5. Creators With Little Or No Comic Book Backgrounds
There was a bit of a Twitter back and forth not long ago between Kevin Smith and Tim Burton. I wont go into detail but the final exchange was by far the most telling. Burton: I wouldnt be caught dead reading a comic book! Smith: Which totally explains Batman! Not being completely immersed in a medium is one thing, but having utter contempt for it should eliminate someone from being chosen to work on the project. Its kind of why they dont hire Hockey coaches to manage Baseball teams. The fact that the comic book industry cant get a movie by Kevin Smith done (despite the fact that theyve hired him to write their comics) further explains the lack of reasonable thinking involved in the business. I was amazed that Joss Whedon actually got to helm The Avengers, after he killed it with his run on Astonishing X-Men. I was convinced that his apparent skill and understanding for the super hero genre would eliminate him as a director, you know because Marvels M.O. is to see what makes sense and then do the opposite. The real problem isnt that there arent enough directors and writers with comic book interests or back grounds out there, its just that Marvel ignores them and listens to some guy who looks upon a comic book reader as a disgusting little ATM machine. Look up Kevin Smiths version of his time working on a Superman film and youll begin to see what I mean. The irony is that films are largely hit or miss, and typically one movie has to not only make its own money back, but cover the cost of other films made by the studio that tanked. Comic book movies havent been becoming more and more prevalent because of the quality of the stories, but because they can easily be franchised which is where studios make their money (Fast and Furious 7, I rest my case). The guys who get called in because of their Hollywood expertise have seen just as many movies crash and burn under their watch as movies where theyve nailed it. They get thrown into the mix because studios are cowards who are hedging their bets. Marvel has put itself in position to stop being Hollywood and just tell their story, Guardians of the Galaxy will let us all know if theyve learned anything.