My greatest fear for the comic book industry is that all future ideas will be reworked or destroyed simply to accommodate a cinematic universe. "You want to do a comic where Thor kills The Avengers? Sorry, we can't have an evil Thor in Avengers 3. Know go back to erasing Caucasian Nick Fury from history". It's time to address the obvious.
Thus far you've known me-Sir Rafael John Ayala, Duke of New England-to bow at the church of comics and recite their stories religiously. That's why when someone asks, "Why isn't Captain America white in this comic" I can't help but hang my head in shame. Patriotic shame. The problem isn't that the comics aren't like the movies-I quite enjoy the difference-the problem is that both the public and the distributors of these comics and movies don't see the need for a difference. "If this comic book movie makes money, we need to make comics more like this movie". Show of hands, how many of you walked out of the third Iron Man movie and heard anyone say, "That movie was great, I think I might pick up an Iron Man comic". Anyone? Boy, that air is empty. I honestly think comic producers know the strategy of making their comics more like their movie counterparts loses more readers than gains them, so the demand to change things is out of laziness. Why create an interesting story or new characters when we can just have The Hulk fight Loki, right? People know this name, people know this one, they'll read this and see another movie and our wallets will get thicker! At the rate comic books are turning into adaptions of movies, in six years time all comic books will just become advertisements for whatever comic book movie is coming next. Then you have movies that are directly inspired by comic book stories like "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" which was heavily influenced by the comic story of the same name. So when a comic book movie retells an already written story, the comic producers order a retelling of story that better matches the movie that movie, reversing the process backwards and forwards. Crazy as it might sound, there are only so many stories in comic books you could make a movie out of or retell. How many times do we have to see Civil War retold before we recite it from memory?
Now I mentioned how I liked the difference between the comics and the movies, an opinion not everyone shares. Some people are mad the current Thor comic doesn't star Chris Hemsworth, some people are mad Ultron's creator in "Avengers 2" isn't Hank Pym. So what makes the difference good? Movie fans, the adaptations you've gotten aren't entirely loyal to the source material, but that's because there are decades of history behind that source material, it's much easier to streamline these comic book stories so viewers like you don't feel confused. If you are that rare percent who pick up a comic because of a movie, be aware that the comics remain where they are today because of the people who know the stories and are loyal to their history. If you don't like Iron Man's new white armor, go watch any of his three movies again. And hey, "Avengers Assemble" is pretty close to the movies in style and character. Comic fans, don't let the differences insult you, the characters and stories are still there, they've just been made easier to comprehend. Instead of getting all pissed that The Hulk is a product of a failed super soldier serum instead of a gamma bomb, just be grateful we have an accurate depiction of The Hulk in cinema. No more bodybuilders painted green! No offense to Lou Ferrigno. Besides, now you get to be that annoying know-it-all after the movie, "In the comics, Bucky Barnes became Captain America after Steve Rogers was killed, so look forward to that". I had such a wide smile on my face when everyone in my theater gasped when they learned The Winter Soldier was Cap's best friend from the 40's. And if you like the classics, "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" is still on Netflix. But Justice League isn't, neither are any DC cartoons. Screw you Marvel and Netflix, your relationship is tearing this family apart!
In all the fear I have for comic book's becoming overthrown by movie executives, I do have one hope for the future of comic books. You, the fans of comics. You who would expose these industries of their abandonment of their history, you who would create new stories of your own in honor of what comic books used to be before the hands of the media strangled them into submission. The future of comic books do not lie in the media or the producers, it lies in the hands of us, the people who love these stories and characters for their history and not for their popularity. Without us, these comics and movies would fall through the fingers of modern society. Thank you for reading!
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