So far a considerable amount of time has spend on topics that tend to dominate super hero comics yet there are some topics that need to be discussed that are just as essential to advancing the film media and genre alone. Characters from comics do not always follow the tights or leotard influenced super hero genre. If this is true, where should I start to discuss the other types of comics? Relying on Matt Flagerholm’s description of “the 10 best non-superhero adaptations of comics”, I list many of these movies unless I actually cover them in my survey: “A History of Violence”, “Akira”, “American Splendor”, “Comic Books”, “Ghost World”, “Oldboy”, “Persepolis”, “Road to Perdition”, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”, “Sin City”, and “The Mask.”
The number of Oscar nominated films that initially derived from comics is now staggering. If not directly influenced by super heroes, these characters were all still a product of the comics medium.
I have chosen four film examples that use costumes to help tell their stories. A few really well known examples like the “the Flintstones”, “George of the Jungle”, and “Rocky and Bullwinkle” were ignored so I could transition back into the overall topic at hand. Unfortunately some of the creative luminaries of this costumed character genre like actress Halle Berry (“the Flintstones”) and writer and illustrator Frank Miller (“Sin City” and “300”) who may have been panned in other parts of this series did their best work in the movies I will not address.
This topic the non-tights or costume wearing characters deserves some review because all impact outward views of the entire film medium.
Non-Tights Super Heroics:
Popeye
Defiantly underclass, the “distressed” (a termed meaning weathered in a costume design sense) the Popeye cast resembled the underclass of an earlier era. Clothes-wise the Popeye’s cast appeared in an early 1900’s board walk or dock worker chic that did not contradict the comic book premise of the comical characters.
If there is a short list of comic book theatrical spectacles in an old time Hollywood sense 1990’s Dick Tracy was one of them. Created by Chester Gould and distributed by Tribune Media Services the film adaptation of of Dick Tracy was a rare spectacle. Costumed by Milena Canonero and directed and partially written by Beatty, the movie starred then still contemporary matinee idols like Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Ned Beatty, James Caan and Dustin Hoffman and let’s not forget the appearance of recording star in-the-making Madonna. A girlfriend of Beatty’s at the time, she had a big screen big Hollywood debut like few others. Dick Tracy not only repeated so many styles of a by-gone Hollywood era but also updated them with style and color in ways that would have been difficult in earlier cinematic eras. A film noir costume, hair and makeup movie like few others, Dick Tracy clarified that comic book movies would remain big business in Hollywood for a long time to come.
Drawn in bold sepia colors, Dick Tracy’s cast was as much homage to the spy and detective genre as it was to the bold graphic comic book medium. As if it carried a torch for pop sensibilities long before fine artists like Roy Lichtenstein, all of the characters resembled gangsters, supported a counter gangster aesthetic, or broadly were send ups of regular women or femme fatale character tropes.
Moody dramatic with an easy commitment to future “A” list acting talent, Director Sam Raimi demonstrated that Comic book movies need strong thespian effort to sale these tales. A thoroughly epic pulp novel/comic narrative costume designed by Grania Preston, Darkman was an unusual genre splitting contemporary horror/super drama that had few weaknesses. This action film would be one of a few that would eventually prepare Sam Raimi to manage and lead the production of the later Spiderman movie franchise. A monster sound track, subtle special effects and comic book visuals, Raimi even provided a showcase for soon-to-be notables like actor Liam Neeson and actress Francis Frances McDormand.
One of the few originators of this sentiment, comic action needed skilled actors to sell these narratives. The comic book movie’s own history of camp and non- responsiveness to successful story lines made it a necessity to have strong actors move the narrative.
Darkman wore a costume to hide his scars that were result of the accident that what made him both mad and unique. Other than this he sported a kind of homeless attire that helped define him as marginal and chronicled his descent far below his previous social status.
Moody, dark, and transgressive (by means of cultural association), if there was ever a new wave/punk presentation of the super hero it was 1994’s "the Crow". In fact some might say it was barely more than a music video yet the super hero origin story content was undeniable. Thanks to Arianne Phillips the clothes, sound track and linear narrative, the crow starring Brandon Lee could barely divorce itself from the east village atmosphere of its sets. The comic origins were hard to ignore given that comic series and strip originator James O’Barr was part of the writing team. Without digging too deeply into the urban legend of the Bruce Lee family curse, one can tell why this non-blockbuster film has stood the test of time. Clearly by hiring musician Nick Cave for the sequel, the team who wants to revive this narrative plans to make sure all of the original ingredients stay fully intact.
Looking not very different from a punk band front man, the Crow’s costume was rock attire, (minimal tight shirts and leather pants) and a clown makeup painted face. This costume helped the character to seamlessly appear at home with the musical score (which would occasionally swell to operatic decibels). The rock music costumes also supported the action of the drama and the cruddy interiors and exteriors of the seedy city the character haunted. The film was one of the more successful efforts at this kind of cult drama.
The success of all of these comic book movies (super hero or not) clarified that filmmakers and audiences needed to travel into the worlds of these comic book creations rather than having these properties watered down for unfamiliar audiences. In fact audiences would soon demand that these worlds be rich and stimulating. Comic book content that was poorly or badly presented was more likely to fail miserably for being shallow rather than float by means of film-making or story telling convention.
Information pertaining to non-super hero films found at:
Popeye, Olive Oil, Wimpy, Bluto, and Sweet Pea character likeness’ TM and copyright 2010 of Fleischer Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Popeye, Olive Oil, Wimpy, Bluto, and Sweet Pea character likeness’ character likeness TM and copyright 2010 of Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.
Image of Dick Tracy from:
Dick Tracy character likeness TM and copyright 2010 of Chester Gould. All rights reserved.
Dick Tracy character likeness TM and copyright 2010 of Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.
Image of Darkman from:
Darkman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 Universal Pictures. All rights reserved.
Image of the Crow from:
Crow character likeness TM and copyright 2010 Miramax Films. All rights reserved.
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