DC Comics is doing new versions of The Flintstones, Johnny Quest, Scooby Doo, Wacky Races
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
Yes, but I'm reading the actual comics, and so far any tweaks are invisible. The characters that have appeared have been completely faithful to their original incarnations. Space Ghost is Space Ghost. Birdman is Birdman. The Quest team is the 1964 Quest team. I suspect the biggest changes will be to the cartoons not designed by Alex Toth and Doug Wildey, which would be Frankenstein Jr and The Impossibles, who haven't appeared yet.
And I feel the ONLY changes to them should be to make them look more realistic for this - nothing else. No token female in the Impossibles, no basic change to Multi Man's costume, (keep it much like the original as they have Fluid Man and Coil Man's), no change in Buzz Conroy's ethnicity, (like the 4th Impossible, just to appease the Social Justice Warrior 'dept of DC), and I'd personally prefer the Impossible's origin to remain a mystery - something to wonder about.
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Ok, I'm just going by the interviews and stuff I read before they started coming out.
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Just out of curiosity is there something about The Impossibles that specifically requires them to be all white guys? Is there something about their backstory or abilities that doesn't work if you change ethnicity or sex? I'm honestly curious because I know nothing about these character, and I'm very confused by why these specific changes are getting such a huge reaction from S. Gallagher.
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To me, they are perfect as they are - sounds cheesy, but I always found the cartoon totally enchanting - so why change them? As to the back story - they never had one, and I'd prefer they didn't now. In their case, I like that it was a mystery! And having a team of 3, (hardly a huge number)! of white guys is hardly racist or sexist. And the interaction between them in the cartoon would, I feel, be spoiled by adding another member. As to diversity, the fact that they all have very different looks and body types in the cartoon and are all considered heart-throbs is a great example of that! Why fix what's far from broken? (Buzz Conroy isn't one of the Impossibles; he is from Frankenstein Jr., which was a separate show but shown along with the Impossibles). Also - as musicians the Impossibles were a boy band - such music groups still exist - and I don't know of any rule which says they HAVE to add a female member!
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Some series, teams, etc., such as the Legion of Super Heroes work very well with new members occasionally added, (and sometimes others leaving), and I'd certainly question it if all their members were the same race and sex - and I loved the origin stories for them - but the Impossibles are a totally different type and I feel should stay that way.
That is so true!!!!
I don't think I have one, or at least that I'm conciously aware of. I think the difference is that I don't go into new versions expecting the same thing I got in the old version. So if a comic book superhero who's usually portrayed as a dark haired white guy is given a movie, my first thought isn't "Yay, Dark Haired White Guy is gonna be in a movie!", it's "hmm I wonder if he's going to be Black Guy, or Hispanic Guy, or maybe just Blond Guy?"
Funny. That's exactly how I go into the new version. Especially if you're talking about comic book movies. The way I determine the quality of a comic book movie is by judging how close it comes to bringing what I've seen and read in the comics to vivid life. This is the main reason I prefer Marvel movies to DC's right now. They've been giving me that great comic book feel for ages now. The DCEU hasn't.
In the case of these comics, we're not talking about adapting comics into movies. These are, for the most part, cartoons created by 2D comic artists being adapted into...2D comics. There is absolutely no reason why you can't tell new stories with the characters as originally presented, and FQ so far has demonstrated that.
All this paragraph tells me is that you take a clinical approach to comic book characters in general.
Okay...I don't. I get invested in characters. I pick favorites. So if this dark-haired white guy is my favorite character, if I grew up devouring his adventures and idolized him, what I want to see on the screen, like I just said, is what I saw in the comics. So my first thought would be: "My boy just got his own movie! They better damn well get a dark haired white guy to play him!"
I can give you a real life example. My absolute favorite heroes are the Fantastic Four. They were featured in the first comic I ever bought. I had the lunchbox. I watched the HB cartoons. I followed their comic adventures religiously. And, wonder of wonders, the leader, Reed Richards, happens to be a dark-haired white guy. In fact, the whole team is white. The Fantastic Four, in the comics, is four white people. Shockers.
Here's the thing: I'm African-American. According to modern sensibilities that means I should have a problem with an all-white superhero team, but I grew up with this superhero team. I have loved this team for, literally, decades. If this team gets a movie, when I see that movie I'm going to be looking for four white people in the lead roles, and I'm not going to be overly impressed if someone changes one of them to a different ethnicity for diversity reasons, or any reason.
But of course, the FF has had four feature films. The only one with the cast I want was made by the guy who did the toxic avenger and looks it. The two by Tim Story replaced a white Sue Storm with a Latina, and the only logic I can see behind that (because it's not like you can't find a pretty white blond girl in HOLLYWOOD) is that Jessica Alba is a guaranteed box office draw, whereas the rest of the cast was unproven on the big screen. Fine. They got two lackluster movies out of that formula.
Then there was that Trank shit. Josh Trank, in an interview with Kevin Smith, made a big deal about telling Stan "The Man" Lee, "Johnny Storm is going to be black because (dramatic inflection) it's about time." So we got Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm. And we got another black actor as Franklin Storm. And we got Trank's movie. Which was shit.
So let's go back. You asked S. if the changes that look to have been made to the Impossibles (an addition and an ethnicity change) would actually do any harm to the story, but that question also has a flip side. You also have to ask if the changes add any value to the story. Look to the FF movies. Jessica Alba playing Sue Storm just added somebody for fanboys to ogle in a tight jumpsuit without making the stories she was in more entertaining. Johnny Storm being black didn't save Trank's movie from being shit. A change that takes nothing away from a narrative is harmless, but a change that adds nothing to a narrative is useless.
I would rather somebody try to make a movie about my favorite white superheroes as they are than try to compensate for a less than stellar movie by diversifying them.
But if the change doesn't hurt the story or the characters, then there's no reason not to do it.
I completely understand that you and S. feel and I think I might have said people shouldn't feel that way, and if I did I apologize, I realize now that it was wrong.
But my version of that is that I love Spider-Man (as my avatar can probably show you) I've watched the cartoons, played the games, and seen the movies, but I don't always expect every version to be exactly like the comics. If I want something that's exactly like the comics, then there are hundreds of comics for me to read. When someone does I new version of the character I go in expecting there be things about this version that are different, whether it's organic webshooters, parents who are spies, or a younger hotter Aunt May. I've even had ideas for some of my own version of Spidey and elements I'd change (not his race if anyone is wondering), although I wouldn't rule out changing the races of some of his supporting characters.
Now that's not to say that there aren't fundamental elements to the character that I would expect to be in any adaption, like his webs and webswinging, wall crawling, with great power comes great responsibility,ect. but to me things like adding new cast members, or changing a character's race are rarely ever that important, unless it's a character like Black Panther or Luke Cage where their race is an important part of the character and their appeal.
I completely understand that you and S. feel and I think I might have said people shouldn't feel that way, and if I did I apologize, I realize now that it was wrong.
But my version of that is that I love Spider-Man (as my avatar can probably show you) I've watched the cartoons, played the games, and seen the movies, but I don't always expect every version to be exactly like the comics. If I want something that's exactly like the comics, then there are hundreds of comics for me to read. When someone does I new version of the character I go in expecting there be things about this version that are different, whether it's organic webshooters, parents who are spies, or a younger hotter Aunt May. I've even had ideas for some of my own version of Spidey and elements I'd change (not his race if anyone is wondering), although I wouldn't rule out changing the races of some of his supporting characters.
Now that's not to say that there aren't fundamental elements to the character that I would expect to be in any adaption, like his webs and webswinging, wall crawling, with great power comes great responsibility,ect. but to me things like adding new cast members, or changing a character's race are rarely ever that important, unless it's a character like Black Panther or Luke Cage where their race is an important part of the character and their appeal.
But if the change also doesn't help the story or the characters there's no reason to do it. The choice to do it or not do it is completely arbitrary. You either do or you don't. I pick don't.
But if the changes aren't important, what's the reason for making them? Again, the choice becomes arbitrary.
More likely it's about appeasing the Profit Margin Warriors.
Admiral2; so glad you can see just what I mean! JD - "Modern Style" I think more "Current fad" Neryd Myk - those who already are familiar with, and like, the Impossibles and Buzz Conroy are hardly going to be put off because they don't have these changes, and I really can't see anyone who isn't familiar refusing to buy the comic just because they were not changed, either!
Or the fact that it's an open secret that women are treated like shit in the DC editorial offices upto and including sexual assault.
Another proof of the hypocrisy of the SJWs!
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