Tag: PopCulture

Some simple bullet points….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

Here are some simple bullet points that could save the Comic Book Industry. First off, I’ve been a reader, a consumer, a business owner, a manager of a company and lived life. These are based on common sense, not political correctness nor social pandering….

  1. Cover price must drop. $1 sounds right.
  2. Reprint issues from the past. Like all the time.
  3. Return to newsprint (or similar) paper.
  4. Advertise the comic book! I’ve seen a dozens of comic book movies in 10 years, NOT one time did I see some kind of promotion or tagline to go buy the comics these stories were based on. Poor marketing!
  5. Get comics at every check stand in America. Again, this should be a $1, reprint or even first run.
  6. Advertise. Plan and simple. Where does DC or Marvel advertise besides their own comic books. I remember as a kid seeing television commercials to pick up G.I. Joe, X-men and Superman comics “where magazines were sold!”
  7. Stop hiring comic writers simply because they fit a demographic.
  8. Overhaul the compensation of comic creators, writers and artists, so they want to create the best comics possible. This starts with lower salaries and more royalties. If I’m making $75K write a book and you hired me just cause of my skin color, why do I care if the book sells or is popular. Lower the going rate and offer more sales incentives. Allow creators to feel some ownership of the characters they are writing even if its owned by a mega-corporation.
  9. Run it as a business not as cultural propaganda. Tell good stories and everyone, all diversities will buy it.
  10. Listen to your consumers, the customer, your readers, your fans, your audience. Even 1 bad review is 1 too many. Ask yourself, why are readers angry. Don’t blame them for the poor quality of the product.

Simple stuff. And that’s probably not all of it. Comic books should LIVE!

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Everything is Super!

Posted on by CV Whitfield

Growing up in a small town in southeast New Mexico, I knew only a simple life. There wasn’t much there.

I’m not sure how we heard about anything. As a child, I’m not sure how we knew what was cool or hip. Logically, we weren’t living in a Amish community. We had radio and television. We had a few big stores like SEARS and JCPenney. So perhaps this kept our little community in touch to the outside world. If we saw it on TV, we trusted the SEARS would bring it to us. This is where I showed my mother the Atari 2600 and the VCR.

Roswell was too small to have a Toys R Us. Nearly every toy I every owned was purchased from Kmart. I hold a sentimental hold on Kmart. This is where I saw my first Star Wars figure. This is where I saw Voltron toys for the first time. As I got older, this was where I bought my first phone and Walkman.

Kmart was the Walmart of my childhood. We did eventually get a Walmart when we got a real shopping mall. This was around 1984. Then sometime in 1989 we got a Target. Yet I always thought that I needed to leave the small town and live in a real city. So when given the opportunity I left for the big city of Denver. We got a hotel and right next door was a Super Kmart. I was amazed. I figured this city has the places we have but here they were super! Everything is Super! I knew my life going forward would be better!

I learned later that Super Kmart was the first in Colorado but it didn’t tarnish my new excitement and astonishment of my new home. It’s hard to believe this marks my 25th year living in this Super city. But you wanna know a secret….I now have dreams of returning to a small town — where it’s a bit quieter and where everyone isn’t moving so fast.

I think that would be Super….

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World’s Finest: analysis.

Posted on by CV Whitfield

So, I wrote how history was different in the mid 90s and we had the awesome luck to have a Superman and Batman movie in 1995 with Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton. The geek world would have truly rejoiced if that had happened nearly 25 years ago.

Yet, I also want to point out that the movie back then would have been completely different than what we finally got in 2016. It would have been a positive and heroic journey – a team-up in every sense of the term. Back then, we wanted movies that inspired. Movies to look up to. We wanted reassurance that the world is still great – where good defeated evil. Our super-heroes were symbols of hope and perfection. They were role-models. We wished we could be like them. Superman was super because he didn’t represent the stereotypes but instead represented righteousness. The character taught us morals and ethics. Then, this changed….

Somehow, the studio (publisher too) in charge of our favorite characters (more specifically my favorite character: Superman) needed to be part of the modern status quo. He/Them is/are flawed. Superman needed to have inner demons. He needed to question everything and everyone around him. Johnathan Kent thought him he couldn’t trust anyone so why would anyone trust him, and vice versa. We got a Superman in the post 9/11 world (you know, where parents sue the Kents because Clark could have endangered lives when he actually saved them. No one blames the tire. Or the guys at the garage for putting faulty tires on the bus. The parents should be thankful instead they call him out. It’s not a positive scene anyway you look at it.) This is a world where Superman should be feared. A Superman with all due respect was not super. This disappointed fans. They even tried to force feed us hope stating his S was Kryptonian for the very word. (Not just a family crest but a perfect time for some moral lessons). Superman wasn’t there to save kittens from trees and stop jewel thieves. Instead he was running from his destiny. How’s that sending a message of hope? Oh well.

Batman was now introduced not as a dark, lone vigilante but an aging cynical man that feared Superman. Not only fear him, but to blame him for the rain of destruction on Metropolis or more specifically the Wayne Building in Metropolos (say what? That’s convenient). The entire point of Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman was for everyone (not just the characters in the film but the audience) to fear Superman. Why? Is it just the time we’re in today or does someone think that he’s more interesting as flawed, unpredictable, scary, powerful alien. In Superman II (1980), Superman battled General Zod (and his henchman). That Metropolis had its citizens cheering Superman, supporting the fight even though it was causing millions in property damage. Heck, they even tried to take on Zod when they thought Zod had killed him. In the new version, citizens of Metropolis are blaming Superman for bringing evil to our planet. They blame him for wrecking the city – they demand justice. They are inconvenienced. They have no loyalty. Everyone seems out for themselves. It’s a world where they demand security but forgot that it takes people to risk their lives for it. They forget how Superman is there to unite – to save them. Now, it’s politics and pointing fingers. We can’t just have simple heroes anymore. No. We must be skeptical. We must reject the ideology. We have lost faith in truth, justice and the American way!

The 1980s (filmatically) was an era of hope and positive community. The movies were fun. They made us laugh. They made us cry. They were great movies because we’re still talking about them to this day. I just feel like the post 2010 movies are more about dividing and trying to direct blame at our faults than working together to over come them. Maybe its just me but I felt we’ve definitely lost something not only in society, our culture, but our pop-culture too. I’m curious if anyone in 20 plus years will be still talking about Man of Steel or Justice League. They may be it wont be the same….

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Off My Game

Posted on by CV Whitfield

I’m not much of a sports guy. I’d rather wear a Star Wars t-shirt than a Rockies one. I guess that comes from my nerd – uh, geek upbringing. (When I was younger, ‘nerd’ was easily confused with ‘geek’. Nowadays, the preferred nomenclature: geek is a person who loves science fiction, comic books and fantasy and nerd is someone that excels in science and academics. Or at least that’s how I see it. Now back to the blog post…)

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching a Rockies game or supporting my local Major League baseball team. Depending on the season, I find myself getting quite involved in the team. I will start to follow players and looking to statistics. Don’t interpret this as a true sports fan though. I couldn’t tell you a ballplayer’s name on any other ball team. And that’s how I determine I’m not a sports fan.  Ask me a question about pop culture, even a TV show or book I don’t regularly follow or read, I will most likely know the answer.

I have studied my entire life to be a writer. I’ve always wanted to tell stories. The best part is the research – watching movies and reading books. The worst part is I had to learn spelling and grammar (something I still struggle with today – Google and spellcheck doesn’t help correct that). I’ve studied the structure of storytelling. I’ve pondered the power and fascination to the ‘hero’s journey’. I have seen what works and doesn’t. Yet, the big variable is that the science behind writing doesn’t always create a successful story.

Just like baseball players, who have perfected their bodies to master the game, practiced and pushed the edge of the envelope.  That player can still have a great season and a poor season.  One year the player will hit record home runs and the following season barely hit the average. I’ve always been curious to how this happens. How can you be so successful one year and the following year just not do anything right? Oddly, these players bounce back and forth from great seasons to average seasons. The same could be applied to any given game. The sports fans just chalks this up to he’s off his game.

Thus, I believe writers can suffer from the same predicament. The result can be bad stories and good stories.  Or just be reduced to a bad day at the keyboard or great day. Today, I found my self off my game. I wanted to write. I did write.  But everything just came out garbled. The key is not get discourage. Tomorrow there’ll be another game and I’ll be ready to play!

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