Continuity Nazis: Your own personal canon.

[CaptainCanada]

This isn't just a comics phenomenon; all entertainment media have seen increased prominence of anti-heroes (in great part due to the relaxation of censorship and S&P that allows writers more latitude in what they can depict).

[RJDiogenes]

darkwing_duck1 wrote:

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I think that the rise of the anti-hero in comics is better illustrated by the "reformatting" of the Punisher from psychotic freak to extreme seeker of justice.

You have no idea how much that pisses me off. I will never buy any comic starring Punisher.

CaptainCanada wrote:

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This isn't just a comics phenomenon; all entertainment media have seen increased prominence of anti-heroes (in great part due to the relaxation of censorship and S&P that allows writers more latitude in what they can depict).

I agree that it permeates all levels of the arts; I don't necessarily think that it has anything to do with censorship, though. It's a social trend that began in the Reagan Era when it became cool to be violent and insensitive, and Human feelings became synonymous with weakness; it's been on a downhill track since then.

A few months ago, I read a book called Superfolks, which came out in the 70s and is considered the precursor to postmodern superhero deconstructionism (e.g. Watchmen). The foreward is written by Grant Morrison, who talks about this and says, in part:

Back in the day when comic book heroes were mostly still innocent of the ravages of time and cynicism, these fallen, fallible men and women of clay must have seemed monstrous parodies. Now they'd fit right in with the locals at any comic book universe. These days no one would be able to know how to tell the joke from the real thing.

And that about sums it up this Dark Age: It's all self-parody, but nobody gets the joke.

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, and lest I give the wrong impression, that book is highly recommended. It's very 70s. If anybody remembers the Weird Heroes books, it will give you pretty much that same feeling.

[theenglish]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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This isn't just a comics phenomenon; all entertainment media have seen increased prominence of anti-heroes (in great part due to the relaxation of censorship and S&P that allows writers more latitude in what they can depict).

I think that this wikipedia article is pretty straightforward in its description of the anit-hero and the concepts origins as well as its place in comics.

With regard to the thread topic, I believe that only the first fifteen minutes of The Cage are canonical and all Star Trek that follows/(predates?) deserves to be wiped from existence and destroyed my childhood memories of the show.

[Hermiod]

^So, chronologically, only Enterprise and the first 15 minutes of The Cage count ?

[theenglish]

Hermiod wrote:

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^So, chronologically, only Enterprise and the first 15 minutes of The Cage count ?

I should amend my personal canon to include the teaser in the premier episode of Enterprise but no, I cannot, hence the parentheses "predates" in my original post.

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Is there any character more confusing than Cable?

[grabmygoblin]

theBoilingChef wrote:

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Is there any character more confusing than Cable?

probably Rachel Grey... at least Nate was born in the 616-verse originally!

[Ben Sisko3]

grabmygoblin wrote:

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probably Rachel Grey... at least Nate was born in the 616-verse originally!

Yeah...too bad Rachel's timeline doesn't even exist anymore. Oh, well.

[Gojirob]

Not to mention recent intimations that the Scott from her timeline wasn't her Dad after all (Either Logan or The Phoenix Force itself did Jean)

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Gojirob wrote:

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Not to mention recent intimations that the Scott from her timeline wasn't her Dad after all (Either Logan or The Phoenix Force itself did Jean)

Ow...If the Phoenix Force did Jean...OW!

But Cable is simply weird.

[TGTheodore]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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This isn't just a comics phenomenon; all entertainment media have seen increased prominence of anti-heroes (in great part due to the relaxation of censorship and S&P that allows writers more latitude in what they can depict).

Actually, from a writer's point of view, anti-heroes are just easier to write. I think it's more laziness and lack of imagination that might account for increases in anti-heroes.

It's very, VERY hard to write a hero well.

--Ted

[zenophite]

Marvel: everything up until about 1990 when i stopped collecting comics altogether and the Marvel Universe died.

DC: I was never much into DC characters and only got on the bandwagon for crap like Byrne's superman redo. I loved crisis but hated the outcome that got rid of the multiverses so i guess i'll just ignore the ending to that as well.

[theenglish]

Yeah, I pretty much stopped reading DC after the crisis as well.

(and I will also eliminate Sarah Palin from my personal canon)

[CaptainCanada]

RJDemonicus wrote:

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And that about sums it up this Dark Age: It's all self-parody, but nobody gets the joke.

It's character complexity.