Saturday, August 14, 2010
Comic Art
So Bad, They're Good
How do you know you have a bad character on your hands in a comic book setting? Well, when you got o look for images of that character, virtually ALL of them are from TV or movies - that's how. Such is the case with Mr. Freeze. This character, which we are examining as a Bat-doppleganger to the Flash rouge, Captain Cold, barely has a life in the comic books himself.
I remember the delicious puns of the Otto Preminger portrayed Mr. Freeze of the '60's television program and read many a comic book hoping to encounter him, but alas, on the printed page the guy is just lame. Yep, despite the much better costuming than Captain Cold, and a much nastier attitude, Mr. Freeze just has not cut it in comic world.
This character originally appeared in Batman in the 1950's as "Mr. Zero" but lasted almost no time until that TV show revived him becasue genuine Bat-villain Two-Face was considered too scary for the very juvenile (like yours truly) audience of the show. We shall here only mention in passing the awful rendition of the character by the Govenator in the movies. BTW, don;t blame Arnold for that, blame director Joel Schumacher.
Frankly, I think the character needs a revisit with a different hero/foil. His failure to truly catch on in the comics is due largely to that fact that he just flat to does not fit in the Batman world. Ice brings with it an image of cleanliness that just does not belong on the streets of Gotham. Let's face it, Captain Cold works well with Flash because cold implies the absence of motion and Flash is the essence of motion. For Batman,ice just means deploy the studs on the Bat-tires.
How do you know you have a bad character on your hands in a comic book setting? Well, when you got o look for images of that character, virtually ALL of them are from TV or movies - that's how. Such is the case with Mr. Freeze. This character, which we are examining as a Bat-doppleganger to the Flash rouge, Captain Cold, barely has a life in the comic books himself.I remember the delicious puns of the Otto Preminger portrayed Mr. Freeze of the '60's television program and read many a comic book hoping to encounter him, but alas, on the printed page the guy is just lame. Yep, despite the much better costuming than Captain Cold, and a much nastier attitude, Mr. Freeze just has not cut it in comic world.
This character originally appeared in Batman in the 1950's as "Mr. Zero" but lasted almost no time until that TV show revived him becasue genuine Bat-villain Two-Face was considered too scary for the very juvenile (like yours truly) audience of the show. We shall here only mention in passing the awful rendition of the character by the Govenator in the movies. BTW, don;t blame Arnold for that, blame director Joel Schumacher.Frankly, I think the character needs a revisit with a different hero/foil. His failure to truly catch on in the comics is due largely to that fact that he just flat to does not fit in the Batman world. Ice brings with it an image of cleanliness that just does not belong on the streets of Gotham. Let's face it, Captain Cold works well with Flash because cold implies the absence of motion and Flash is the essence of motion. For Batman,ice just means deploy the studs on the Bat-tires.
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