Ask A Geek…
Here at Geek Strand Central, we are starting a new feature, the Ask A Geek advice column. I, your humble certified geek of all trades, will answer your questions on technology, comic books, science fiction, your love life (or lack there of) and any other question—from a geek’s point of view.
To get your questions answered, you can e-mail me at chris@alternatives.sc or send direct messages to @blueninja on twitter. You can also find me at MySpace or Facebook as theoriginalblueninja.
Just to get them out of the way, here are some answers to some common geek questions: 42, Star Wars, Batman, yes, shazbot and Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG. Zoom-Boing.
Now, on to questions submitted by my readers (or at least those who responded to my late night Twitter request):
What is the deal with comic books? Why do they read like illustrated soap operas?– Summer, Weirton, W.Va., via Facebook.
Gambit of the X-men explains super-hero soap operas
Ah, ma chere, ‘llow me to ‘splain to you what the deal with comic books is. (Okay, trying to write in a Cajun accent is harder that trying to talk in one, so just pretend that you are hearing the voice of the X-men’s resident cardsharp Gambit for the rest of this questions).
Back in the day, there was this guy named Bill who wrote a lot of crazy stories that were looked upon as trashy writing for the commoners. Nowadays, his work is considered one of the foundations of modern literature.
Back in the day, but not as far back as William Shakespeare, comic books were looked upon as trash for kids. Most comics were one-shot stories, even if the characters stayed the same—like in Superman or Batman—the previous storylines had nothing to do with this months or the next. This mirrored most of the other media out there at the time. There was no sequel to “Casablanca” or multipart storylines in the Andy Griffith Show.
Well, as the world grew up, so did comic books. At first, multi-issue storylines came around, and then this guy Stan Lee decided to come up with a hero that didn’t have a perfect secret identity. This poor guy would have to balance school, family, girlfriends and super villains all on a freelance photographer’s budget. There were no playboy billionaire bank accounts to buy web shooters or secret Spider Caves.
This idea revolutionized comic storytelling and soon the character behind the mask became as important and the super hero’s adventures.
The “illustrated soap opera” era really kicked off when the X-men rose in popularity in the 80s. With super-sexy being a side effect of having super powers, the hook-ups, break-ups, friendships and rivalries between heroes, and villains, began to flesh out the lives of super heroes beyond the battles and villainous traps.
In addition, since this is fiction, or melodrama, things can’t go ease. There is no simple fall in love, get married, have a baby, grow old in the comic book world. It is more like meet a super-villainess, fight, kiss, fight some more, kiss, fall in love, save her from another super villain, turn her to the good side, fight on the same side against other villains, have her blown up in a battle, think she is dead, find out she wasn’t really dead and that she has come back as a villain again, fight, fall back in love, find out she is really an alien replacing her, kill the alien clone, and free the original from the alien prison only to find out that she has fallen in love with another prisoner…etc.
Yep. Sounds like a super-powered soap to me.
Don't Look if you are afraid of blue, glowing naked guys!
Who else is scarred from exposure to Dr. Manhattan’s “junk” in “The Watchmen?” – Brent, Pittsburgh, Penn, via Facebook.
Only you.
Christopher Huff is a self-confessed and unrepentant geek who has been living, writing and playing on the Grand Strand for several years. You can learn more about him and his writing at www.piratejournalism.com. Comments can be sent to chris@alternatives.sc.
