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Is Aquaman the greatest butt of a joke ever?

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jaxword

Member
It is ok in spurts, but I think it has run too long and god knows Ennis has made it clear enough he hates superheroes.

Yes, it started to pinwheel in its direction in the middle a bit. It could've used some tightening up, but it's picked up speed again now.

Crossed showed that he has issues.

He had a very unhappy Catholic upbringing, which clearly scarred him deeply. I know a few people who have similar stories...



I met Garth Ennis and asked him what was wrong with him and that I thought he was a bit of a deviant.

Well, he is. But so are you and me and everyone else, he just says it out loud.

What was his response to you?



Garth Ennis just happens to have written some of the most heartwarming Spiderman moments.
Seriously just read his Spiderman story in this book-
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785108033/?tag=neogaf0e-20
...and try to figure out how someone who can write the most disgusting stuff in comics, write such heartmawming stuff like in that book.

To be able to shock and disgust people you need to be able to understand people. The very REASON he's so cynical is because he's a good observer of humanity. Which means that if you understand why makes people UNhappy, you can understand what makes them happy.

A lot of people overlook Ennis' ability to show the fragility and complexity of human relationships due to his habit of resorting to gross humor. Maybe that's the only way to get emotional stuff into a manchild-dominated industry.
 

Bleepey

Member
Yes, it started to pinwheel in its direction in the middle a bit. It could've used some tightening up, but it's picked up speed again now.



Well, he is. But so are you and me and everyone else, he just says it out loud.

What was his response to being insulted to his face?

He said he tries to keep the violence grounded and that a woman being thrown repeatedly into bulletproof glass was based on a guy who as a party trick would throw himself into a window but he fell through the skyscraper cos it had been weakened over the years. I then reminded him he had two men's eyes and nuts ripped off and each man's balls were put into the other guy's eye sockets. He was like I had a point. Funny enough, I met some glamour models in the queue for the signing getting their shit signed!
 

Tizoc

Member
To be able to shock and disgust people you need to be able to understand people. The very REASON he's so cynical is because he's a good observer of humanity. Which means that if you understand why makes people UNhappy, you can understand what makes them happy.

A lot of people overlook Ennis' ability to show the fragility and complexity of human relationships due to his habit of resorting to gross humor. Maybe that's the only way to get emotional stuff into a manchild-dominated industry.

Good points, but could you elaborate on your last sentence please?
I don't see how hard it is to have heartwarming/emotional moments in comics, but maybe it's just me.
 

jaxword

Member
Good points, but could you elaborate on your last sentence please?
I don't see how hard it is to have heartwarming/emotional moments in comics, but maybe it's just me.

Oh, it's not hard to get them into the industry, but that's in pre-established characters (i.e. Superman talking down a suicide jumper, the Fantastic Family moments, etc) that have already been seen doing fighting and beating up badguys. That's REALLY what the industry flows on, the superhero concept is inherently ridiculous already.

Ennis makes his own characters, so he's got to write for the comicbook readership. Which is, let's just be honest, mostly young guys and mostly pretty immature ones at that. So they HAVE to be shown asskicking to get "cred" with the comicbook audiences to gain a regular audience.

Do you think the average comicbook fan would've been remotely interested in Hitman, Preacher, or The Boys if it didn't have brutal killing and gross violence interspaced with moments of emotional bonding?

You know as well as I do that comicbook fans would be screaming "ALL THIS RELATIONSHIP TALK IS GAY AND BORING" and drop it after 3 issues. They screamed that in half the reviews of The Boys whenever it stepped away from decapitations and had talking instead. It's a tough tightrope to walk in the comicbook world.


As an aside, Kevin Smith, who coincidentally also has weird Catholic issues, often lamented the same thing, that there's just some things you HAVE to include (boobs, violence) in every story regardless of whatever message you want to impart.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Ironically, he was created 20 years before Spock, yet are vastly different in every way.

Yeah but I see Spock more.

Aquaman-cartoon.jpg

Wearing only speedos is different though, that's still considered tights!
 

Tizoc

Member
@jaxword- Good points, and it's a shame that that's the case. I personally have my own standard or 'limit' to how much gore and extreme violence I can take in a comic.
 

jaxword

Member
Meh, things that are grotesque in nature to get me after awhile. It is why I generally avoid Ennis.

@jaxword- Good points, and it's a shame that that's the case. I personally have my own standard or 'limit' to how much gore and extreme violence I can take in a comic.

You're both right, I couldn't really stand Ennis years ago as a kid reading his stuff. It did bother me like you guys are bothered now.

I guess after years of watching videos of news stories of wars and seeing people actually get their faces blown to bits in real life desensitized me to seeing it in comic form. It turns out real life is WORSE than what Ennis comes up with (minus the superhero stuff).

Now, when I read Ennis' stuff and see someone get their face horribly maimed off, it's disturbing, but I react like: "yeah...that's probably happening somewhere in the world right now, maybe South Central LA's The Jungle."
 

Tizoc

Member
^Yowza...
FYI while I do have my limit and tolerance of it, I do like seeing it in some comics...like Invincible, oh man the beatdown between Viltrumites....
 

Slayven

Member
God I love Zoom, a supervillain that actually wanted the hero to be a better hero. Look at Wally, the look knowing his fastest isn't fast enough.

1749745-zoom4.jpg


1753968-zoom3.jpg
 
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