BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Comic Books >

Comics and architectural landscapes

  
  

Page: 1(2)3

 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:45 / 08.10.07
I kind of think of Gotham as NYC in the 1970s, and Metropolis as NYC in some optimistic urban planner's CGI simulation.
 
 
Glenn Close But No Cigar
21:51 / 08.10.07
Perhaps we could rethink the notion of the Superhero 'conquering' the city in terms of what it means to be on the city's peak... Doesn't Batman, when he crouches atop a Gotham skyscraper, become a Gargoyle, watching over the city below in a rather menacing style? (Not to mention the panoptic element of the Bat-Signal.. Bats projecting his symbol, his very physicality onto the city's sky). Equally, doesn't Supes become something like Lady Liberty's torch? Both, in a sense, become the city at its zenith. Batman as it's darkest promontory ('I am the night'), and Supes as its most sun-kissed peak.

As much as I hate hate hate Kingdom Come, there's a rather interesting panel or two which shows The Flash keeping Keystone City in a crime-free state by perpetually running between its buildings. Crime fighting as endless, unbroken circuit - a piece of 'architecture' that's part Marcel Duchamp's 'Nude Descending a Staircase', and part Morrison's time worms in The Invisibles.

Really loving this thread!
 
 
Mug Chum
21:54 / 08.10.07
I guess it goes by what you've read most. I think my own notion comes from "Batman - Deathblow", "Dark Knight Returns", "Batman year One" which was very much "Taxi Driver"'s Hell's Kitchen in its social hotness and changes (and fear of it), "Batman Forever"'s dyonisiacal carnival fever and "Die Hard 3"'s NY humid summer.
(for instance, my reading of Metropolis must be absurd for any Superman fan, since from what I gather it was always a busy "Big City" fast thing to contrast with the farm boy)

Superman and Spiderman's initial living places are surely really important mentions in how the spacial signifiers works in those stories, I'm hoping someone can go further into them in the thread (I'll try to think about it).
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:56 / 08.10.07
Superman and Spiderman's initial living places are surely really important mentions in how the spacial signifiers works in those stories, I'm hoping someone can go further into them in the thread (I'll try to think about it).

This is kind of an obvious initial suggestion, but grain silos and barns, and mid-size apartment blocks of a residential district, are to the city scrapers what the boy is to the adult man.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:56 / 08.10.07
That is, Manhattan is Queens "grown up".
 
 
Glenn Close But No Cigar
22:19 / 08.10.07
Interesting that this thread has focused largely on Gotham and Metropolis. Might I offer some thoughts on some Marvel locales?

The Baxter Building



There's something about this that gives me a Charles and Ray Eames vibe. Hopeful scientific / aesthetic discovery mixed with luxurious city living. (I love the 'Torch and sister Sue Storm commute from the suburbs' line in the above diagram). Hilariously, the FF were once tenants in this building, before Reed was forced to buy it following the landlord's complaints that it was constantly being attacked by Doom, PhD.

The Danger Room



Within a place of sanctuary, a room that simulates threat the better that its inhabitants might deal with real danger. School as mind. 'Nuff said.
 
 
_Boboss
22:22 / 08.10.07
i'm not his hugest fan, but mike mcmahon gets mega city one like no-one else. he really gets the larger point in dredd world, that city and citizenry are like the chorus, giving comment and context to the five-pager's theme. so mcmahon's people and the blocks have a visual similarity, curvy hats/block-tops and abrupt overhangs, balconies and kneepads stuck out at odd angles. he makes the background i.e. the urban backdrop become not a character, but a function of the text, an active visual cue that gives the strip an extra element of meaning.

and of course dredd's helmet mirrors the architecture of the city so well - there are always so many close ups of his hemet and chin, with the blocks behind him in relief, reinforcing the strength of his presence. i've always loved the fact that the biggest structure in the city is the statue of justice, a fucking massive statue of dredd basicaly, dominating everything, and when drawn in the old b&ws it's often impossible to tell him and the statue apart. apart from the plinth and that.
 
 
Mug Chum
22:28 / 08.10.07
That is, Manhattan is Queens "grown up".

Might seem obvious (and a fit catch) but I hadn't thought of it like that at all, makes sense. I kept only thinking of Batman, the occasional times the grown Spidey would go visit May (and Sups would visit the Kents). But it speaks volumes on the writers' and readers' (and the time's) relation to more urbanized environs.

Crime fighting as endless, unbroken circuit

I'll be hunting that panel later. Seems really nice.

Batman "branding the sky" seems also something that's the only place in a urban landscape that could have a bigger reach and be visible to all, "he's coming" (reminded me now of McDonalds' logo on the moon in Invisibles). It's sort of simple and naked enough to pack a raw punch (instead of something else that could somewhat fulfill the same function plot-wise, a news telecast or something -- it's primal, vague and carries much under in its simple spatial setting).
 
 
Glenn Close But No Cigar
22:29 / 08.10.07
To push that thought, Gumbitch, isn't it interesting that MC1 is a city that the Judges are palpably not in control of (if they were, there would be no need for the Judges...). If the physical appearance of both citizenry and Judges mirrors the environment, isn't it in the end the city (with its order AND chaos) that imposes itself, negatively, on both groups?
 
 
This Sunday
22:29 / 08.10.07
Bruce Wayne moving from Wayne Manor to that penthouse, back in the day always seemed awful important to me as a kid. It was like this extra level of removal from his childhood, from family, and a claiming of his own space. Maybe it's just my inability to comprehend the 'family home' but it seemed like maturation to move on and it put him smack dab into the city, rather than this avenging thing that swoops in from out past the suburbs in the dark not-city. Which, is Bats relationship to architecture, but not necessarily an architectual landscape.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:40 / 08.10.07
Wonderstarr: I was going to say I didn't think I could add anything currently to this most interesting of threads, but not sure if anyone has mentioned the peculiar giant advertising devices, fancy billboards with enormous props, that provided Batman with a playground and battleground ~ golf clubs, coffee cups, typewriters of course. I can't remember the decade I'm afraid. An amusing kind of city architecture though, and I think it has some basis in real city publicity.

This was prominent primarily during the 50s and 60s eras, right? Dick Sprang generation? Part of the reason that I liked the Slott/Sook Arkham Asylum: Living Hell story was that Slott brought all those old giant props into it by introducing the "Sprang Act" that set limits on Gotham's advertizing agencies and preventing them from using those big props because of a bro-ha-ha encounter between Batgirl and Humpty Dumpty. It effectively reminded the reader that while DCU continuity is constantly refreshing itself through endless crises, there's still all those old foundations underneath in the meta-continuity, and cities like Gotham and Metropolis (unlike Opal, which has existed more or less continuously in one state in the Robinson Starman series) store small pieces of continuity as architecture or urban structure (hence old creators' names being made into street signs, et cetera).
 
 
garyancheta
00:56 / 09.10.07
Some Comic Stories about Cities:

I remember that Miracleman's Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman runs happens in London and London itself figures heavily in the final acts of Moore and Gaiman's run. It is well worth looking at if only to show the whole parallel between "Superheroes as God-kings of Cities."

I'd suggest getting that on a torrent if you have the ability, because you can find those runs for cheap anywhere and there is too many legal hassles to wait patiently for a trade.

There is this really cool Jack Hawksmoor story written by Warren Ellis in a whole Wildstorm:Spotlight issue where he has a workout running in between cities. Hawksmoor himself is a self-proclaimed "God of the City" and he'd be an interesting case study as to what that exactly means in the context of 21st century architecture. There is also an interesting Millar story in Jenny Sparks #3 where Jack Hawksmoor wakes a city up and uses the city to fight another city, giant transforming robot style.

Vertigo had a series called Vertigo: Pop which explored London, Tokyo, and Bangkok. I'd highly recommend the Tokyo story because the writer/artist went on to write a Fantastic Four/Iron Man story set in Tokyo.

Speaking of Japan, you also have the really interesting stories by Chris Claremont and John Byrne with Wolverine in Tokyo...which kind of ties interestingly to the whole "Japanese 80s Scare" of the early to mid 1980s, with Japanese businessmen buying up landmarks in the United States.

You could also pick up Batman:Noir, which is one of the more interesting Noirish tales set in Gotham City that owe a lot of visual storytelling to John A Alonzo's work in Chinatown.

I'm sure you picked up on the Manhattan Guardian, which has architecture that was never built in New York, but was planned (like the whole Liberty Island/UN sequence).

Bludhaven in DC Comics is the fictional equivalent of New Jersey. Chuck Dixon's Nightwing comics are located in this area and might be interesting to write about in comparison to Gotham City.

To see another counterpoint to Gotham City, I'd suggest taking a look at DC Comics' Hitman, which details the adventures of Tommy Mohanagan in what is basically the Hell's Kitchen in Gotham City, the Cauldron. What is interesting about this series is the disintegration of the city as Tommy moves more and more towards his end. As Tommy loses more and more of himself, the city and the small place he called home is also destroyed.

Grant Morrison also wrote Aztek, a very interesting comic book whose main city (Vanity)'s architecture is supposed to create the darkest, most twisted individuals. That series worth finding on a torrent site, especially because of the superhero and his connection to a psychologically destructive city.

Ted McKeever and Jean Lofficier's German Trilogy (Blue Amazon, Metropolis, Nosferatu) all deal with German Expressionism and Architecture to varying degrees. There is also mention of a third book called "The Green Light (based on the German film, the Blue Light) but I haven't heard anything about it except for the entry on Wikipedia.

Speaking of McKeever, Metropol is another interesting book written by McKeever, which places the war of heaven and hell in a modern day city. His moody, atmospheric work is really interesting to read.

David Mazzucchelli and Paul Karasik's adaptation of Paul Aster's City of Glass is also a must, illustrating the complicated narrative of city dwellers within the fabric of a city.

The imagery of City of Glass is also very similar to Neil Gaiman's Sandman story called "A tale of two cities" in which a person who loves the city finds himself in the "dream of a city."

Brian Wood's work deals a lot with cities. DMZ is primarily a version of New York City in the state of civil war. Local has his characters and stories set in a different city and follows the progression of one character over the span of 12 years. His other work, like Couriers, Generation X 71-75, Pounded, and The Tourist are all stories that deal with how different the cities shape and create youth culture through their interaction with architecture.
 
 
grant
02:10 / 09.10.07
key buildings (get it?) in comic book history:


Would Apokolips (Jack Kirby) count? It's a place that has a kind of building-like presence. Corners and floating structures.


Also, I don't think Batman is nearly as defined by Gotham as by the Batcave. That big damn penny. The dinosaur. The costumes with the downlighting. The stalactites. The bats.

I can't name which artist did it bestest, though. Did Bob Kane do the giant penny? He may have.

Oh, and Grendel-wise, here's a Matt Wagner/Rubin city page:



And, later in the series, Pander Bros.:


They did some cutaways with arrows and labels similar to the Baxter Building above - I just didn't scan those back when. I could if you were interested and willing to wait a couple days.
 
 
TimCallahan
02:26 / 09.10.07
What about architecture as a literal embodiment of a soul.

In Secret Origins #46, Legion applicant Fortress Lad becomes an upside-down rocket ship (the Legion "club house") and then everyone loses their memory of the event, including the now-turned-into-architecture-permanently Fortress Lad. The Legion spent the rest of the Silver Age inside a transformed human without even knowing it.
 
 
garyancheta
04:20 / 09.10.07
What about Architecture as racial tension?

I was thinking that Milestone's Dakota City would be perfect for this type of exhibition. Dwayne McDuffie should still have some stuff that might be helpful in creating an exhibition. Dakota was an interesting city because it dealt with urban themes such as gang warfare (Blood Syndicate), suburban sprawl vs. urban sprawl (Static), and high/low society (Hardware), and the race riots of the middle to late 90s. You can find out more information about Milestone Comics at: http://www.blacksuperhero.com/articles/art3-Lander.html There was even a crossover in which Metropolis and Milestone switched characters and places, showing off obvious racial tension between "white" superheroes (in Superman's universe) and "racially diverse" superheroes (in Milestone Universe).

I've been trying to rack my brain over what would make interesting cities in the West, but all I can really think that would make an interesting exhibit would be the probably Firearm by Ultraverse comics, where you had a British Protagonist Immigrant talking like Dashell Hammett in the sprawl of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Aaron McGruder and Reginald Hudlin penned a 2004 graphic novel Birth of a Nation, in which they theorize what would happen if the 2000 Florida election debacle had instead happened in East St. Louis, resulting in ESL seceding from the nation and creating its own called "Republic of Blackland.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
05:03 / 09.10.07
grant: Would Apokolips (Jack Kirby) count? It's a place that has a kind of building-like presence. Corners and floating structures.

Kirby's an interesting case, if you look at his propensity for "Cosmic Aztec" super-structures and the architecture he imagines, rather than simply focusing on the idea of urban spaces. And Apokolips is "City as Dominator," while New Genesis is "City as removed from rural spaces," with Supertown hovering above the pristine nature of the planet itself.

Alan Moore's Tom Strong has good old Millenium City where urban spaces have built vertically with airbus/trams running through them and districts like Hell's Pantry. The beautiful "years later" issue of Promethea, where Sophie Bangs is awoken to her destiny again, makes perfect use of the Millenium setting as we follow "Joey Estrade" / Sophie through her day and see the city from an "ordinary citizen" (ha) level. Probably one of my favourite "urban setting" comics of all time.

Tim: In Secret Origins #46, Legion applicant Fortress Lad becomes an upside-down rocket ship (the Legion "club house") and then everyone loses their memory of the event, including the now-turned-into- architecture-permanently Fortress Lad. The Legion spent the rest of the Silver Age inside a transformed human without even knowing it.

Legion of Super-Heroes has such a weird interface with urbanization! The Legion is the overgrown population explosion of what would have been the Justice League (back in the day), just as Metropolis has expanded to Mega-City One proportions and overwhelming Smallville (rural spaces eaten by the city). Or, looking at the linked bubble cities floating in space after Planet Earth is exploded by the Dominator Fiasco; cities as seperate entities which then combine, cellular-like, into a larger structure.
 
 
This Sunday
05:14 / 09.10.07
New Genesis is "City as removed from rural spaces,"

Then where were they picnicking at the beginning of the The Pact?

And, to further the Kirby, there's his Wakanda, as well, and his Topps stuff from later on... that arboreal city.

And in the Fourth World stuff, there's the differences between bug-living, and hanging with Desaad. Between New Genesis and Metropolis.

Coinciding with that, I should state that Kirby's Metropolis is probably what I think of fastest when I think of the city. Aside from the Daily Planet globe-on-building.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
05:28 / 09.10.07
More tales of the city:

Re. Miracleman's London ~ Zenith then did the same (almost an homage or a rip, really), having superheroes hit each other into Big Ben, fling buses at each other and plunge into the Thames.


Those are two of the only comics I can remember that try to use London architecture in that playground/battleground scenario ~ the shock of landmarks destroyed (the sort of thing we see regularly happening to NYC in SF movies ~ or used to before 2001. Ironically, it happened to the London Eye in the, I think, awful Fantastic Four sequel).

Was it really Manhattan Guardian, with the never-realised NYC architecture? I thought it was Seven Soldiers 0 with the Whip.

Could consider Batman in Victorian London (Gotham by Gaslight) as well as other Elseworlds, and how it changes the character to have him in predominantly low-rise architecture (mostly alleys).

Batman doesn't brand the sky with his logo, does he. It's not really his panoptic warning that he can see crime all over the city. It's the police saying "we can't handle this, we need Batman." I'm sure Batman does occasionally use the Signal himself, but surely the whole point is that it's to call him, and fundamentally says to criminals and citizens that something's out of the GCPD's control. I can also remember occasions when a crook has turned the Signal on and manipulated it to make a point, taunting Batman by perverting the image.

So, like Judge Dredd's city, it seems more the case that actually, the GCPD often can't handle it, and more interestingly, that Batman can't control it either. If he could control crime, he wouldn't do his tour of duty every goddamn night. If he could really be everywhere, like the Kingdom Come Flash, there wouldn't be any crime. He struggles to be everywhere, to catch every case, but it's a doomed struggle, one man in a war against a city, and he's never, ever going to win.

And you have to think: an intelligent guy like that, a super-intelligent guy, running a nightly military campaign against "crime" in the city, and not realising it's doomed to failure? Either he's got a severe blind spot, or more likely I think, he doesn't actually want to win. Keystone City as "protectorate" (Waid's word, which I hadn't heard before) would surely be Batman's nightmare. He doesn't want to control crime. He wants a constant war. It keeps him "fit", physically and mentally. Has there ever been a comic where he simply couldn't find any crimes... a Bat-equivalent of 28 Days Later, where he wanders baffled and distressed around a crime-free city?
 
 
miss wonderstarr
05:30 / 09.10.07
Not sure if anyone has mentioned Top Ten's city either, but it's an interesting example of something I seem to see a lot in science fiction cities, where we're introduced to the awesome excess of the future city (with its crowds, its height, its traffic, its sense of so much going on at once) through the eyes of a newcomer, a naive.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
05:38 / 09.10.07
Batman as urban gargoyle reminds me of the Chrysler Building, complete 9 years before the first Batman story. Kind of futurist version of the traditional gothic, which is Batman all over (German Expressionist inspiration, I must become a BAT, formed from ultra-state-of-the-art-plus high tech).


  
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
06:05 / 09.10.07
wonderstarr: I'm sure Batman does occasionally use the Signal himself, but surely the whole point is that it's to call him, and fundamentally says to criminals and citizens that something's out of the GCPD's control. I can also remember occasions when a crook has turned the Signal on and manipulated it to make a point, taunting Batman by perverting the image.

It also brings to mind 52's occasional grass-roots permutations and signal-play; The Question stripping off the rubber bat emblem and painting on a question mark; while the Bat-Signal's all about Gordon shrieking "Oh DEAR GOD, the Joker's making me wet myself with fear," the Question is more explicitly taking a different tack: "I'm watching you." And then he convinces Renee to gimmick together a shitty paint-and-flashlight number to conjure up Batwoman. Bat-Signals are city magic, summoning protectors. City calls for help by making its own tag, hero comes, saves day. Both are instances of bohemian mimickry of Official Police Business, the basement level heroes taking control of city language to produce an effect.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
06:08 / 09.10.07
In haste: Beano-town's houses shaped like people. Billy the Cat (from a realist suburban milieu!) apparently lives in a house shaped like his own helmet.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
06:16 / 09.10.07
All those villains living in skull-shaped palaces. The Baxter Building is Architecture-as-hostage; constantly flung into space and the conflict between urban spaces and super-hero headquarters (thinking about Quasar as a Richards tenant).

Katie Power's sideways adventure to Winsor McKay Elsewhere, climbing through farcical Escher faux-urban landscapes.

King Mob blowing up the American Dream: Mason Lang's mansion!

King City and the urban Brandon Graham groove set!

The not-New Yorkness of Runaways and heroes adopting villainous hideouts as home.
 
 
garyancheta
12:21 / 09.10.07
I don't know if this is helpful, but Jack Kirby once created the designs for a Robert Zelany Science Fiction Land that was themed by Zelany's own book, Lord of Light. This theme park was only in the planning stages, as part of an idea for a park to rival Disney Land, but could you imagine what such a park would look like as designed by Jack Kirby.

Here's the link of some of the designs:

http://www.lordoflight.com/art.html

And remember, this isn't just Kirby being fanciful...these designs were meant to be functional too.
 
 
Mug Chum
12:30 / 09.10.07
fundamentally says to criminals and citizens that something's out of the GCPD's control. I can also remember occasions when a crook has turned the Signal on and manipulated it to make a point, taunting Batman by perverting the image

I'd figure that if villains would be "hijacking" the sign, then it must be something there in the notions of claiming that thing, changing to "their flags", their own symbol etc.

But I agree that objectively it's stained with the notion that danger lurks and something is out of order. But even that doesn't really means much since the signal means He's coming, all is well, nothing is really off the tracks.

It's difficult talking about such things, because it's not really the primary purpose of it, plot-wise or symbolic really (or really easy to grasp, since it's not a "realistic" concept, something that makes sense to any sane person; it's almost like trying to see through the panicky logic of a republican ad) -- it really is a call for help. Writers might have made it later intentionally a "brand" concept (Batman Begins, for instance), but that's late in the game when that proximity of concepts was unintentionally already "there" -- sort of parallel to writers intentionally crowbarring heavy-handed christian readings in Superman. What I was trying (and still have major difficulties) to say is that something emerges out of that initial set-up -- probably unintentionally, and in its own weird and simplistic "bad guys" flock&wolf&shepherd four colors logic.
 
 
garyancheta
12:51 / 09.10.07
Dave Gibbons work might be helpful. From what I remember from an old Comics Journal article, Dave Gibbons was an architect and that training informs the way he creates comics. This makes sense if you read Watchmen, but it also fits in with his work on his own graphic novel, The Originals.

But you could also attribute his work on "Beneath A Steel Sky" also a part of how he uses architecture in his comic work. Beneath a Steel Sky utilizes different types of dystopic futures and dystopic/futuristic structures. At one point, he uses stuff from German Expressionists, Aldous Huxley's ideas of neutral design, and the crazy cyberpunk Blade Runner look.

You can actually download the game at: http://www.revolution.co.uk/_display.php?id=16 because it is now considered freeware by the company.
 
 
Mug Chum
12:54 / 09.10.07
The not-New Yorkness of Runaways and heroes adopting villainous hideouts as home.

That might end up being something people looking back see it as one defining quality in superheros today (isn't the Marvel universe run now by Stark Belic Industry or something? -- surely the SHIELD's floating thing is something of interest to the discussion). Them living in a villainous place (because it's really all "theirs"), the whole undertone being of a world of bad guys (parents and the stablished order being the thing to change and to escape from, but never being outside of it and having to act that superhero business "under my roof"). I've never read more than 5 issues, but it's supposedly one of the really good ones (I assume it sells well too).

Is Batman's cave just a coming of age parent's basement or is there more to that (w)/(t)omb-like sacred safe haven? (that's not something I'd ever put Batman under, but I'd figure is something more baby-like than sexual)

And, is there a difference in the cities portrayal and relationship with the hero in any way after 9-11 (other than not showing them anymore -- or in case of Ex Machina, not showing one of them anymore)?
 
 
garyancheta
12:55 / 09.10.07
According to most Gothamites, many of them believe that there are multiple Batmen running around and that the Batsignal is more or less a warning to criminals that they've sent out their elite Batman guard to take them down. Many people in Gotham believe Batman is merely a group of military commandos that are akin to Black Helicopters, who patrol in secret and take out the criminal element.

No one believes that Batman is just one man, so the signal is more representative of a warning for criminals that they're sending out the Special Forces/SWAT team of Batmen.
 
 
Mug Chum
12:56 / 09.10.07
Dave Gibbons was an architect and that training informs the way he creates comics. This makes sense if you read Watchmen, but it also fits in with his work on his own graphic novel, The Originals.

Thanks for that. I'll be checking my Watchmen later to see if his art joined by Moore's input have something that jumps the eye.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
13:33 / 09.10.07
And, is there a difference in the cities portrayal and relationship with the hero in any way after 9-11 (other than not showing them anymore -- or in case of Ex Machina, not showing one of them anymore)?

There were some 9/11 "honor the true heroes" type comics, with Superman saluting the NYPD, and I think Art Spiegelman's "In the Shadow of No Towers".

The first (recent) Spider-Man movie had an interesting relationship with the WTC towers, having featured them in the trailer and on the posters, swiftly removing them and then, as I remember, paying a moment's silent tribute to their absence in the final film ~ also, the whole idea of normal New Yorkers pulling together as a heroic community came up in Spider-Man I and II.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
13:36 / 09.10.07
Ex Machina

What's the situation in this with the WTC? I've never seen the book but I scrape up the idea that the protagonist manages to save just the South tower... it sounds really interesting, could you link to any pix?
 
 
■
14:06 / 09.10.07
In a similar vein to the Hawksmoor and From Hell leads, don't forget Map from Hellblazer, who is a kind of personification of the city (specifically London and the Underground), and also that series' frequent use of real buildings - most notably in the recent Denise Mina run - to ground the horror action in the mundane. Nice thread, btw.
 
 
Spaniel
14:10 / 09.10.07
(Love this thread. We need many more like it)
 
 
Mug Chum
14:19 / 09.10.07
Yeah, I'm remember the teaser with the webs and helicopter on the WTC. Seemed important to mention because basically all these metropolis are almost as if NY (if not NY itself).

I remember vaguely seeing those stories on the internet of heroes not being able to help and trying to assist firefighters (exploitive could be sort of an understatement, but I couldn't imagine any other reaction), or those "We Remember" seals. But somehow these more immediate consequences, willfully voicing or reactions seems more... contrived (for a lack of a better word). It seems what might be under those "statements" that might say more.

Ex Machina

In Ex Machina the main character, a civil engineer before becoming a superhero (and afterwards, mayor), says at one point (while scared that the Brooklyn Bridge might explode -- during his "origin tale") that all the old classical architecture is going away (or something to that effect). It's interesting for a few issues (the main character itself and the whole Spin City-esque backstage characters is fun, and some of the stories like the gay marriage plot, art censhorhip plot etc are usually fun and interesting -- if not only to see this guy who you can't easily pin point at first if he's more of a left or right guy), but it sort of showed later on it doesn't really know where it's going.

He had to let go of the superhero business to try to "really" help by being a mayor. He's flunking completetly until 9-11, where he manages to stop one of the planes (his power is being able to communicate and command every piece of machinery). It comes back explicitly in a more immediate way every once in a while (his friend working on Ground Zero; him feeling bad for not saving the other tower or people who jumped -- that particular panel of the people jumping felt a bit more than exploitive; the one tower left; the way people feel about him etc). But overall, it's sort of present in manners of "security X civil rights" here and there, not so much in architecture. It's very "post 9-11" in that sense without heavy-handed Spiderman-1 business ("mess with one of us, you mess with all of us"), but nothing really remarkable (but it's worth checking it out just for fun).

(damn, I hope this works. If it doesn't, the photo is here: http://pics.livejournal.com/stubbleupdate/pic/0009gs5p)
  
 
miss wonderstarr
14:32 / 09.10.07
hmm, that's a good image and I've never encountered that idea anywhere else ~ of a parallel earth where only one of the towers fell. Actually, I strongly suspect the collapse of the North tower would have a catastrophic effect on the South tower, too, and the surrounding WTC complex. I can't imagine you'd just have one of them fall, and the other left intact and operational. But... well.

Perhaps the whole problem with superhero comics acknowledging 9/11 in any way is that, for 9/11 or any comparable attack on architecture to have taken place in the DCU would mean that the heroes had utterly failed. I mean, 9/11 should be impossible in the DCU. And it makes the DCU seem kind of facile, fairy-tale childish, as a world where a flying man would have streaked out to stop the first plane from impacting. Stories about Superman, GL or Flash averting disasters would seem somehow tasteless in that context.
 
  

Page: 1(2)3

 
  
Add Your Reply