The Blundering Writer

shittywebcomics:

So let me understand this.

For a bunch of children who don’t know any better (and thus wouldn’t care either way) it’s okay to jerk off established fans of something by changing it all around.

As opposed to just inventing new characters that these children would like anyway - if the character was good.

But this isn’t just a race or gender switching argument. This is the whole changing argument in general. Yes, all characters will evolve and change with the times and various writers and artists. It’s inevitable. Usually someone who actually cares about the character will try their best to synthesize what worked before with what’s appropriate now. They will will modernize the character while still trying to make sure he or she is recognizably who she always was.

A hack will toss out whatever they feel like, believing it’s the name and recognition that draws people in which is how you get shit like the Howard the Duck movie.

The latest trend is legacy characters. Each name is just a “legacy” and brand new people can just slap on the identity like a suit. “Hey, it’s a brand new character except he/she’s using the same name and characteristics of a previous guy who worked to make that identity popular.” Again. If that’s the case, just make a whole new character. That way you don’t get the mess where Green Lantern is going to now be “wrong” regardless of who you use.

The excuse that younger people don’t know hackwork because they’re young and don’t know the history isn’t a very good excuse and that’s why there’s people insisting that Fall Out Boys have a great riff and Bob Cratchit was a green frog.

We can’t stop people from believing that but we shouldn’t have to give a shit either.