You'll get better kung fu action from a Bruce Lee movie.

If people want to enjoy a comic about kung fu, what good would a Bruce Lee movie do them?

You have your answer already.

I might elaborate if you change your signature.

You mean your non-answer?

Yes, that was a very nice the way you failed to answer the question. I couldn't have repeated a statement that avoids the actual question any better. You have my congratulations.

We've been down this road, Dumas, you and I, so let's cut to the chase: The idea that people might appreciate the comic form for something beyond a very limited palette of stories, for no other reason than because they appreciate the comic form and like to see it used, is alien and confounding to you.

FACT: Saying something akin to, 'Film noir is better than noir comics, therefore why bother with noir comis' just might be one of the most idiotic statements you've ever made.

So with that out of the way ...
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After Mike Baron started writing Archer and Armstrong, one of the things that became immediately obvious as Baron basically turned Archer into a watered down version of his Badger character was that Archer's moves were extremely realistic and based on real martial arts stuff.

Archer's fights were drawn well, but it isn't particularly exciting to see realistic kung fu in a comic book. Fights that would have been cool in a movie or TV show were underwhelming because they lacked dramatic tension and it takes a lot of panels to convey stuff that would take less than thirty seconds in live action.

At that point, it becomes an academic exercise that's more about admiring the artwork than being caught up in the story and things like noticing that Baron had Archer using certain moves a lot.

And Archer's remarkable fighting skills pale in comparison to the stuff his superstrong, invulnerable partner could do in combat. A disarm technique being drawn correctly isn't as "widescreen" as seeing a superstrong guy beat up a mummy with magical powers or singlehandedly destroy the wall around a castle... so Archer's fights weren't often much more than a mild form of comedy relief.

I get more satisfying juxtapositions of kung fu and weird humor from Jackie Chan movies. So, I would argue that kung fu comics are inferior to kung fu movies because the printed page can't convey what's cool about martial arts fights to the same degree as live action.

Decompression, lack of motion and emotional distance are just a few of the problems with kung fu comics. They really only work if the plot or dialogue is interesting enough to make people ignore the limitations.

That's probably why Iron Fist comics had so many narrative captions. Without the insights into how Iron Fist thought, the action wouldn't be anything particularly special or noteworthy.

That's all you get until you change the sig.

If people want to enjoy a comic about kung fu, what good would a kung fu movie; do them?

See how that works?

Quote:

That's all you get until you change the sig.

Done.

I'm not answering any questions from you until you stop quoting me out of context in your sig line.

I'd like to advance the maturity level of this thread by saying:

Shoegaze99 is a poop head.

Dumas, I think the point Shoegaze is trying to make is that some people want to see kung-fu action on the comics page. For them it seems to work better than it does for you. If they really want that kind of thing in comics form, then telling them to watch a movie may not be what they want.

Personally I think your critique of why kung-fu action doesn't work as well in comics as in movies is quite valid. But others might not see it that way. The same probably explains why some like slice-of-life comics, which you feel work better as movies.

Certainly it’s valid, and on that specific tangent not something I disagree with, but it also misses the point: Some people like the medium of comics and would like to see stories about things they enjoy in that medium. Why that is so difficult for him to understand, I do not know. The idea that some other form of entertainment may deliver a “better” experience for genre X is irrelevant.

A movie might be able to capture the kinetic action of kung fun better than a comic page … but so what? If someone wants to read a comic about kung fun, a movie does them very little good. They want a comic, not a movie.

Because believe it or not, some people just plain like comics, regardless of subject matter. Comics can tell the same kind of stories other forms of entertainment can; they simply do it differently.

Somehow appreciating this has become, in the minds of some, an “elitist” attitude to have.

Rubbish.

I like fantasy literature. I like to sink into the worlds created by the better fantasy authors, to experience all the nuances and history and such. Fantasy, in my opinion, comes off best in novel form, where authors can really let their worlds live and breath. Fantasy films are largely garbage (with some exceptions), and good fantasy comics are few and far between.

But sometimes I just want to read a fantasy comic; maybe I don’t feel like reading a novel just then; or I’m not inclined to watch a film; or maybe I simply want to read a comic. Doesn’t really matter. A fantasy novel delivers the rich scope of a fantasy world better … but so what? I like the medium of comics, and sometimes I want to see a genre I like in that medium, even if another does it “better.”

My wife is a fan of things Jane Austenish. She’s reread the books many times, and will again. But sometimes she wants to watch a filmed version. Sometimes she wants to listen to an audio adaptation. Sometimes she wants to read a comic dealing with similar subject matter. Because, wonder of wonders, sometimes she’s in the mood for a movie; or a book; or a comic! She’d (rightly) think that the idea of pushing one aside because the other does it “better” is sheer idiocy, because it is.

A noir comic offers a different experience than a noir film than a noir novel than a noir radio drama. Is one “better” than the other? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares? Maybe, just maybe, someone might be inclined to experience what a noir comic brings to the table one day, and what a noir film brings to the table the next. Because the experiences are different. And unique. And that person enjoys aspects of both.

Shocking, I know.

Liking what you like is cool. Not liking certain things is cool. But the whole “well this medium does subject X better than that medium, therefore what’s the point of doing subject X with that medium?” is nothing short of stupid.