Written From The Desk Of Beau Smith!

by Beau Smith

“Jimmy Olsen Meets The Beatles And A Bad Haircut.”

Before the 1980s, realism in comic books was when the current President of The United States would make a shadowy appearance or maybe The Beatles would pop up in an issue of Jimmy Olsen or Strange Tales. That was about it. Sure, we had the drug issues that showed up in Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Spider-Man. They were serious as well as the beginning of “stories ripped from today’s headlines.’

Strange Tales #130. “Meet The Beatles.”

It was the 1980s where many of the former fans turned pros, like Frank Miller, began to craft “serious” adult storylines into your favorite mainstream comics. Superhero comics slowly lost a lot of their escapism entertainment; they began to mimic what the film industry was churning out. Of course, when your superhero can still fly through the air, turn invisible, and lift a twenty story building, there is still some escapism left in them.

“Bee-Man, What Superhero Comics Should BEE!”

I’ll be honest, as a lifetime comic book reader and writer; I have never been crazy about our world realism in my comics. I’ve got more than I can handle in real life, I don’t always want it spilling over to my entertainment reading. I was always good with the fact that just because I was growing up to be an adult, that didn’t mean I wanted my superheroes to do the same. I could’ve been quite happy with Bee-Man fighting crime from his giant, covert, Bee Hive Headquarters forever, but then again, I’m not Frank Miller or Alan Moore, am I?

Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying I wanted comic books to remain in the 1960s forever. Nope. I understand that things have to widen. I just don’t need for mainstream superhero comics to be an over the top version of Pulp Fiction or Law And Order SVU. A lot of today’s writers are like high school kids that get to write superhero comics for a day. In doing so, they want them to cuss, be drunk, and have sex and yet at the same time still be a little bit wholesome in the way they fight super villains. I’ve got Indy comics I can find that in, and I do. The title SUPERHERO should tell you something if you take the time to look at it. Super, meaning they have some sorta super power that you as a reader will never have. Hero, someone that represents noble qualities, that is willing to do selfless acts to help others, and someone to be admired and that is inspiring. If I want a flawed character much like me in my escapist entertainment, then I’ll just tie a bathroom towel around my neck, wear long underwear that’s really too tight, and rehash my own day. Stop and think about if you had super powers of some sort, but still had the life you are leading right now with the same family and friends. How long would your superhero career last? How long would it be before you were exposed and it all hit the fan for anyone that cared about you? Your house payment, rent, credit card bills….I think you’d be begging for a little escapism in a hurry. Your reality wouldn’t last a week in the world of mainstream superheroes, nor would you want it to.

I’m not saying that all mainstream superhero comic books should be the Golden Age version, I’ll settle for some balance between escapism and realism. Right now I think we’re in the extreme to “realism”. Where characters used to be wholesome in an extreme, now they are too far, for the most part, in the other direction. Making them too much of either is not a good thing. Take the time to write in balance. That’s the key and what isn’t being done. When writing a character, the writer should have the character asking—“Like me, care about me, come again and read about me,” Right now it’s a little too much of the writer saying “This is what I like, you better like what I like, and you’re not cool if you don’t agree, and buy my book every month.”

“Green Lantern #85, ripped from today’s headlines.”

Reading and writing comic books is a slippery slope. Make sure you’re wearing boots with enough tread on them to attempt this. It wouldn’t hurt to also have the rope of reality tied around your waist and not your neck.

Your amigo,

Beau Smith

The Flying Fist Ranch

www.flyingfistranch.com