If you’ve not heard, there was a zombie attack in Miami a few days ago; the “zombie”, a homeless man identified by police as Rudy Eugene, was shot to death after apparently eating a man’s face in a crazed and cannibalistic attack.
But with media outlets and over-zealous bloggers jokingly heralding Eugene as the harbinger of end-times, are we losing sight of the real issues here?
Back when Joss Whedon was announced as the lucky (or not so lucky) writer/director of The Avengers, internet forums were awash with equal parts joy and scepticism. And rightly so; even though Whedon was already a skilled storyteller (Toy Story, Buffy, Astonishing X-Men), his only cinematic directing gig to date had failed miserably (Serenity).
So how does Marvel justify its decision to hire a relative cinematic-unknown to direct the most-anticipated comic book movie ever?
The Death of Superman was one of the biggest events in comic book history; back in the 90s DC Comics had this crazy idea of making Supes relevant again — by killing him! Making stories and characters finite worked well for DC and the industry in general; it was a great way to make stories suspenseful knowing that no character safe from making the “ultimate sacrifice”.
That was until, as it turns out, Superman was alive all along. Yeahbuhwhat?
What is it about a mystery that makes it so exciting to read or watch? Is it the threat of a character’s death? Knowing that something bad might happen? Discovering the mystery’s source?
According to J.J. Abrams, it’s keeping the mystery a mystery.
For writers (or artists, musicians, etc.) creativity can be a mysterious and at times elusive entity.
It can be a wonderful thing; but if not captured immediately, can also torture us until the end of time.
Now that the lead up to The Avengers is done, it’s time to shift our attention to another little comic book film that’s coming soon.
And when I say little, I mean THE MOST EPIC COMIC BOOK FILM WE’LL EVER SEE: The Dark Knight Rises.
If you’re a fan of TED talks, and are partial to the occasional sci-fi epic, then you’re probably already aware of TED2023.
If you haven’t seen it yet, then you should definitely read on.
