bennybox

The Long Version:

It was the final year at Terry Fox public school. I was shipping off to Churchill Heights in grade four for something called the “Gifted Program”. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. It was also my first run-in with the police.

A student’s father had come into my class to talk about what it was like being a police officer. He didn’t even have to remove his gun from his holster (it was scary seeing one for the first time, I thought I might die). But when called me to the front and slapped those handcuffs on me I had an idea. The handcuffs slipped right off my skinny wrists and that was the moment I decided I should become a criminal mastermind. No policeman could contain me. I could probably even slip through the jailcell bars. It was like I was Mr. Fantastic. That is, if I had any idea who Mr. Fantastic was.

When the officer left, he gave us each a Toronto Police sponsored publication of the Amazing Spiderman. It was my very first comic book, and I was introduced to a whole new world: the Marvel Universe.

I knew of Spiderman before my comic book. He had his own cartoon, the 1960s campy show. I never knew that Spiderman could be so boring. Even in my comic book, Spiderman faces perhaps his most underwhelming Supervillian foe: The Chameleon. The dude shifts into a 12 year old boy and tries to sell drugs at a science fair. Man that’s lame.

That’s how I got into comics though. Marvel cards were soon my collection of choice. I started buying Spiderman books. My first was the part of the Carnage trilogy, a Supervillian serial killer you could relate to. Then over time I was introduced to Image comics, during the 1990s comic bubble. I was sucked into the variant covers and #1 issues. Even so, I was always a Marvel kid, had my select X-Men and Spidermen issues, and I’m almost done the full collection of Alpha Flight.

But even with a few hundred comic books, nothing gets you into the full mythology of a comic book universe like the mainstream - namely cartoons and movies. Sure, the comic boom gave us the nippled batsuit movies, but 1992 brought in Batman: The Animated Series which was not only a beautifully dark representation of Batman (unlike see: Adam West), but really mastered the art of storytelling.

Batman TAS made the Gotham villians cool, when really they were all just lunatics with a thing for clowns, clay or clocks but still managed to entice sympathy, none better than Mr. Freeze and his dying wife. Spiderman’s villians in contrast were all superpowered but weren’t ever engaging as characters. They were just bad guys. The Hobgoblin was a not-funny Joker on a flying surfboard (both voiced by Mark Hamill).

And while Lois and Clark, The Adventures of Superman was Supes for Chicks, it still managed to introduce you to a lot of the Superman Mythos, which in itself is some of the most complicated in comics.

These two shows started my sway away from the Marvel comics staples, the Fantastic Four, Spidey, X-Men, and I found myself more and more interested in Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne.

Marvel tried with their Spiderman and X-Men cartoons, which were so grotestequely animated that it’s painful to watch today. They’ve since struck it big with some really strong story arcs and of course the long string of movies, but Marvel was so bad back in they day, I’m surprised they survived their bankruptcy.

Then came the show that changed my life. The Justice League. Building on all the cartoons that came before it, Batman TAS, Superman, Batman Beyond (even some elements of the Superfriends), and throwing some 20 new superheros at it, and keeping true to amazing storytelling got me totally engulfed in the DC Universe. And not only that, but it also has the best opening sequence of any TV show ever.

For the last four years I’ve read up on my DC mythology. They certainly have some of the lamest characters around, but damn it if they don’t tell some of the greatest stories.

Marvel these days is lucky. They’re retelling the beginnings of all their major properties with their “Ultimates” series, which finally have some quality storyteling to them. They’re comics worth buying these days (if you have the cash). They made some real bad and real good comic movies. Which I stupidly keep seeing out of comic book fanboy loyalty. But the CG Spiderman, and X-Men Evolution are totally crappy cartoons.

DC has some good properties of their own, though they’re on the complete opposite side of the boat. The original Keaton Batman movies were supposed to be the beginning of something new. *cough cough* Let’s pretend the following 8 years didn’t happen. Batman Begins is no Miller Year One, so it’ll suck, but I’ll give it the benefit. Superman looks like a total douche, and they rejected the Kevin Smith endorsed Doomsday script? Good luck getting me to not hate that one. There’s Smallville - Tom Welling is a fruit, and Lana is hot but Lois looks like a man. Birds of Prey? Batgirl is in a wheelchair? OMG. BUT! They have the best comic cartoons (even better than The Tick), and I have to note are so much better now that I can refer to the DC Encyclopedia. BTW, have you watched Teen Titans? That show would have changed my life 10 years ago.

So where does this leave me? What do I do? Marvel just throws old property at me, and I suck it up like a starving Dutchman. Each new DC piece further grows its expansive mythology and actually forces me to connect the millions of dots in its intertwined story arcs. It’s so much more complex that it’s actually gratifying to get absorbed into. So I’ll keep watching the Marvel movies as they’re churned out, hell I’ll probably even buy Electra, I’m that dedicated, and when I want a dumb read I’ll buy a Marvel book. But the next comic book I pick up, and the next cartoon I watch will be a DC.

The short version: The Justice League is the best show ever created.