Who would’ve thought that one of the most fun Batman movies ever would be The Flash?
Don’t get me wrong, the latest big screen superhero extravaganza is veeeery hit-and-miss, but that only makes it the perfect capstone to decades of hit-and-miss DC film adaptations. In the sense that it builds on so much piled up baggage (playing with awareness of the characters’ previous stories and iterations as well as of industry anecdotes and multiple pop culture avenues), The Flash is also arguably the most comic-booky of the lot, at least in spirit, as Christina Hodson’s script cleverly fuses sci-fi slapstick, coming-of-age dramatic beats, and a hodgepodge of metafiction, albeit occasionally devolving into bare-faced, groan-worthy fan pandering.
A few words about the latter tendency. I enjoy deep cuts as much as the next geek, but it’s getting harder and harder to appreciate them without an overpowering sense that they’re just another cynical add-on in today’s chain of nostalgia-pushing franchisesand relentless IP extension. For instance, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a mega-blockbuster with a budget of $100 million featuring every version of Spider-Man I know from the comics and TV (often written and drawn as pastiches of specific creators) in a trippy, epilepsy-taunting fight over whether or not to preserve the canon. And between The Flash and Licorice Pizza (two pictures that otherwise have little in common), we are now living through a cultural moment where filmmakers take it for granted that enough of their viewers will be familiar with a bit Kevin Smith did in a DVD documentary over twenty years ago. As one of those viewers myself, I’m ungratefully disheartened by the avalanche of products that seem so desperately designed to push my buttons…
Sure, I can still get a kick out of it every once in a while. In comics, I’ve been having a great time with the return of Peter Milligan’s and Michael Allred’s X-Statix in The X-Cellent, which is wickedly witty and cool-looking (not least because of Laura Allred’s zesty colors) while being steeped in winks aimed straight at my level. (If you’re a DC fanboy/girl and in the mood for a less acidic take on the concept of a young celebrity super-team, you now have Mark Waid’s and Emanuela Lupacchino’s delightful reboot of Teen Titans, whose sharp character work somehow makes old dynamics feel fresh again!) And the reason The Flop House remains among my favorite podcasts is no doubt because it’s made by a bunch of guys from my generation who amusingly riff on my own formative references.
But when I pick up a book or go to the movies, I don’t always want to be rewarded for how much pop culture I’ve previously consumed. Sometimes I want to be challenged… which is why it’s worrying that the times seems so adverse to creativy, what with all the news about comic creators living hand to mouth and massive media conglomorates being so prone to underpay workers and replace them with algorithms that they’ve pushed both screenwriters and actors into protracted strikes.
That said, I didn’t exactlty go to The Flash to be challenged. I went to see DC’s cinematic spin on the multiverseand what I got was a mess full of missed opportunities, but also plenty of funny Batman jokes.
And speaking of the Dark Knight, here is your weekly reminder that comic books can be awesome:
Before returning to longer posts after the summer, each week I will spotlight specific little sequences that I think perfectly encapsule the magic of what comics can do, creating immersive moods and thrilling worlds with a handful of carefully crafted images and selected words.
Here is a snapshot of the post-apocalypse, in six panels and three captions:
