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From: cc-30@ucbcory.BERKELEY.EDU (Sean "Yoda" Rouse)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Re: Miracleman
Message-ID: <11140@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Tue, 3-Dec-85 18:48:53 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11140
Posted: Tue Dec  3 18:48:53 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Dec-85 06:15:09 EST
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Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: cc-30@ucbcory.UUCP (Kathy Li c/o Sean "Yoda" Rouse)
Followup-To: (Darn! I forgot who posted the original!)
Distribution: net.comics
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 41
Keywords: Moore
Summary: A commentary on Moore's writing on general, and why it isn't a comic revolution.

This is in reply to an article asking for opinions on Miracleman.
I apologize in advance if what I ramble about isn't what was asked for.

    Alan Moore said it best, at the beginning of his San Diego Comicon seminar,
"Despite all appearances, this is not the Second Coming. I am not the answer
to comic books today."
    Undisputably, Moore's writing is top-quality, which makes it unusual.
He brings a sense of depth to his plotting and characterization that is seldom
found in comics. I hesitate to call it "realism", because if you judge Project
Zarathustra in terms of reality, well...it doesn't quite make it. (I'd
watch out for Watchmen, though.  There, Moore will be treating superheroes as
they'd affect the world, e.g. The US gets the first superhero, so the USSR
keels under diplomatically in certain instances because of the superior 
military force this superhero represents.)
     Admittedly, Moore's characterizations of people is much closer to realism
than, say, Claremont's writing.  (I loved that bit about the difference between
the love Miracleman/Marvelman has and the love that Moran has for Liz.) He
also uses more up-to-date, immediate, hardhitting imagery and symbolism. His
writing is so goddam complex, you can spend days just revelling in the richness
of it. (e.g. V for Vendetta: the bit about Beethoven's Fifth, and the first
paragraph in the Swamp Thing werewolf story).
    But it's not a comic book revolution.
    It's just good writing. It's superhero comics done right.
    I think the main problem with comic books today,is that even the fans don't
really see it as a medium. (At least I don't)  I see comic books as a specific
kind of medium, generally superhero.  This is wrong.  
     Consider the motion picture.  Think of the variety and diversity of
movies out there on the market.  Now think about the variety and diversity
of comics.  
     To me, the comics industry is rather like having a film market of soley
science fiction/fantasy films, with a very few people diverging around the 
edges.  Moore's writing is rather like a few superb films that push at the 
boundaries, but never breaks them. He's still IN the genre.
     Just think of all the possibilities that aren't being used--!
     
Someone tell me:
      Why is it that the numerous film genres have survived, while
in comics, only the superhero seems to be alive and well?


                                     --Kathy Li