So I'm Writing a Paper (need some comic related help)

[Achilles]

So I'm writing a paper about how video games are the new comic books of my generation. Drawing parallels and such (it's surprising just how similar the two are) and I'm probably going to have a few questions throughout the night and this weekend until Monday when it's due. So my first question is about celebrities in comics, specifically comics revolving around specific celebrities (ie John Wayne) and when abouts John Wayne started in comics?

 

Any help with this one and the future questions will be much appreciated guys.

[heinlein99]

Disclaimer: I've already started drinking, so anything I write must be interpreted thru a whiskey-soaked fog:

 

Overstreet sez there was a John Wayne Adventure Comics starting in Winter 1949-50. I have no idea if that was his first/only appearance in comics or not. Obviously he was a star by that time, to have a title named after him, but it would be a while before he became an icon.

 

I would suggest looking at other Western stars who had their own titles during the Western heyday: Gene Autry, Lash Larue, Tim Holt, even famous 'sidekicks' like Gabby Hayes. They were genre stars of their day. I can provide you with covers if you need them.

 

 

What else? Other pop stars have been turned into video games. The rock group Journey were the stars of a video game in the early 80's. Michael Jackson too. There was a (craapy) early Indiana Jones game. Tron was a movie and video game; the movie sucked.

 

I have no idea what you need for your paper, but maybe something I posted was helpful. I'm sure more of us on the board could help you if you provided more info.

 

[Achilles]

Thanks that date is perfect, also some of the other stars I'll use. I'm set for most of the video game info as that is easy to find and I've got 30 other guys in my House who know all I need for the games. If I come across any questions in writing the drafts I'll post them up. I've got a section on War in comics and video games and one on similarities in "epic story lines" as well as just a basic similarities deal in the first body. Thanks heinlein.

[topofthetotem]

A few observations

 

Way back when comics were made after movies, now movies are made after comics.

 

Modern books are the instant soup of literature and modern comics are pretensious.

 

And finally no matter how good a game is it will not be able to leave an indellable mark on a persons childhood like a comic can.

[KingOfRulers]

I would have written the entire paper for you for a small fee

[Achilles]

Yea King I'd do that but my school is like Big Brother and they'd mess 6 different types of mess when they found out.

[Scrooge]

Turn It In

[Mac Man]

I would have written the entire paper for you for a small fee

+ = Bad KingofRulers.

 

Yea King I'd do that but my school is like Big Brother and they'd ---- 6 different types of ---- when they found out.

 

It's not just your school but ALL schools Achilles. Better earn the D on your own than get someone else's A.

 

Now that the teacher in me has spoken his mind...

 

First off, how long is this paper that you'll be writing? Are we talking about a short 3-5 page paper or something more significant? Some basic techniques to a compare/contrast paper like this that I would use would be to discuss the ways they are different at first. 1. Your audience might not see the immediate connection you see, and in recognizing those differences first, it serves to make your topic relatable to your audience. 2. You end the paper on how they are the same thereby driving home the the thesis more effectively. I usually recommend my students organize their papers this way when they are making a comparison between ideas/items that their audience wouldn't normally see similarities in.

 

Just a suggestion.

 

Regarding celebrities, there are a number to be found. Smaller roles such as Johnny Carson in ASM (95 or 99, can't recall which exactly...) or Johnny Cash or Pope John Paul II in their own comics can be found throughout many issues. Additionally, if you look in many of the advertisements, you will see many drawn representations of celebrities hocking various items, i.e. OJ Simpson selling shoes, Chuck Norris, etc. Are you trying to draw a comparison on how celebrities initially attempted to infiltrate/capitalize on the success of comics and now are moving towards the gaming industry? While I think this would demonstrate they have a similar characteristic in terms of their targeted market and the desire of celebs to jump on board to some extent, I'm not sure it makes the strongest case for how the mediums themselves are similar to one another. Still, if this is a supporting detail, then definitely worth suggesting.

 

Best of luck on the paper!

[fantastic_four]

And finally no matter how good a game is it will not be able to leave an indellable mark on a persons childhood like a comic can.

 

SOOOO untrue. There are thousands of kids whose entire mental LIFE is spent in video games, and millions more who play them a lot. Healthy or not...it DEFINITELY leaves an indelible mark.

 

Is it "like" a comic? In many cases yes, at least as similar as two different media can be similar. The elements of a narrative fiction such as comics (characters, dialogue, story, environment, theme) is just as possible in video games, although most of the plot is left up to the player. I vividly recall the characters, stories, and most uniquely to video games, the interactive plots from the engrossing RPGs of my childhood such as Adventure for Atari 2600, Temple of Apshai and Ultima 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 for Commodore 64 and the PC. Since I spend a lot more time as an adult now playing World of Warcraft than reading comics, I'd say video games have left a pretty indelible mark on me!

[Achilles]

Macman--- I was joking.

 

Yea its shorter like 4 pagesish. The paper is on similarities specifically making note of the displacement of one for the other. The central point is that kids are drawn to the same types of things and the entertainment biz is just advancing keeping a lot for the same aspects though so it doesn't serve my purpose to really mention differences. I'm mentioning things such as money numbers involved, celebrities, the vast amount of kids the medium reaches, parents crusades against, and then War in comics and games and similarities in "epic storylines" though the last one I found the weakest of the points so I might switch in something different to expand more on.

[topofthetotem]

And finally no matter how good a game is it will not be able to leave an indellable mark on a persons childhood like a comic can.

 

SOOOO untrue. There are thousands of kids whose entire mental LIFE is spent in video games, and millions more who play them a lot. Healthy or not...it DEFINITELY leaves an indelible mark.

 

Is it "like" a comic? In many cases yes, at least as similar as two different media can be similar. The elements of a narrative fiction such as comics (characters, dialogue, story, environment, theme) is just as possible in video games, although most of the plot is left up to the player. I vividly recall the characters, stories, and most uniquely to video games, the interactive plots from the engrossing RPGs of my childhood such as Adventure for Atari 2600, Temple of Apshai and Ultima 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 for Commodore 64 and the PC. Since I spend a lot more time as an adult now playing World of Warcraft than reading comics, I'd say video games have left a pretty indelible mark on me!

Left a mark on your life not replaced actual living. I should have been more specific.My bad.

[Bronty]

thought you might like seeing this then ff - prelim for the box cover

 

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Page=1&Order=Date&Piece=323480&GSub=47169&GCat=0&UCat=0

[fantastic_four]

thought you might like seeing this then ff - prelim for the box cover

 

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Page=1&Order=Date&Piece=323480&GSub=47169&GCat=0&UCat=0

 

Heh, whoa, yea I've still got the original WoW box sitting here on my desk, and yep, that looks like the same art. Where'd you get that?

[Bronty]

ebay

[Achilles]

So I turned this one in on Tuesday and I felt pretty good when all was said and done. I was able to cut a lot of out. So now my essay for this week is about what gets lost in transition when a comic is made into a movie (leaving displeased readers)

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

Right now I've got the loss of thought bubbles/inner monologues and origin stories/ordering of events

 

Anything else? What gets your goat when watching that new superhero movie?

[fantastic_four]

So now my essay for this week is about what gets lost in transition when a comic is made into a movie (leaving displeased readers)

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

Right now I've got the loss of thought bubbles/inner monologues and origin stories/ordering of events

 

Far more compelling would have been what is GAINED when going from paper to the big screen. Watching superheroes in live action with photorealistic CGI is absolutely enthralling and breathtaking...the excitement gained in watching the full range of motion in live action versus the stop-frame narration of comics is comparatively mesmerizing. So many comics creators feel the same way...I know Stan Lee and Frank Miller do.

 

Inner monologue is a good example, although there are mechanisms to partially translate this to film. What's lost related to origin stories/ordering of events? There are things that are sorta lost, but have other equivalents in the film genre.

 

Being able to appreciate an artist's expressionism is somewhat lost on the big screen, although directors certainly have their own techniques of expressionistic narration--they're just a LOT more expensive. Take an artist like Todd McFarlane, who was great at cool expressionistic facets to the characters he rendered. The little spiders he put into Spidey's webs, the intense details he put into Spidey's musculature, the exaggerated slobbering tongues he put on Lizard and Venom. An artist is much freer to let his imagination wander than a film director is...an artist can break the bonds of reality and let his imagination run wild very easily, within minutes, whereas it costs a director tens of millions of dollars in CGI to achieve any kind of similar effect. You can make Kingpin or Juggernaut absolutely massive in a comic--they're often depicted to be the size of a small car--but it's impossible to do that on the big screen without making them CGI characters, which reduces the realism. Artists can easily give characters huge muscles and six-pack abs, and chicks 6' with big boobs and impossibly-curvy hips...pretty difficult to find actresses who can fit that same bill. Every male villain can be 6'6" to 7' tall, harder to find real actors that size who you can actually give speaking roles to. Example is Sabretooth in the first X-Men film--Bryan Singer had to take away most of Tyler Mane's dialogue because he wasn't great at delivering it, yet looked great as Sabretooth standing at 6'10".

[COI]

thought you might like seeing this then ff - prelim for the box cover

 

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Page=1&Order=Date&Piece=323480&GSub=47169&GCat=0&UCat=0

 

The Video Game BSD strikes again.

 

That's awesome, Dan.

[Bronty]

thought you might like seeing this then ff - prelim for the box cover

 

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Page=1&Order=Date&Piece=323480&GSub=47169&GCat=0&UCat=0

 

The Video Game BSD strikes again.

 

That's awesome, Dan.

 

aw shucks Well Im glad you like it!

[greggy]

thought you might like seeing this then ff - prelim for the box cover

 

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Page=1&Order=Date&Piece=323480&GSub=47169&GCat=0&UCat=0

 

The Video Game BSD strikes again.

 

That's awesome, Dan.

 

aw shucks Well Im glad you like it!

[Bronty]

dork.