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Okay. Honestly, The Pro was fucking hilarious and wasn't meant to be anything else. It didn't deal with any of the complexities that The Filth does. It had a grown woman urinating on a fallen villain. I mean, that's just hilarious. Both I and my roommate really haven't laughed as hard in a long time before or since.
That Steranko/Stewart thing. Yikes. Last rung in a limbo tourney low.
The Pro, I think, would really be the only thing that, had it contained actual DC continuity characters, could really fall under the category of soiling archetypes. Everything in Alias has been implied, certainly less implied than it is in, say, the Emma/Scott relationship in NXM, but still implied none the less. You don't see Jessica licking Cage-jizz off her face, nor will you ever, I have a feeling. Most of the 'DOOD! MARVEL CHARACTERS FUCKING!' attitude has been directly from the annoying sector of the fanbase that we all seem to be at odds with, for obvious reasons, and not really from the story itself. It's very easy to look at Alias #1 only for the look on Cage's face (and I believe if one were to search the archives of this very board, I did just that when it first came out), but that's just avoiding what is being said about Jessica's character. There wasn't much titalating about the scene in the context in which it was written. It was simply what it was trying to be (and what it was advertised as): a story for mature readers. The fact that it found its way into the hands of a decidedly immature readership is, naturally, unfortunate.
The fact is, all of these characters were created for medium in which rotating creative teams is, was, and always will be the norm. While Kirby definitely has the right to zillions of dollars in royalties he was boned out of, any creator who is working on a character he created is not obligated to remain within a small and cramped room of exploration Kirby/Lee that were allowed by their editorial staff that has since been expanded ever so slightly by the current one.
No kid should have been reading any of these issues of Alias we're discussing, so that point is moot. They were not intended for them and any comic shop owner worth their salt (such as the one who didn't let me buy Arkham Asylum back in the day when I was a kid and it first came out) would not allow a kid to walk out with one.
The superhero landscape is an ever-changing one. Just line up all the different iterations of Scott Summers over the years. If their clothes change, so can (nay, MUST?) their attitudes and those of their creators.
You can say "shit" on television now. You can see someone's arm sliced off. Certainly this is a trend that can, will, and probably already has been misappropriated by untalented and uncreative people. But for every Man Show, you have Adult Swim.
The Ultimates, as far as Darwyn's comments go, really are a new creation. They only thing they share with the originals are the origins (and not even that, sometimes). The Ultimate line is aimed directly at people who have never picked up comics before. Sure, there is a sector of the readership that can being to the table all of the baggage that decades of continuity has created, but the stories themselves are not intended to have any connection to said baggage.
For example, I remember reading a review about the beginning of the latest USM storyline, where someone posing as Spider-Man is holding up banks. The reviewer, at one point, said he was interested in seeing where this version of a classic Spider-Man villain was headed, undoubtedly assuming that this guy was some Ultimate version of the Chameleon. Naturally, the Chameleon had nothing to do with it. The story instead dealt with (quite well, in my opinion) the increasing problems Peter is facing and will continue to face as his notoriety continues to grow. The Ultimate universe is really dealing with brand new characters. They just happen to look a little bit like your old favorites.
Just wanted to throw in my $2.07. |
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