This isn't spider-man, carrying his existential shell with him wherever he goes, nor are these the X-Men, battening down the hatches against a world that hates them--Reed, Sue, Johnny, and even Ben may not always be sure what the hell's going on with their bodies, but they are not trapped in their own heads. They're pure Jack Kirby characters--untroubled by epistemological concerns; confident that the world is actually there, ready to be acted upon. Ditko's characters, by contrast (and despite the artist's Randian credentials!), never demonstrate that kind of Johnsonian certainty. As a scholar, I'm much more interested in the Ditkoesque end of the Marvel spectrum, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate Kirby at his best (i.e. his work with Stan Lee) These characters are made of real flesh and blood (and rubber and fire and rock, it seems), and, unlike Spider-Man or Dr. Strange, what they say to each other is a lot more important than what they think. You can say a lotta things about the King, but writing snappy banter just wasn't in his line. Fortunately, Stan was up the task--and France and Frost did a nice job of this in the film.
Article comments
1 - Billy Shears
This movie is going to pull a Van Helsing--big opening weekend followed by a huge drop-off and lots of disappointment. And, like Van Helsing, there will be no sequel.
2 - David Fiore
perhaps--but the disappointment will say a great deal more about the audience than the film...