The reaction to
Batman V Superman continues to divide fans and critics alike, though many comic book writers and artists have sided with the critics in their analysis. It seems we can now add 'Watchmen' co-creator and artist Dave Gibbons to that list as well. In a video interview with Flicks And The City, Gibbons was asked about his thoughts on the film and the overal direction of the DC fim universe.
"I feel that what is happening now with the DC characters in film, to my mind, is going in the wrong direction... What Marvel has seemed to have done is take their characters, with a dark side and a light side, and their humor and their pathos, and their human emotion, and they actually have a long vision of what they're going to do. They put together films that are really entertaining, that are exciting, that do have threat and jeopardy, but have humor and a human quality to it, and a sense of hope. But I feel what DC has done particularly with the Superman vs. Batman movie is they really have taken a misstep on it. I mean, I wrote a comic book called 'World's Finest', which was Superman vs. Batman, and what I homed in, and I am not saying this is the only take, but it might have helped, was you have Batman who is a dark hidden creature who lives in a dark evil city whose antagonist is a brightly colored clown. You got Superman who is a brightly colored figure, the yang if you like to Batman's yin, he lives in a bright hopeful city, but with a villain, an opponent, who is a dark grey scheming business man. So the whole universe's are completely complimentary. When I wrote my story, I got a lot of mileage out of crossing those over, and it turned out Luthor went to Gotham, and the Joker went to Metropolis, and the Joker wanted to black out Metropolis, and Luthor wanted to set Gotham on fire. So to me if you are doing Superman vs. Batman, the first thing, which is implied by the "vs," is there has to be a difference, and I think where the latest film suffered was because they were both these dark opaque angsty creatures.
It's a harsh analysis, but Gibbons' words don't fall too far away from what a lot of critics and fans have critiqued about the film to begin with. Despite this, Gibbons had nothing but praise for Ben Affleck's Batman, though he was less appreciative of the inclusion of the other Justice League members.
"I thought, I have to say that Ben Affleck's Batman was brilliant. I thought if he'd been in a Batman film on his own... I also think DC sort of lost their nerve because Superman Vs. Batman, which is basically Frank Miller's Dark Knight story, is enough for a movie without putting Doomsday in it, which is another complete Superman movie, without shoehorning The Flash and the Cyborg, and without Wonder Woman, she's a movie in her own right." Gibbons went on to say that he's not overly thrilled with DC in general at the moment, and was rather impressed with Marvel's most recent film,
Captain America: Civil War.
"Perhaps at the moment, I'm less than 100% thrilled with DC. I'm certainly not coming down on Zack, but to my taste, they kind of missed the [inaudible] there. I think also Marvel have been really bold. They introduced the characters slowly, so when they put them all in a movie together, it gave me that same thrill as I had when a kid when they put all the characters into the Avengers. 'Wow! They're all in one comic!' And the latest Captain America [Civil War] movie, the bit when the two teams run toward each other with all their powers blazing was just 'Oh! Yeah! This is what comics are all about!' I think Marvel have done it with verve and wit. DC kind of missed out on that."
When asked for his thoughts on the recent reboot that incorporated the Watchmen characters into the DC universe, Gibbons kept his answer brief, though he didn't seem pleased.
"I wouldn't make the question too long. All I'm going to say is no comment," Gibbons said when Rebirth and Doctor Manhattan were brought up.
"I have no comment."
Do you agree with Gibbons? Sound off below, and be sure to watch the full interview in the video!