Charles Martin's Blog, page 7

Star Wars – “Everyone was old, wrinkly, and serious.”

The Force Awakens was a majestic return to the Star Wars universe I knew and loved since the time my father would lift me in his arms and zip me around the living room like I was flying a TIE Fighter. Where there plot holes? Yes, of course there were plot holes. It’s Star Wars. There are always plot holes in Star Wars. I dismissed the minor flaws and reveled in having my faith restored. Then the daughter of a friend unleashed her own simple, but provoking summary of the movie:

“Everyone was old, wrinkly, and serious.”

Yeah, I know. We laughed it off too, but the comment hung with me. Blockbuster genre movies are leaning further toward adult audiences and less towards kids, so her assessment of Episode VII targeted the tendency for adult fans (i.e. me) to despise any movie not made specifically for them. True, kids still have tons of options in movie theaters, but the big franchises that the adult, male fanboys gravitate towards are not as family friendly as they once were. I am not at all saying that all superhero and sci-fi stories need to pander to children because I love that writers, artists, and filmmakers now have the freedom to take off the kid gloves when exploring the grimmer elements within the genres. Deadpool, for instance, looks like a big ball of sick, insane fun. Jessica Jones and Daredevil were darkly intelligent and perfect inclusions into the expanding Marvel  movie universe(which, as a whole, may be the most ambitious creative endeavor in human history). The Force Awakens was the movie that lifelong Star Wars fans deserved. It brought back memories of my best friend and I arguing over the value of the prequels. He was giving The Phantom Menace a huge pass because he so wanted the prequels to find their way. He’d die shortly after Attack of the Clones, never to see the glimmer of hope in Revenge of the Sith or the triumph of this latest installment.

In that argument, he correctly pointed out that The Phantom Menace was created for kids. It was their movie, not ours, so we should swallow its flaws and appreciate how the greater story of Star Wars was being enriched. The prequels became the entry for a new generation of fans. Though they were weak, if not terrible Star Wars movies, they were pretty good when compared to other family-friendly fare. If I have the choice between watching a somewhat bland Star Wars movie or whatever the hell Tomorrowland was, I’d choose Star Wars every time. Same goes for the Marvel or DC offerings. I tried to watch Arrow and S.H.E.I.L.D. but I gave up because they were too obvious and formulaic. That’s okay because they weren’t written for me. They were written for pre-teens who, through no fault of their own, are also obvious and formulaic. It’s that age. If my boys were younger, then those types of offerings would be much more valuable as a bridge between our tastes.

In that light, the prequels were better than fanboys (i.e. me) often claim because their tone does work with the right audience. They were certainly way more watchable than Sharkboy and Lavagirl so we watched the prequels dozens of times. We even had a pact in my house. Anytime one of the boys threw me a light saber, no matter how busy I was, I would stop everything and we would act out, in its entirety, the Yoda/Count Dooku/Anakin fight. My youngest was just above a toddler, so mostly mumbled out his lines and kept his head turned away as he swung his lightsaber wildly out into space. My oldest son postured, sneered, did cartwheels, threw lightning, and leapt off couches while the dogs danced along, barked, and nipped at my butt. Those battles were the best. The absolute best. Next time you see me, ask me to show you our version of Episode VII. You won’t be sorry.

So, let J.J. Abrams make his Star Wars films for older crowds, but also let Disney keep chugging out those terrible Star Wars cartoons alongside those also pretty terrible superhero cartoons. Young kids won’t connect with our brooding superheroes and haunted, space-trotting rebels. They are old, wrinkly, and serious because we are old, wrinkly, and serious. Our heroes are dealing with emotional problems too complex and adult for children to understand and thank the maker for that.

Feel Free To Redraw This-This Is Kim’s Bubble

Think you can do better? Have at it and email it to charles@literatipressok.com or post it on Instagram and tag @literatipress. Maybe we’ll post it on the site. Maybe it’s your shot at fame and fortune in the lucrative field of web comics. Who knows? Not me, that’s for damn sure.

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Feel Free To Redraw This-Some Things Don’t React Well To Bullets

Think you can do better? Have at it and email it to charles@literatipressok.com or post it on Instagram and tag @literatipress. Maybe we’ll post it on the site. Maybe it’s your shot at fame and fortune in the lucrative field of web comics. Who knows? Not me, that’s for damn sure.

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Thank You For Making Heathen A Top Seller!

We just found out that Heathen #4 reached the number five spot in Comixology’s top-selling titles in the Submit category! This is huge and we are so grateful to everyone who downloaded the comic or who has bought physical copies online or through comic book stores across the nation. We appreciate you all!

Feel Free To Redraw This-Running With An Old Dog

Think you can do better? Have at it and email it to charles@literatipressok.com or post it on Instagram and tag @literatipress. Maybe we’ll post it on the site. Maybe it’s your shot at fame and fortune in the lucrative field of web comics. Who knows? Not me, that’s for damn sure.

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PROMISE 2 and the Inaugural Literati Party

Literati Party and Release of PROMISE OF A BRAND NEW DAY OR WHATNOT: Issue 2

Friday, December 18 6-10 pm

Bombs Away Art

3003 A Paseo in Oklahoma City

The inaugural Literati Holiday Party and release of the second issue of Clint Stone’s PROMISE OF A BRAND NEW DAY OR WHATNOT! It’s been an amazing year for our humble press, so come celebrate the unlikely success of an unlikely entity in an unlikely state with a bunch of unlikely people doing a bunch of unlikely things.

Can’t make the party? You can still buy PROMISE OF A BRAND NEW DAY OR WHATNOT: Issue 2 on our Storenvy page.

 

Feel Free To Redraw This-Sorry For The Inconvenience

Think you can do better? Have at it and email it to charles@literatipressok.com or post it on Instagram and tag @literatipress. Maybe we’ll post it on the site. Maybe it’s your shot at fame and fortune in the lucrative field of web comics. Who knows? Not me, that’s for damn sure.

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Feel Free To Redraw This-Stories I’m Interested In

Think you can do better? Have at it and email it to charles@literatipressok.com or post it on Instagram and tag @literatipress. Maybe we’ll post it on the site. Maybe it’s your shot at fame and fortune in the lucrative field of web comics. Who knows? Not me, that’s for damn sure.

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Save the Curbside Chronicle!

*Editor’s Note: On Tuesday, there will be a vote on a proposed Oklahoma City ordinance that could jeopardize the Curbside Chronicle, a magazine that employs homeless and at-risk individuals. My local vendor had been Marcus. He always bragged about his movie review section and I looked forward to seeing him waving the new issue from the median. Marcus scored a full-time job elsewhere, so I now just grab an edition from whoever is at 23rd and Penn. Being able to set up vendors on medians is crucial since that is the source of the vast majority of their sales. Without them, this city will likely lose this important program. Contact your city council and let them know that this ordinance is cruel and against the Christian values nearly all of our council members run on. More pragmatic is the fact that the ordinance will be counter-productive to the mission of easing homelessness in OKC. What follows is a brief excerpt from a story by our friends at Red Dirt Report. Click on the link at the bottom to get the full story.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Chances are you’ve seen them on the medians of busy local streets, looking for a few extra dollars from passing motorists. No, we’re not talking about panhandlers—we’re talking about the street-level entrepreneurs selling copies of the local magazine The Curbside Chronicle.

By employing homeless and at-risk individuals in Oklahoma City to sell the eclectic magazine, The Curbside Chronicle has provided numerous individuals with an attainable form of employment and a way for them to earn income, giving them a way off the streets.

It’s a success story that editor Ranya O’Connor has seen repeated numerous times over the magazine’s past two years. Finally able to devote herself to it full-time, she estimates they’ve trained over 200 individuals and currently have 30 vendors that are “going out and selling and relying on our magazine for employment.”

Read the rest of Louis Fowler’s story on the Red Dirt Report website!

Jessica Jones and the Rise of Survivor Culture

A few days ago, a teenager asked me what the phrase “rape culture” meant. We looked at information on the Women Against Violence Against Women web page, and talked about what we found. One phrase in particular stood out:

“When society normalizes sexualized violence, it accepts and creates rape culture.” -Emilie Buchwald.

I told my teenage friend that it reminded me of a man who confidently informed me that all women fantasize about being raped. When I asked him if he thought that was true of the (1 in 4) women who have already been raped or sexually assaulted, he needed a few seconds to think it over. At that point, I suggested that he ask women what they fantasize about, instead of informing them. My teenage friend was so shocked and horrified by the man’s assertion that she asked several times, “Did he actually believe that? Would he want to be raped?”

Marvel’s new television series, Jessica Jones, has brought to mind the many characters in movies and television shows this year recovering from sexual abuse or assault. Mad Max: Fury Road, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Jessica Jones are three that featured survivors of rape and abusive relationships, but avoided rape scenes. Instead these stories focused on characters who took control of their lives after an assault had taken place.

With Jessica Jones, creator Melissa Rosenburg took a comic book hero from Brian Michael Bendis’ Alias series and created something grounded in reality—a crime show about a woman with PTSD, recovering from a traumatic, abusive relationship. She lives alone and works alone. She drinks too much, maybe all the time. Her superhuman strength is treated as a sidenote. She doesn’t wear a costume or have an alter-ego’s name. She rarely tries to save others. Though there is a supervillain, the real drama comes from Jones’ recovery as she fights her fear and tries to take care of herself.

And Jessica is not the only one—all of the major characters on the show are struggling with emotional trauma. Trish is a radio talk show host, who survived her own abusive relationship. Luke Cage, Jessica’s on-again, off-again love-interest, is recovering from the death of his wife. Malcolm, Jessica’s neighbor, is a recovering heroin addict and leader of a support group for Kilgraved-victims. The dynamics between many of the characters must play out around the wreckage caused by sexual abuse, toxic relationships, addiction and the hard work of survival. However, the characters are less victims than a group of determined survivors.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Melissa Rosenburg said that this was definitely the goal—highlighting the difference between other television shows that help normalize sexualized violence:

“Rape has become a go-to for so many storytellers. Some of these shows…I call them Rapelander or Rape of Thrones. It becomes a joke after a while, which is so horrendous and such an additional violation to anyone who has experienced something like that—and so many of us have. These experiences in people’s lives shape one’s way of being in the world, and they can inform everything about one’s character. It never goes away. But there is a place as a survivor where you can find your strength, and Jessica is a survivor.”

As Eve Ensler said about the characters in Mad Max: “When you see a female action character, who is capable of fighting on equal ground with the men, as a woman, allegorically, metaphorically, in all ways, it changes your idea of yourself. You actually believe you have agency over your life. You never feel women are crippled, or disabled, or incapable of defending themselves. That alone is so empowering.”

The world can be dangerous a place, but the strong are beginning to find themselves in stories and art, on screens both large and small. Writers, creators, and visionaries like George Miller & Eve Ensler, Brian Michael Bendis & Melissa Rosenburg, and Tina Fey & Robert Carlock are beginning to shape and reflect something that I like to think of as “survivor culture”. The stories that resonate are no longer about one hero saving victims and fighting crime alone, but the ways that groups of people help one another stay alive and find ways to heal together.