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The Moral of the Story

March 11th, 2010 by | Tags: , , , , ,

Tucker Stone compares baby killing at Marvel vs toddler killing at DC:

We at Marvel have always worked to support the trend towards ultraviolence–our readers like it, we like it, and you’d have to be fucking terrified of money to put a leash on Mark Millar. But we’ve always tried to remember that, at the end of the day, we’re making a product, a bit of fun, and that if we take it too seriously, if we try to make some kind of philosophical statement about justice or heroism, we’re going to end up with a dour, boring slice of poorly written shit.

How do you like your brutish and child-like extreme violence? Do you like it to look deeply into your eyes, desperately asking if you get it? Do you understand what has to happen to make a good man do wrong? Do you see how he can’t stop killing, as if he’s developed a taste for blood? Did you see those bloody socks? Do you get it? This is horrible, do you finally understand the stakes?

Or do you like it to be off the cuff violent, an act done simply because That’s What Bad Guys Do, something borrowed from Crank 2 or the best of crime cinema? No message, and no meaning beyond, “Yeah, this guy? He’s a douchebag.”

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6 comments to “The Moral of the Story”

  1. Neither.

    Using senseless violence as some kind of point can be done well and hell, sometimes people do just do horrible stuff simply because they’re “bad guys” but I don’t want it when it’s done for cheap shocks like this.

    Heck, I was enjoying Ultimate Avengers as a hilariously stupid action movie right up until the opening of issue 5, as which point, everything just ground to a halt.


  2. Yeah I’m going to have to go with neither as well.


  3. I don’t get the problem with the beginning of Ultimate Comics Avengers #5. Made sense within the context of the story and was done in as light a fashion as possible. Were people as bothered by the brutal killing of the man? If not, why not? Was it the baby being killed or the whole scene that was the problem?


  4. @Chad Nevett: What’s interesting about the killed baby in Ultimate Avengers is that it being tossed out of the window followed a stabbing murder (wife on husband) and immediately preceded an implied gang rape. The scene, through and through, fits the definition of casual cruelty.


  5. Depends on how its done.

    Didn’t mind beginning on UCA #5 that much since that’s pretty much the malice I’ve come to expect from any version of the Red Skull. Also it didn’t focus on the details too much.

    Personally only have a problem if it just kind of comes out of nowhere or if they milk the act for story to the point of ridiculousness.


  6. I don’t know anymore.