A Dying Medium

Since their initial popularity in the late 1990's, comic book franchise films have been among the most profitable properties to date.  They were made to adapt beloved characters from pulp pages to the silver screen, and have done a faithful job for the majority of the time.  Films like Blade and X-Men helped to kick-start the popularity of these movies, and films like Avengers created a new form of cinematic storytelling in the form of a "Cinematic Universe," which many other production companies have been trying to emulate and match the success of Marvel with their own properties.

These movies have not been doing their jobs.  While one goal is to tell audiences a good story, the other is to sell the audiences on the characters portrayed on screen, in hopes to get them to buy comic books.  Before the popularity of these films, comic book sales in the early 1990's were through the roof, selling over a hundred thousand copies.  Now the most popular characters (Batman, Spider-Man, etc.) are lucky to break 15,000.

One strategy implemented by these publishers is to cancel a comic book series if there are plans to make a film around it, then restart the series from issue #1 once the film is out.  This does cause for some successful sales, but sales numbers plummet as early as the second issue.  While Marvel's film properties are hugely successful, they are the worst offender of this strategy when it comes to their comic books.  There are some cases where a series is restarted when a trailer is released, then cancelled and restarted again by the time the actual film/TV show premieres.  It's a sickening practice to boost profit by a small, temporary margin.

The Star Wars films have always been viewed as feature-length toy commercials, and creator George Lucas has openly agreed with these statements.  The comic books films, however, are not acting as advertisements for the comics they want to sell.  Instead it's the opposite, with the comic books acting as advertisements for the films.  Like the Western, the Superhero genre will eventually fizzle out, and what will be left is an industry desperately trying to stay afloat.

The Re-occurrence of Resuscitation and Really Radical Revivals

When it comes to death in popular fiction franchises, it never seems to be for long, especially in comic books.  There is always some excuse as to how a character managed to cheat death despite showing every sign of being dead.  Whether it be a Kryptonian healing coma, time bullets, or a "fan base resuscitation" a character's mortality seems to never be permanent.

This issue recently popped up again through a Star Wars comic published by Marvel.  In the current Darth Vader story arc, "Fortress Vader," the Sith lord gains possession of a mask worn by an ancient Sith architect, Momin.  Momin's spirit inhabits the mask and can communicate through it so long as the mask is being worn by a host.  Momin promises to help Vader construct his castle on top of a small cavern on the planet Mustafar.  The cavern is host to a heavy concentration of dark side energy, and through this energy and Momin's castle design, Vader is also promised with the ability to bring his wife back from the dead.


Upon the castle's ninth iteration, the design works, and the gate to the afterlife is opened.  Vader becomes preoccupied with an attack on the castle and decides to leave Momin's mask and host body by himself in the cavern.  While Vader is distracted, Momin opens the gate himself, and brings his original body back to the land of the living.

The Star Wars franchise is no stranger to reviving previously dead characters.  The difference here is that in all cases, the character is usually thought to be dead, but was never killed in the first place.  Darth Maul managed to survive being cut in half on Naboo.  Ahsoka was pulled into "The World Between Worlds" just moments before Vader could kill her, and she escaped with her life.  Momin, on the other hand, was completely dead.  No question about it.  Now he has brought himself back to life.

Like with "The World Between Worlds" I expect this gateway to be destroyed by the end of the story arc.  The continuity of events can get very messy when character revival is an option, and the people at Lucasfilm editorial have kept the Star Wars continuity under strict supervision.  This story still brings a lot of questions as to what exactly the Force is capable of, and for continuity's sake, what it should be capable of.

The Hidden Gem of Marvel's Past

There have been numerous video games based off of comic book properties, the most popular of which are easily the Batman: Arkham series.  While this series has gained a lot of critical praise, there is one comic book game I hold in a higher light, and it came from Marvel.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is a great example of what a comic book game should be.  While the Arkham games benefit heavily by focusing on one character, it leaves out the rest of the rest of the greater DC universe.  MUA brings in over 30 playable characters and travels to many places within the Marvel universe.  The player -or players, if a few friends are tagging along- visit areas like the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, Atlantis, and Mephisto's Realm, just to name a few.

It's like a tour of the Marvel universe, all tied together with an amazing plot.  Dr. Doom has gathered every notable super villain to help aid him in his scheme.  Doom wishes to steal the power of Odin and warp the universe to fall under his rule.  The player(s) must create a team of four super heroes to stop Doom from achieving his goal.


The roster to choose the four heroes appears small at first, but grows very quickly.  Each platform the game was released on had some exclusive characters (Xbox 360 had Moon Knight and Colossus) but there are a large number of main-stays (i.e. Spider-Man and Captain America) to choose from.  Some others can be unlocked through finding collectibles, progressing through the story, or completing the training simulations.

One of the best aspects for me is more of a retroactive one.  The game was released before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was even an idea, so it wasn't tied down with any art style restrictions or studio-mandated characters.  The only character to feel like he was forced in the game is Moon Knight, and it was only because the character made a return in the comics after a decade of silence.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is pure fun.  Friends can play as their favorite super heroes and assemble both established teams, or create a completely new one on their own.  The plot is enjoyable and completely original, and dialogue between characters ranges from insightful to downright hilarious (there's a particular moment where the player can get Dr. Doom to talk to himself).  While it isn't strictly a comic book, it certainly feels like one through it's writing alone.

Why LOW is high on my list

According to astronomers, our sun (Sol) will begin expanding into a red giant in a few million years.  It will expand just past Earth's orbit and swallow our planet whole.  By that time humanity will be completely forgotten.  For the characters in Rick Remender's Low, Sol's expansion began much sooner than expected.  Humanity quickly retreated beneath the ocean's surface to avoid Sol's harmful radiation and sent out probes to find a new habitable planet.  Tens of thousands of years later, one probe has returned.

When I read the summary for this comic book series I was certainly interested.  The astronomy nut in me was grabbed by the scientific premise, my eyes were fixed on the art style, and the reader in me was excited to get into a new story.  When I went to purchase the first story arc collection, the cashier's face lit up.

"I'm going to save you some time and trips here pal," he said, walking back to the stand where I picked up the first volume.  He grabbed the next two story arcs in the series and put them on the counter.  "You're going to want to read this entire series.  It's not a fun story at all, but that's what makes it great.  It's a story about hope, and holding onto it despite everything and everyone telling you to let go and give up."

Needless to say I bought all three volumes, and later would pick up the individual issues of the next story arc.  That cashier certainly wasn't wrong.  The story isn't fun, and it isn't meant to be.  People in the story fuck up, they make terribly human mistakes, they hold on to that hope of finding a new home and never let go regardless of the gargantuan hurdles trying to stop them.

Low isn't a story for everyone.  It's for a specific audience; one that can identify with the struggles the characters found in the pages go through.  For those people, this story is one they need to read.