so I was thinking... Batman, lately, under Morrison has been more International than urban, and under Dini has been more urbane. Punisher, bless his soul, has gone country. Daredevil, last I checked, had gone all continental on us. Spidey...um, I dunno what's up with him. The point is, there seems to be a deliberate backing off of the once tried and true URBANITY of comics. Busiek's Superman, meanwhile, vis-a-vis the pie-in-face biz, seems to be really LIVING in his city. Iron Fist sounds like it might, too.
I haven't really got time right now to flesh this out like I hoped, but you know what I mean?
― Dr. Superman, Saturday, 21 July 2007 05:51 (eighteen years ago)
no one cares
― Dr. Superman, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 04:22 (eighteen years ago)
Sorry - got sidetracked by something shiny. Oooh pretty.
I can see what you're getting at - I guess Spidey's still a city-boy at heart nowadays, but it's a nondescript movie-blockbuster city, & what he's grappling with doesn't seem to have much to do with city stuff.
A lot of it might be the simple fact that the writers (& artists) aren't all based in NYC anymore. But that's not such a bad thing - a lot of characters born in Gotham / Metropolis / NYC can withstand leaving the confines of the city streets & do their thing in the Painted Desert / France / space.
FWIW, Mr. Perpetua's seemingly offbase assessment of the X-Men First Class series on the s*** thread - which I think you'd really like, Huk - irks the shit out of me because of the assumption that A Story For These Characters Must Be Like This, which seems to be lurking beneath this thread's question.
Or maybe I'm full of it.
― David R., Wednesday, 25 July 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)
A Story For These Characters Must Be Like This Yeah, well, that's a good point. I was just thinking that very few comics this month/year are using the Strong Sense of Place motif, and wondering if it's fallen out of fashion (which would explain why Busiek's doing it so well in Superman--Superman MUST BE transcending fashion--or else he has hockey hair). I kinda guess it was done and then DONE in the 90s/early 00s, with Starman/Opal City and then all the No Man's Land hijinks in Batman, which, eventually, led to Gotham Central.
-Last I checked in with in-continuity Spidey, he seemed to be in classic Hulk territory, i.e., on the run, hanging out in truck stops. -Hulk, meanwhile, is very NYC these days, har har. -In the early days of the current Green Lantern series, there was some lip service paid to the idea of a slowly rebuilding Coast City. -Blue Beetle actually gets decent play for El Paso
― Dr. Superman, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 20:44 (eighteen years ago)
All New Atom of course is all about Ivy City, other than the brief digression to China and the editorially-mandated Countdownity. And unlike Brubaker's first year, the current arc in Daredevil is firmly set within his historical stomping grounds.
― Garrett Martin, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 20:50 (eighteen years ago)
or I guess Ivy Town, right?
― Garrett Martin, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)