In our last episode, we commented upon the unfortunate tendency of certain comic creators to make comparisons that are an attempt to justify a certain philosophy or tactic, but instead just end up making them look like fools.
This week, Judd Winnick talks about making Captain Marvel more serious:
But seriously, silly and funny are two totally different things, and if somebody doesn’t know the difference between them, let’s have that conversation. But just because we’re not going to have a tiger walking around in a suit – that’s silly – doesn’t mean we’re not going to have a tiger that is somewhat anthropomorphic and talks like a man can be very interesting, and still, funny at times with the things he says.
A really funny show? The West Wing. The first four seasons under Aaron Sorkin were really funny because he wrote really funny dialogue. Dialogue can be humorous and light, but still have gravitas. That’s what I’m talking about.
This is a book that should have a certain amount of weight, and Captain Marvel has been treated like a lightweight for years, and I don’t think the character deserves that. I’m not interested in making it a book for seven year olds. I’m not interested in making it silly.
Now Dan, who has a little bit more of a hammer blow delivery is brutally honest about it. We did Plastic Man as a funny all-ages book, and nobody bought it. Kyle Baker was on it for God’s sake. When Kyle wasn’t there, you had someone like Scott Morse filling in. This was a homerun creative situation for that genre. Read Plastic Man, and it’s all there. But no one bought it. It was a brilliant book. Brilliant.
Ah, where to start…
A tiger in a suit is silly. Okay, I’ll buy that. But people with superpowers (frequently gained through radiation or magic) wearing spandex and flying around hitting each other? Not silly at all.
Next up: Judd Winnick is comparing himself to Aaron Sorkin. Or, at least, saying that’s the standard he’s aiming for. Judd: You are not that good. There’s a select handful of people who have ever pulled off that balance of comedy and drama, and Sorkin may just be the best. You are not Aaron Sorkin, and casting The West Wing as the reference point for Trials of Shazam is just asking for trouble.
But back to the silliness: Yes, The West Wing can be serious and funny. (And, I’d argue, quite silly; how else to describe President Bartlett’s endless soliloquay on Thanksgiving spices, or Donna’s fervent exclamations of “Yo Yo Ma rules!”) But the suggestion that there’s no market for silly? Did Talladega Nights not just spend a couple weeks on top of the box office? Did Will & Grace not just pick up a few more Emmy’s, continuing Friends‘ long string of ratings and critical success? Is The Simpsons not the longest-running show in prime time?
Even in comics, there’s plenty of room for silly. Just ask Slave Labor if they’ve found that silly market. And though it seems many at DC would like to pretend it never existed, Giffen, DeMatteis, and McGuire’s Justice League was successful enough to spawn a mini-franchise, and remains a well-remembered classic for good reason. Even Marvel, for god’s sake, publishes Nextwave every month. And if Morrison and Quitely’s All-Star Superman — which outsells anything Winnick produces — isn’t silly, I don’t know what is.
You can’t sell silly? You ain’t trying. You don’t want to write a silly book? You don’t want to write for seven-year-olds? Dear god, man, why are you writing about a kid who turns into a red-spandex-clad superhero after shouting a magic word? It’s such a sad, desperate attempt at infusing maturity and realism into a genre that generally wasn’t built for it and really doesn’t need it.
Winnick is like a 16-year-old boy clutching his copy of Watchmen, telling anyone who’ll listen that comics aren’t just for kids anymore. He seems to have missed that even Alan Moore got tired of dark and mature superheroes more than a decade ago, and has since got quite silly indeed with Top Ten, Tom Strong, and even League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (But apparently there’s no market for those books.)
There are some superheroes that are suited to a more mature approach, and some creators that can do it well. Neither element seems to be present here.