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seriousficI'm going to spaz at you for a little, don't worry, just wait for the cut.
The Fourth World is one of those comic "mini-verses" I really love. Gotham City is fun and all, but it's not like "dark and dreary" makes it unique in canon. Whereas with New Genesis and Apokolips, there's a sense of… innocence. It's not completely "lol superheroes" like Marvel Adventures, there's an edge there, but there's also a lot of whimsy. It's like Doctor Who, or Star Wars. Even when the stakes are high, there's always someone who looks like Han Solo saying "relax, kid, it's only a comic book" (obscure!).
It's exactly that quality that makes me doubt there should even be another New Gods comic book. The magic realism of it is very hard to do, and very easy to spot when it's done wrong. As tempting as it is to finally follow through on Kirby's promise of a final confrontation between Orion and Darkseid, there are only two ways to take the characters: Trying to replicate the inventiveness of Kirby's work, with its rapid-fire parade of ideas, which always tend to suffer in comparison (Club Dark Side, anyone?) or simply going back over Kirby's creations, which is a little disheartening (remember the sumo wrestler Kirby created? Let's bring him back!). I'd actually prefer if the New Gods stayed locked in a not-so-cold war, since it's a status quo that makes for so many great stories just using Darkseid as a Superman baddie and the cats from New Genesis as ensemble members.
But that got me thinking. If anyone were to ever do a New Gods movie, it would be one of two ways… as the villains in a Superman/Justice League movie or as a movie in their own right. But how would you ever pull off a space opera like that? It doesn't exactly follow the "down-rent realism/black leather costume" ethos of most superhero movies. If you tried to do a Christopher Nolan take on the Fourth World, it would bomb like Enola Gay. Fans would be displeased that none of Kirby's crazy inventiveness made it to the screen, while general audiences would be pissed that they're expected to take a place called "Apokolips" seriously.
So who could make Kirby work on the big screen? Then it came to me. Terry Gilliam.
The themes of his work and Jack Kirby's material just dovetail like white wine with fish. Think about it. A high-tech dystopia rife with medieval barbarism.
An unlikely hero motivated by his devotion to a beautiful woman.
A beautiful woman who is especially badass and heroic compared to her milquetoast male (I'm sorry, it's writing about Jack Kirby, it does this to me.)
The triumph of imagination over despotism.
DWARVES.
Now I think The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is really about an aged Scott Free and Oberon. And if you put Tom Waits in a dress, he'd make a disturbingly good Granny Goodness…
So, basically, just think Time Bandits or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in the Fourth World. If I were writing it, Act 1 would take place on the claustrophobic hell of Apokolips. After a brief narration... you know, "there came a day when the old gods died…" we pick up with Scott Free, cog in the machine, slowly awakening to his status. He doesn't fit into Apokolips, either because of the mysterious circumstances of his birth or the insistent prodding of Metron and Himon. Finally, he breaks his routine and makes a daring escape, sarcastically kissing Barda goodbye before getting away with the help of his pilfered Mother Box. Like the fly in Brazil, this little act screws the system all to hell. Barda is blamed for the escape. Disgraced, she sets off in pursuit of Scott.
Act 2 would be where the real fun begins, with a three-way pursuit that sees Scott searching for his origin (why he's a freak, by Apokolips standards), Barda searching for Scott to regain her honor, and the forces of Apokolips out to bring Barda in. There'd be all kinds of setpieces, like the trap-planet of Devilance the Pursuer, Desaad's evil theme park of Happyland, and a mind-bendy sequence where a brain-washed Scott has to escape his own dreamscape. Scott and Barda would meet up with the various New Gods, like Orion, Lightray, and the Forever People, and through their various captures and escapes, develop real feelings for each other. Scott finally uncovers the reason for the truce… he was crown prince of New Genesis, traded to Apokolips to end the war. Think Time Bandits or Baron Munchausen.
Act 3 would see Scott stop running, reclaiming his birthright and facing down Apokolips. The friends he's made help him fight it out, finally triumphing over Darkseid… this time. You could have them defending New Genesis from attack, fighting on Earth to stop Darkseid from finding the Anti-Life Equation, or invading Darkseid to rescue a captured cast member. After an exuberant celebration, Scott and Barda retire to Earth to live happily ever after as a normal suburban couple. They make it about five seconds before something blows up.
You've got romance, high adventure, drama, horror. And just look at Gilliam's collaborators and tell me you wouldn't like to see any of these guys as Darkseid's generals or random New Gods. Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Plummer, Christopher Meloni, Peter Stormare. Go through the contact list in Gilliam's cell phone and you'd be half-done! With just a modest budget and a couple years, you'd probably have an awesome movie that would also be staggeringly faithful to the source material, and make about five bucks at the box office so I wouldn't have to like something mainstream. Yeah, corporate America, take that!
The Fourth World is one of those comic "mini-verses" I really love. Gotham City is fun and all, but it's not like "dark and dreary" makes it unique in canon. Whereas with New Genesis and Apokolips, there's a sense of… innocence. It's not completely "lol superheroes" like Marvel Adventures, there's an edge there, but there's also a lot of whimsy. It's like Doctor Who, or Star Wars. Even when the stakes are high, there's always someone who looks like Han Solo saying "relax, kid, it's only a comic book" (obscure!).
It's exactly that quality that makes me doubt there should even be another New Gods comic book. The magic realism of it is very hard to do, and very easy to spot when it's done wrong. As tempting as it is to finally follow through on Kirby's promise of a final confrontation between Orion and Darkseid, there are only two ways to take the characters: Trying to replicate the inventiveness of Kirby's work, with its rapid-fire parade of ideas, which always tend to suffer in comparison (Club Dark Side, anyone?) or simply going back over Kirby's creations, which is a little disheartening (remember the sumo wrestler Kirby created? Let's bring him back!). I'd actually prefer if the New Gods stayed locked in a not-so-cold war, since it's a status quo that makes for so many great stories just using Darkseid as a Superman baddie and the cats from New Genesis as ensemble members.
But that got me thinking. If anyone were to ever do a New Gods movie, it would be one of two ways… as the villains in a Superman/Justice League movie or as a movie in their own right. But how would you ever pull off a space opera like that? It doesn't exactly follow the "down-rent realism/black leather costume" ethos of most superhero movies. If you tried to do a Christopher Nolan take on the Fourth World, it would bomb like Enola Gay. Fans would be displeased that none of Kirby's crazy inventiveness made it to the screen, while general audiences would be pissed that they're expected to take a place called "Apokolips" seriously.
So who could make Kirby work on the big screen? Then it came to me. Terry Gilliam.
The themes of his work and Jack Kirby's material just dovetail like white wine with fish. Think about it. A high-tech dystopia rife with medieval barbarism.
An unlikely hero motivated by his devotion to a beautiful woman.
A beautiful woman who is especially badass and heroic compared to her milquetoast male (I'm sorry, it's writing about Jack Kirby, it does this to me.)
The triumph of imagination over despotism.
DWARVES.
Now I think The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is really about an aged Scott Free and Oberon. And if you put Tom Waits in a dress, he'd make a disturbingly good Granny Goodness…
So, basically, just think Time Bandits or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in the Fourth World. If I were writing it, Act 1 would take place on the claustrophobic hell of Apokolips. After a brief narration... you know, "there came a day when the old gods died…" we pick up with Scott Free, cog in the machine, slowly awakening to his status. He doesn't fit into Apokolips, either because of the mysterious circumstances of his birth or the insistent prodding of Metron and Himon. Finally, he breaks his routine and makes a daring escape, sarcastically kissing Barda goodbye before getting away with the help of his pilfered Mother Box. Like the fly in Brazil, this little act screws the system all to hell. Barda is blamed for the escape. Disgraced, she sets off in pursuit of Scott.
Act 2 would be where the real fun begins, with a three-way pursuit that sees Scott searching for his origin (why he's a freak, by Apokolips standards), Barda searching for Scott to regain her honor, and the forces of Apokolips out to bring Barda in. There'd be all kinds of setpieces, like the trap-planet of Devilance the Pursuer, Desaad's evil theme park of Happyland, and a mind-bendy sequence where a brain-washed Scott has to escape his own dreamscape. Scott and Barda would meet up with the various New Gods, like Orion, Lightray, and the Forever People, and through their various captures and escapes, develop real feelings for each other. Scott finally uncovers the reason for the truce… he was crown prince of New Genesis, traded to Apokolips to end the war. Think Time Bandits or Baron Munchausen.
Act 3 would see Scott stop running, reclaiming his birthright and facing down Apokolips. The friends he's made help him fight it out, finally triumphing over Darkseid… this time. You could have them defending New Genesis from attack, fighting on Earth to stop Darkseid from finding the Anti-Life Equation, or invading Darkseid to rescue a captured cast member. After an exuberant celebration, Scott and Barda retire to Earth to live happily ever after as a normal suburban couple. They make it about five seconds before something blows up.
You've got romance, high adventure, drama, horror. And just look at Gilliam's collaborators and tell me you wouldn't like to see any of these guys as Darkseid's generals or random New Gods. Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Plummer, Christopher Meloni, Peter Stormare. Go through the contact list in Gilliam's cell phone and you'd be half-done! With just a modest budget and a couple years, you'd probably have an awesome movie that would also be staggeringly faithful to the source material, and make about five bucks at the box office so I wouldn't have to like something mainstream. Yeah, corporate America, take that!
