Comments on: Hacking the story http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7029 The stomping grounds of Tim Carmody, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. It's a long-running conversation about media, journalism, technology, cities, culture, design, books, music, movies, the future and the past. Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:20:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Tim http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7029/comment-page-1#comment-33079 Tim Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:35:42 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7029#comment-33079 I was also going to mention <em>Planetary</em>: in particular, in one early issue, an assembly loosely based on early pulp comic heroes like Doc Savage, Tarzan, The Shadow, etc. squares off against superheroes loosely based on DC's Justice League (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, etc.), who've been summoned from an alternate dimension. The pulp heroes realize that the DC superheroes are in a dying universe, and will kill the pulps and everyone in their world in order to survive: the two groups fight to the death, leaving Axel Brass (the Doc Savage pastiche) crippled as the only survivor. Everything in <em>Planetary</em> turns into a kind of commentary on recapturing some of the strangeness inspired by the earlier pulps, using it to push back against the monolithic vision of the major comic heroes, whether DC or Marvel. The agents of Planetary are postmodern descendants (in some cases, literally) of that world and its lost possibilities. A completely different kind of battle between continuities than Crisis on Infinite Earths -- more pluralistic, but not pacifistic. Not at all. I was also going to mention Planetary: in particular, in one early issue, an assembly loosely based on early pulp comic heroes like Doc Savage, Tarzan, The Shadow, etc. squares off against superheroes loosely based on DC’s Justice League (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, etc.), who’ve been summoned from an alternate dimension.

The pulp heroes realize that the DC superheroes are in a dying universe, and will kill the pulps and everyone in their world in order to survive: the two groups fight to the death, leaving Axel Brass (the Doc Savage pastiche) crippled as the only survivor.

Everything in Planetary turns into a kind of commentary on recapturing some of the strangeness inspired by the earlier pulps, using it to push back against the monolithic vision of the major comic heroes, whether DC or Marvel. The agents of Planetary are postmodern descendants (in some cases, literally) of that world and its lost possibilities.

A completely different kind of battle between continuities than Crisis on Infinite Earths — more pluralistic, but not pacifistic. Not at all.

]]> By: Jimmy Stamp http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7029/comment-page-1#comment-32977 Jimmy Stamp Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:47:14 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7029#comment-32977 Following from the idea of continuity as operating system, I'd like to bring up the notion of emulators. How has one universe/company/OS been appropriated and used within another universe/company/OS that is ruled by another logic or set of rules? The first thing that comes to mind is Warren Ellis's series Planetary, in which "Archeologists of the Impossible" (essentially a team of super-heros) are charged with preemptively neutralizing extraterrestrial and mystical threats. The Planetary team, along with a rival group, The Four (a devious and brutal Fantastic Four analogue) are shown repeatedly preventing the rise of several very familiar heroes. The series co-opts the DC universe, as well as other pop-culture sci-fi figures, to speculate on how things would be different in a familiar comic book universe if those mythic heroes were never allowed to exist. Or how, in a more brutal universe, the existence of these heroes would be addressed by people afraid of their power. It's an understatement to say that the emulated continuity does not run as smoothly within a foreign continuity. Following from the idea of continuity as operating system, I’d like to bring up the notion of emulators. How has one universe/company/OS been appropriated and used within another universe/company/OS that is ruled by another logic or set of rules? The first thing that comes to mind is Warren Ellis’s series Planetary, in which “Archeologists of the Impossible” (essentially a team of super-heros) are charged with preemptively neutralizing extraterrestrial and mystical threats. The Planetary team, along with a rival group, The Four (a devious and brutal Fantastic Four analogue) are shown repeatedly preventing the rise of several very familiar heroes. The series co-opts the DC universe, as well as other pop-culture sci-fi figures, to speculate on how things would be different in a familiar comic book universe if those mythic heroes were never allowed to exist. Or how, in a more brutal universe, the existence of these heroes would be addressed by people afraid of their power. It’s an understatement to say that the emulated continuity does not run as smoothly within a foreign continuity.

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