Did comic movies ruin comics? Part 2 The birth of new universes

On part 1 I reflected that the X-men movies only brought on a costume change. Now this was true but as time went on the costumes did go back to a superhero feel and not so much the biker leather look the movies gave the films. This was of course a minor change at first and was one, I feel, we as comic readers could handle. The X-men did go through another big change because of films later but I'm not going to get to that just yet.
It will makes sense later I promise.
Let's very quickly reflect on Sam Raimi's vision of Spider-man. As a Spider-man film goes it was quite good. Never before have we seen the wall crawler swinging around Manhatten with such ease. It was beautiful for it's time. Well I believe the first two were. The third unfortunatley was plagued by fan demands, an exhausted Raimi, and an impatient studio, so I don't blame him for an emo Peter Parker dancing down the street.
That particular movie did have some effect on the comic but not in our regular Spider-man books. Instead it helped to create a new universe. It's what came to be known as the Ultimate universe. It should be noted here too that the X-men movies also helped this new universe get established because at the time it and Spider-man were the only marvel movies out there that were doing really well, also they were first two books in the ultimate universe, Ultimate Spider-man and Ultimate X-men.
Now for those of you unfamiliar with the Ultimate universe I'll give you a quick summary. The Marvel comics we all know from our youth started in the 1960s, roughly. Some heroes like Captain America and Namor actually started in the forties, but Marvel really established itself in the sixties with Spider-man, X-men, Hulk, Fantastic Four, etc. Essentially teenage Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider in 1961.
In the Ultimate universe however Peter Parker gets bit by a radioactive spider in the year 2000. The Ultimate universe is essentially the Marvel universe if it started in modern times. It was a good idea. New and old creators could build new worlds and tell new stories they might not have been able to tell in the old universe because the old universe had such a long continuity, but with the Ultimate universe anything was fair game. It was also great for new readers. They could come into stories about their favorite characters from the ground up and not feel burdened with years of back issues that they feel they have to read to be caught up on the current story.
Whew! Thats the shortest I could sum it up so lets continue about movies.
I told you that story about a new universe to tell you this one. 2008 comes around and Iron Man makes it to the big screen and it is a huge success. I won't go into what made it a big success but if you follow the superhero movies you know why. This was the movie that essentially started it all. It's what brought us to Captain America Civil War today. Iron Man waa a movie about a B level hero, C in some cases, that bumped him to A level status and jump started a whole new film universe. Eight years of Marvel films and tv shows that all share the same universe. When I was kid reading comics I would dream of this happening, and it didn't start happening till I was almost 24.
Better late than never.
Now being an avid reader as I've proudly expressed you can't help but notice what they do with certain characters and story plots. If you've ever read a book and seen the movie you'll understand. Unlike a book though comics are perpetually in a state of act 2, with no act 3 coming. (Not going to lie I got that from Kevin Smith. I like the guy, he knows what he's talking about.) In saying that superhero movies based off of an ongoing property can virtually end up anywhere and with anyone in them. If a comic has been going on long enough it's probably covered any eventualality you can imagine, and some have gotten strange. Anyway the big thing we all noticed I think was the reveal of a character we never expected. He was tucked away at the end of the credits. Come on you remember...
That's right, Nick fuckin Fury.
Except he was, as shown in the comics, the Ultimate universe Nick Fury. Who is black and was by played by the great Samuel L. Jackson. Hell even in the comics he's drawn to look like Sam Jackson. Where as in the regular Marvel universe that started in the 60's Nick Fury was white.
Personally I've been swayed over time that the Sam Jackson Fury is a good choice.
Now just hold on minute because it's going to get interesting. I can tell I'm losing some of you in the back. 
The thing is the Iron Man they introduced in the movie was the regular Marvel U. Iron Man. With the exception of him being in Iraq instead of Vietnam. To avid comic readers who follow both universes it looks as if the films are combining the two universes. It was strange and I know some didn't like it but it worked well together.
It also sold a lot of comics.
Comics that started to change. Not at first but subtle and slowly. The Ultimate Marvel universe started releasing more books. Newer titles of our favorite characters being brought up in the modern world. Sometimes these books and characters looked as if they were pulled straight from the movies and others looked like they were ready made to be movies. Costumes didn't look too fantastic that they couldn't exist in the real world and yet surreal enough that the characters could still be identified as superheroes.
Now because the Ultimate universe was new there wasn't really changes per say but additions to a new universe. The regular Marvel universe changed the most. Old characters got updated looks and personalities. Origins were slightly updated. As new Marvel movies came out villians that may have been low level were brought into the spotlight because they were featured in the new movies. It was an exciting time, tons of new stories were being written. Characters we've heard from maybe once a year, those characters that had cult followings began to take the spotlight. Marvel went through a series of large events that kept changing the status quo every year and with each new year came new movies and with that year the comics would still try and reflect what was happening in the movies or copying their look.
Granted the events Marvel went through weren't entirely movie driven. There was some great writing being done and some awesome art as well. The stories being told were huge and all encompassing in their scope of the entire Marvel brand. It was a good time but a dark time. The villians were winning for quite a while, and the heroes had few victories. What victories they had were epic and kept the readers hungry for more, new and old alike. Everything was changing as were the movies. The comics reflected the movies and the movies reflected the comics. It was a fans dream in a lot of ways.
Then something happened. I'm not sure what it was or who made the decision but two universes started become one and two long running series were not on the forefront of the comics anymore, while others were pushed to the front and all because of movie studios and legal jargen and quite possibly some greed. 
Next time I'll dig into that and wrap up this series of "are movies ruining comics?" I will have an answer at least about what I think anyway. Thanks for reading everyone and stay tuned for part 3.

Did comic movies ruin comics? Part 1 X-men in leather.

I have had a hard time trying to figure out exactly what this blog should be. It started as a way to promote writing, and in many ways it still is. I still plan to talk about upcoming books and the current books I've written. Lately though you've seen my various rants and opinions about comics and then monsters.
This blog you're reading will be the latter by the way.
I'm only stating this because I'm sort of hoping it will give whoever is reading this a look into the mind of a writer. Now I'm no Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, or Mark Twain, but maybe you'll get some insight into why I like to write books about a red headed cowgirl battling monsters in a post civil war united states. Maybe though I can make you smile at musings and possibly look at things in a way you haven't thought of.
Or I can help you burn 5 minutes by reading this. Either way I'm glad I could help.
The topic I wanted to talk about or talk at you about is comics and their adapted movies and whether or not they may be ruining the comics. First off I want to tell you that I love comics, like a lot.  They were what first helped me to like reading and they taught me quite a lot. Not only just providing lots of entertainment but through the X-men I learned about segration and the possibilty of what the next step of evolution could be. Spider-man let me know it was okay to be a nerd and that I could still get the girl despite not having awesome powers, but by being a good guy... The powers would have been nice though.
It's been about 20 years since I've been delving into the graphic art form and more than half of that time I spent working for a comic book store. It was by far the best job I ever had. This I feel like gives me some knowledge to both sides of comics. The seller and the reader, and by the way I am a reader, I do collect but I enjoy reading my comics over and over again far more than I do reading once and sealing them away forever. Now that being said I believe I have some valid opinions on the matter.
Like any comic fan any movie adaptation that ever comes out is a big deal. Even today when we can't get through a year without seeing at least 4 superhero movies and possibly 2 or 3 others that aren't superheros but are based off of comics, but growing up it was an even bigger deal. Movie studios just didn't do that. The best we really got was Christopher Reeves Superman and Michael Keaton Batman, which I believe still hold up today. As for Marvel the best we got were some campy Captain Americas, a never released Fantastic Four, and Dolph Lungren as the Punisher. Not really a lot to work with, but as comic fans we ate that shit up and as those movies came out they didn't affect the books we were reading month to month. Sure Batman's costume was completely black for awhile like in the movie but not a big change. Our books continued on unhampered by Hollywood success and leaving us dreaming of possible what if scenarios for the comic book movies of our dreams.
Now fast forward to Robert Downy Jr in the first Iron Man. Holy shit! What a good movie. A million comic fans the world over exploded with joy at this movie. It had most of what we ever dreamed a comic movie should have. Don't get me wrong the first X-men was great and gave us quite a lot as did Spider-man, but Iron man hinted at the start of a new universe. It didn't end there it delivered, so now we're several movies in have two Avengers movies out and Captain America and Iron Man are punching each others faces in on screen, and they're the same actors that starred in everyone of the films. Could it not get any better?
(Just a side not this post is very Marvel centric. Yes DC is doing big movies too but really Marvel is and has been doing it right for awhile. Just sayin.)
If we're talking movies I have to think that absolutely it's going to keep getting better. When it comes to our comics though I'm not so sure. Ever since X-men was first released on the big screen and we saw our favorite mutants in black leather the comics began to reflect that. Don't get me wrong Grant Morrison's run of the leather clad X-men was awesome. I still re-read it to this day but I have to wonder. Did that have to happen?
Now I understand that in order to market your movie that's based off of a property it makes sense to have that property be similar enough that people will want to buy both. Thus the movie makes money and the property makes money. It makes sense I get it. People see the movie want more so they go to comic store and buy the comic. The comic now, because of the movie, looks like the film. New readers come into get more of what they experienced in the movie and because the characters are dressed in the same biker look, the consumer feels good about their purchase and doesn't feel too lost in the storyline that took hundreds of back issues to develop, and old readers get a fresh new story and look at some of their favorite characters.
Some would consider this a win win. This after all was a costume change. The X-men did't go through any event that changed their history or how charcters interacted with each other or themselves. At least not at first...

I have discovered that this particular line of thought is going to need much more than one blog post. I don't want to give you a novel to read on the internet, so this ends part one of "Did comicbook movies ruin comics?" Stay tuned for part two it's going to get deep.
Also if you enjoy this blog give it a follow or follow me on twitter @thebeardedjon. Check my two novels too. If you're in the mood for a supernatural western check out The Wendigo and the Werewolf, or if you want some epic fantasy with DnD undertones check out Child of the Moons. Both can be found on amazon in paperback and kindle. Thanks every one part two coming soon.

Lets talk monsters.

These past few months it been becoming increasingly difficult to think of content to share with you in this blog. I mean I don't want to bore you with the mundane everyday routine of life. I'm sure some of you are into that, but I'm a writer dammit. I should be able to come up with better content than that.
This will not be a blog about going to Wal-mart.
Never.
Now I'm sure at this point you're thinking that as a writer you are in for the strange and unusual with weekly takes of terror or excitement... Maybe one day but not today. My subject that I want to rant about for a few minutes of your time can be exciting and terrifying. If you let it. I want to to talk to you about monsters.
Now something I've come to realize is that how people perceive ideas changes with time. Take for instance monsters. Depending on when you were born and how old you are, monster could mean something very different to you then it does to someone else. My 8 year old for instance thinks monsters are zombies. Thats what she fears is in her closet. People from an earlier generation may believe something else. For instance those who watched the serial killers trials on tv may think of them when they here the word monster. In other cases folks who have been in abusive relationships may percieve the oppslisite sex as monsters. It's an interesting thing to think about.
Go on, think about it. What do you think of when you here the word monster?
... Are you finished?
Good.
Now after a very long and winded intro I want to tell you what I think. Most of you may agree but if not, it really doesn't matter. The easiest example to help you understand what I think of is that of the universal monsters. You know Dracula, Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc. These to me are monsters. Beings that live through their own mythology and haunted you with their mystery. They are beasts who, through time have gone through so many transfromations throughout every culture that even when you start to scratch the surface of their history, you start to wonder if such things did exist in way or another. One of the many interests I have is researching mythical creatures. I have quite a few books on them and I love to incorporate them into my stories as many of you can attest. My reasoning is to bring these monsters back to their roots. Shine the light back on them and re-hash their glory days.
In a time where our scary movies consists mainly of ghosts and cannibals, the vampires and werewolves of our culture have been moved more into the fantsy realm than the realm of horror. No longer do people see a full moon and feel the hair on the backs of their neck stand up when they hear a dog howling, and for just one moment think that there could be werewolf in their neighborhood. Vampires as well have gone from terrifying predators of the night to love sick teenagers who couldn't even scare school children anymore. In this age of information and internet why have we become so skeptical to dismiss swamp monsters or disregard fantastic sciences that bordered on the edge of magic.
It could be that there is no mystery left.
With everything being filmed and photgraphed, nothing is left to the imagination anymore.
Sigh.
As small as my books are, like pebbles in the ocean of entertainment and cynical information. I hope to change that. I want to bring back the fantasical monsters of our past. Not to make them real but bring them back in a fictional sense. I want kids to be running the streets as the Invisible man or Mr.Hyde, not as Spongebob. Kids should pick up bolts from their parents tool boxes put them to their necks and claim to be the creation of Frankenstein. I want my monsters to be scary again.
It may just be a pipe dream and most it sounds like a rant fueled with nerd rage and an ageing man who doesn't like the changing of times, but maybe just maybe I've reached someone. Either through this post or through the reading of my books, maybe I've re-ignited their imagination for monsters. Make them believe that monsters can be fictional and scary again.
I can hope right.

Write damn you!

Good morning strangers! At least it's morning here in the lovely land of enchantment. Perhaps if it is morning where or when you're reading this. Even if your mornings are 5 in the evening because thats when you wake up.  If not, it doesn't matter. Good afternoon, evening, or night whatever your current status of day it is.
I write to you today hoping that this post will be a call to action. Something to stir your creative pots as it were. Sure the post is telling you to write with an exclamtion point, but i want you to replace the word write with whatever it is you do. If you happen to write then lucky you.
I recently went through an illness. Nothing harrowing mind you but only a simple cold. It was enough though that I had to miss some work and my lovely wife took care of me. On this paricular week I found it very difficult to get my thoughts on paper. When one is suffering through sinus headaches, dripping nasal passages, a sore throat, and being doped up on several medicines and herbs. It can be hard to sit up and deliver a chapter of a fantastic story. I'm sure many of you can relate to the diffuculties of being knocked off of your creative feet by a bad cough. 
Now I'm sure some of you are like I struggle through because if I dont do my thing I don't get paid. Fortunately for me though writing isn't my full time job, at least not yet. At the moment it's only my second, so I can afford the luxury of a few days off.
Now though I'm back on the wagon as it were. It was easy to get distracted by everything else while lying in bed and consuming endless media. Even more so now that I'm better, becaue now I'm hooked into the stream of consumption not creation. Oh I want to write but maybe after one more quest or one more episode of the flash, but one more turns into five and now it's past midnight and I'm falling asleep.
If you find yourself in a similar slump then I have the solution. Are you ready for it? It's to write! Or whatever your form of art or passion might be. Get back to your project! Put down that remote or controller and do your thing. When I put pen back to paper and got fhe first sentence out it was like I couldn't stop, and then hours passed and I had another chapter and I felt great. I felt artisticly eased and the guilt was gone from avoiding writing.
Break out of your artistic lull and pick up that pen, that brush, or dust off that key board. Pick up that instrument or that power tool and get to work...or don't whatever I'm not your mother. I guarantee though once you do you'll feel so much better and be reconnected to the pulse of the things you're into and the people that take pleasure from what you do.
Now go home. Do your thing damnit!

Did indie comics save comics?

Welcome back fellow web travellers. It's been a while, but don't fret. I'm not here to bore you with broken promises of writing to you more or staying a bit current with my blog that was supposed to be weekly but now is whenever i feel like it. Currently I'm writing to you during my morning constitutional from the toilet at work.
Isn't that a pretty picture.
Today I'm going to talk to you about comics, and not Garfield or Charlie Brown or whatever it is they rin in newspapers these days. No I'm talking about comic books. Stories about larger than life characters and stories of the fantastic. Of course if you're a fellow web rider you already know of them and probably follow several yourself.
I've noticed throughout my long and arduous love affair with these picture books that they have had slumps in interest. Now many would argue that today they are going strong. What with the many movies coming out based off of our favorite heroes from these books. That I think is only partly true.
Yes the new Avengers movie or upcoming BatmanvSuperman movie will drive the average joe or jill back into their local comic shop and get them to capture a liece of their nostalgia from their youth or even sate the appetites of their own young ones who are now infatuated with these beings of enormous power, but these movies haven't always been around.
Sure growing up we had Nicholas Hammond as Spider-man or Dolph Lungren as the Punisher, but that clearly was not enough. To us fans of comics at the time we craved more from our funny books. It did help at the time that we had pioneers like Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and Epic comics or even Heavy Metal magazine to grow our comics up a little, give us somethimg more than just smiling heroes punching frowning villians, the same recycled stories over and over. It really makes one lose the dream of a man can fly.
Now there were pioneers of independant comics such as the Freak Brothers or American Splendor, but those could usually only be found in smoke shops and not readily available for most of us. These great works shpuld be credited though because without them I'm sure some creators would never think I can do this. I don't need approval of the large publishers.
What I'm talking about though at least for my generation, if I'm allowed to call it that, was the great walk out. The day when Todd Mcfarlane, Jim Lee, and Rob Lifield walked away from Marvel to start their own publisher, and create their own titles. Now if course it was huge news and they sold lots of books. Even if some of them weren't really the best or happened to be clones of other more popular titles. The point is they did it. They made their own properties and inspired a whole new generation of creators. Letting them now it was possible.
I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking of much earlier indy pioneers. Probably cursing me for my lack of knowledge and what have you. Believe me though they are just as important. I can only relate to you what I personally experienced.
After working in a comic shop for ten plus years and frequenting the same shop eve after I've quit. I noticed something. The independant rack that used to only be one small four foot by four foot shelf is now more then half the size of the big publishers shelf. Another thing i noticed while working there is people who were once big followers of the big two stayed with comics because they were reading crwator owned titles and returned to the big two after their books got better. I've seen people drop popular books they used to love to get lesser known titles that are self published because they enjoy them so much better.
Did indy comics save comics? Maybe but i think more importantly it showed people who thought they would never have their voices heard realize that it could be done. 
Thats all I'm off my soap box. I hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts.

Here it is everyone. My next book! I wish i could say it was just in time for the holidays but I've been a bit behind on my blogging lately. If you like to read books on kindle you can get it there or you can find it on amazon.com. Search for Child of the Moons by Jonathan Davis. If you're really daring you can find it here.

https://www.createspace.com/5797207. 

The cover was done by my closest freind Eric Swanson. He does amazing art. I will try to get a link up to his stuff. Check it out it's really great. Thanks again everyone for the support. You all are the best.

First signing event thing.

I want you all to know I wrote this blog already. It's true I really did, but you see I wrote it on my app and it happens to crash everytime i try to upload. So here we are writing it on the internet, which is acceptable. It has been awhile and I apologize for that, but writing books and having a full time job and a family can make hard to keep up with a blog. I will try to post more though. Even if it's not writing news.
Anyway my first signing event thing. WOOT! Well it wasn't mine specifically but a local bookstore putting on a local book fair that I was at. Kinda the same thing. It was a lot fun though and I sold all the copies of The Wendigo and the Werewolf that I brought. Met some very nice people too. It was only a couple hours long which is understandable. We all only had so many books and we all have more to write to share with you wonderdul people. I did have a bit of an apithany while I was there.
This may not be news to some bit I realized that my biggest fans were those close to me. The ones who pushed me to go further, the ones who buy copies of everything you do and share with people they know, and support you in all you do. I told them that at tue book fair and almost started crying. I realized that those arw the people you want around you. Not these negative people who don't think you will succeed and put you down at every corner. The kind of people who won't even acknowledge what your trying to and consider it a waste of time. If you find yourself struggling with your craft ir your dream. Examine the people close to you and how they feel about what you're tryi g ro accomplish. If their attitude is negetive it might be time to set them loose. They could be sabotaging what you're trying to do. Not directly of course but just their bad attitude could be contaminating your brain to guide you to fail. Take from me I've been there before. Time and again I would try to do something more to escape the mundane of the 9 to 5 drull and it wasn't till I found the right people that I began to flourish and felt proud of what I have done so far.
Just a little insight that I hope helps. Here are some pictures from the fair. I would like to thank my cousin, aunt, and in-laws for the pictures.
Till next time late...