."

It's that last part I think that's key - we should support work (be it comic-booky or other-wooky) where the artist has something to say with the material. As long as people can continue to bring something new to the table, I have very little problem with a creator playing with someone else's toys.

But I still reserve the right to complain about the ridiculous number of remakes/reboots/sequels every year.