Blog
Starting A Blog!
12/6/2016
While when we talk about DC's tendacy to constantly rethink it's continuity, a big part of what we're talking about is the fact that they work VERY hard to build a consistent internal narrative logic, and then after a few years deliberately toss that logic and start over again. If you ever find yourself a fan of any elements of that internal logic, you're in for a rude awakening.
However, that's not the ONLY element that complicates DC's continuity. You'd not just judging different eras of a specific character's legacy against each other. There's also the fact that each time a DC property is translated off the comic page and into film or TV, we get an entirely new interpretation of the character. (It would be pretty rediculous of me to complain about this, incidentally... The fact that Marvel is trying to build it's entire film and tv empire using a single universe is obviously unprecidented and, as we watch the narrative gap between the film, television and netflix elements of that universe widen, clearly has a few challenges they haven't quite worked out yet. No, it makes sense that we'd need to have new versions of the characters every time we see them. )
However, that's not the ONLY element that complicates DC's continuity. You'd not just judging different eras of a specific character's legacy against each other. There's also the fact that each time a DC property is translated off the comic page and into film or TV, we get an entirely new interpretation of the character. (It would be pretty rediculous of me to complain about this, incidentally... The fact that Marvel is trying to build it's entire film and tv empire using a single universe is obviously unprecidented and, as we watch the narrative gap between the film, television and netflix elements of that universe widen, clearly has a few challenges they haven't quite worked out yet. No, it makes sense that we'd need to have new versions of the characters every time we see them. )
BUT... the end result of that can make it pretty taxing if you're trying to pare down a single cohesive vision of the DC universe. While we've had a half-dozen different actors play Superman, at least they were seperated by a little time... now Tyler Hoechlin & Henry Cavill are playing Superman at the same time in two seperate but concurrent versions of DC. Again, this isn't a PROBLEM, but it's clearly a challenge. Which story elements do we use?
And then there's the logical phallacies that come up when you try to bridge the different realities of the many different takes on the characters. You might love Gotham, but there's no way any of those characters can be operating that early in Batman's legacy. The ages are all wrong. Camren Bicondova might be one of the most fun interpretations of Selena ever, but she can't possibly be this close to Bruce this early in their lives.
So, let's devote a little space to digging into the various sources of story that we might come across, where we can actually break down what works and what doesn't in terms of what WE'RE trying to do with it.
I wind up commenting on the quality of different interpretations of these characters pretty often, but that isn't my actual intent here. I might find Arrow to be overly melodramatic, but that doesn't mean it's ideas for how certain characters or relationships function might not be totally useful, like Arrow being integral in the early training of Huntress. Likewise, I might not use an element of a show, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. Felicity is a great character and a much better love interest for Oliver than Laurel, but a big part of that is the natural likeability of Emily Bett Richards vs Kate Cassidy who, for whatever reason, never seemed to gell into the show... but obviously, If you're trying to do DC, the Green Arrow / Black Cannary relationship is a pretty big deal.
Also, I have no intention of reacting to anything as it comes out. Not only would that be exhausting, but as I'm sure some of you might have picked up, I have a bit of an emotional investment in this stuff, and if I jump the gun I'm likely going to be coming at it from a reactionary place rather than treating them critically. To that end, I'd rather primarily focus on the material that's already available.
Hopefully, we'll actually develop this enough to also dig into different comic stories. Some comics present stories that we are using verbadum, while others have to be pretty thoroughly reworked to fit our new, singular DC.
And then there's the logical phallacies that come up when you try to bridge the different realities of the many different takes on the characters. You might love Gotham, but there's no way any of those characters can be operating that early in Batman's legacy. The ages are all wrong. Camren Bicondova might be one of the most fun interpretations of Selena ever, but she can't possibly be this close to Bruce this early in their lives.
So, let's devote a little space to digging into the various sources of story that we might come across, where we can actually break down what works and what doesn't in terms of what WE'RE trying to do with it.
I wind up commenting on the quality of different interpretations of these characters pretty often, but that isn't my actual intent here. I might find Arrow to be overly melodramatic, but that doesn't mean it's ideas for how certain characters or relationships function might not be totally useful, like Arrow being integral in the early training of Huntress. Likewise, I might not use an element of a show, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. Felicity is a great character and a much better love interest for Oliver than Laurel, but a big part of that is the natural likeability of Emily Bett Richards vs Kate Cassidy who, for whatever reason, never seemed to gell into the show... but obviously, If you're trying to do DC, the Green Arrow / Black Cannary relationship is a pretty big deal.
Also, I have no intention of reacting to anything as it comes out. Not only would that be exhausting, but as I'm sure some of you might have picked up, I have a bit of an emotional investment in this stuff, and if I jump the gun I'm likely going to be coming at it from a reactionary place rather than treating them critically. To that end, I'd rather primarily focus on the material that's already available.
Hopefully, we'll actually develop this enough to also dig into different comic stories. Some comics present stories that we are using verbadum, while others have to be pretty thoroughly reworked to fit our new, singular DC.