9/21: Heroezzzzzzzzzzz
Maybe there's something wrong with me, but I can't muster any enthusiasm for the book collection of the webcomic based on NBC's Heroes. In fact, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is the most overrated webcomic I've seen in the last twelve months.
Oh, great marketing, sure. Give 'em a reason to check in on the homepage every week, and aim your message at the superhero comics fan. I can swallow my resentment of the "comics equals superhero" meme long enough to admire the producers' savvy. But the whole concept of the series dooms it to mediocrity.
Heroes the TV show, or at least its first season, has been many things, many good things, but above all, it's been tight. The plot moved, the unexpected happened, and even though the journey was long, time was not wasted. The role of Heroes the comic is to fill in the "blanks" that such an approach might create.
But you either need the comics' extra scenes to appreciate the entire Heroes universe, or you don't. The rave reviews of the series and my own experience watching it would suggest that right now, we don't. If we did, then the comics might actually become exciting and relevant, but if we did, then the TV series would become disjointed and confusing to most of its audience.
It's possible to tell really interesting stories that are secondary to a main text. The Star Trek novels of Peter David and John Ford, for instance. But those work by bringing a different, unexpected form, approach or point of view to the series in question-- something new to go with the something old.
The Heroes webcomic carefully avoids any such innovation. It mimics the Heroes TV show as much as possible. Perhaps in some misguided attempt to keep things fresh, it eschews a single creative team, employing multiple writers and artists of wildly varying talents, executing obviously pre-assigned plots. It's made up of heavily plot-oriented stories, a poor substitute for the TV show's character-driven tales. And those plot-oriented stories don't really need to exist, because we already know the plot works just fine without them.
Yeah, you guessed it: I don't usually like the "deleted scenes" section on DVDs, either.
Nobody I know even pretends to be enthusiastic about the project, except as a symbolic victory for all webcomics everywhere. But this is the kind of "victory" that makes me nervous. Heroes webcomics are derivative, unimaginative and rote... and promoted like crazy. Honestly, I think it'd be better for comics if they tanked.
On a happier note, today's favorite: things you might not know about GLBT.
Oh, great marketing, sure. Give 'em a reason to check in on the homepage every week, and aim your message at the superhero comics fan. I can swallow my resentment of the "comics equals superhero" meme long enough to admire the producers' savvy. But the whole concept of the series dooms it to mediocrity.
Heroes the TV show, or at least its first season, has been many things, many good things, but above all, it's been tight. The plot moved, the unexpected happened, and even though the journey was long, time was not wasted. The role of Heroes the comic is to fill in the "blanks" that such an approach might create.
But you either need the comics' extra scenes to appreciate the entire Heroes universe, or you don't. The rave reviews of the series and my own experience watching it would suggest that right now, we don't. If we did, then the comics might actually become exciting and relevant, but if we did, then the TV series would become disjointed and confusing to most of its audience.
It's possible to tell really interesting stories that are secondary to a main text. The Star Trek novels of Peter David and John Ford, for instance. But those work by bringing a different, unexpected form, approach or point of view to the series in question-- something new to go with the something old.
The Heroes webcomic carefully avoids any such innovation. It mimics the Heroes TV show as much as possible. Perhaps in some misguided attempt to keep things fresh, it eschews a single creative team, employing multiple writers and artists of wildly varying talents, executing obviously pre-assigned plots. It's made up of heavily plot-oriented stories, a poor substitute for the TV show's character-driven tales. And those plot-oriented stories don't really need to exist, because we already know the plot works just fine without them.
Yeah, you guessed it: I don't usually like the "deleted scenes" section on DVDs, either.
Nobody I know even pretends to be enthusiastic about the project, except as a symbolic victory for all webcomics everywhere. But this is the kind of "victory" that makes me nervous. Heroes webcomics are derivative, unimaginative and rote... and promoted like crazy. Honestly, I think it'd be better for comics if they tanked.
On a happier note, today's favorite: things you might not know about GLBT.
Labels: Webcomics
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12:30 AM
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