Mythology has fascinated us as humans for centuries since the dawn of time. It has enveloped our sense of morality, our creativity, and has even given way to shaping our futures by giving us religion. We can look to Egyptian culture to the hieroglyphs and the stories of the reign of the sun god Ra upon the earth; and the Osiris tale, regarding the struggles of the gods Osiris, Isis, and Horus against the troublesome god Set. Greek mythology gave us the spectacular tales of Zeus, Hercules, and the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the mythical land of Colchis. Even Christianity, which has used an amalgamation of source material from pre-existing mythologies, has given us Jesus, John the Baptist and the Book of Revelations which gave us one of the best end of the world tales ever.
In 1933, a new form of modern mythology would hit the American scene captivating not only American culture but eventually spreading its grip across the entire world in the form of a book made primarily of pictures,
Famous Funnies, the recognized first comic book. Its popularity later gave way to
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster which ushered in the modern day Superhero, the preverbal gods of our time. Many more of these
Gods were introduced over the next eighty years giving us fantastic stories and relatable characters that people across the globe latched onto as a form of escape from the “real” world.
Spider-Man, the common man, who was given extraordinary abilities from a radioactive spider, uses them to consistently help the people in his own neighborhood and is also powerful enough to fraternize with the likes of the
Hulk and
Thor. Bruce Wayne, the god with no powers, whose rage and despair drive him to become the
Batman, his intellect and cunning combined with a multitude of gadgets allows him to survive successfully among the super powered.
Wonder Woman, her entire backstory created from actual Greek Mythos, showed people a “fish out of water” approach not only in the obvious removal from Themyscira to the outside world, but how she viewed women as strong individuals and how most of the world at that time did not.
As technology expanded, comic book lore finally gave way to the visual medium of Comic Book Movie. This allowed not only the avid reader to finally see their favorite characters in live action but expanded its fan base to people who originally may have been deterred by something some people viewed as childish and immature. When Christopher Reeve’s
Superman was released to rave reviews, it began a trek of CBMs that people around the world began to take notice in. Tim Burton's
Batman (1989),
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990),
The Rocketeer (1991), the animated
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Alex Proyas'
The Crow (1994),
Spawn (1997),
Men In Black (1997), and
Blade (1998) were some of the best of the late 80s through the 90s eras.
The 2000s piloted the vehicle to the current success the CBM has reached today. With CGI technology reaching new heights, and high profile actors willingly throwing their names into the hat for numerous CBM projects, the evolution of the genre has taken off to a completely new level. Movies like
X-Men (2000),
Spider-Man (2002),
Hellboy (2004),
Batman Begins (2005), and
Iron Man (2008) were some of the best examples, all of which spawned sequels and franchises worthy of its predecessors.
As this golden age of Comic Book Movies has descended in all its gloriousness upon us, a question has emerged born of the purest intent. Do we owe it to the creators and writers of these American myths to be true to the source material? For a person who has never read the
Iliad, the
Sibylline Books or the
Bible, should their first representation on the silver screen be something that wildly deviates from what originated in those pages? A common misconception within the comic book community is that the general public is privy to knowledge that has been given across the pictured pages over the last 80 plus years. Major film corporations package these “deviations” as artistic license, but what about the child who has never read a comic book? Should his/her first depiction of
Dr. Doom be that of a young blogger angry at the world or should it follow the highly reviewed short run,
Books of Doom, which among other comics depicts him as that of a semi-god who rules his own country, rivals the magical powers of
Dr. Strange and has used his scientific talents to steal or replicate the power of other beings such as the
Silver Surfer, or in one case the entity
Galactus' world-ship? It would be like seeing Horus from Egyptian mythology with a fish head instead of a falcon head.
We take for granted that these “creative licenses” destroy the modern American mythology. Making
X-Men favorite,
Wolverine, 6’2” as opposed to 5’3” doesn’t change the essence of the character. Giving
Bane a garbled sounding English accent as opposed to a cerebral Hispanic who uses the drug Venom to enhance his strength does. Changing
Johnny Storm to an African-American does nothing to change the essence of the character itself but making his sister (now step-sister) continue to be white so as not to enrage the mass viewing audience when she will clearly be dating a white man in either Richards or Grimm does.
Comic book movies can be an amazing way to give the visual spectacle we as readers have envisioned for decades. But I believe the corporations putting out these projects should hold steadfast and keep the essence of the stories alive. The general audience should be allowed to see what we have seen for years and not have to settle for a weak substitute. I’m glad a few major companies have held to this model, I just hope that many more decide to follow suit. May the modern American mythology live on as it was intended and may we all benefit from it.