B'ings: Based on the Marvel Comics By... Part 2

            Hey, again, Tim Cubbin here, welcoming you back inside my mind for the next few minutes.

            Okay, this is another B’ing. What’s a B’ing you ask? I’ve done nine before, so go back and look at my other B’ings so you know what I’m talking about and I’d be very happy. I work hard on this blog, and don’t even get paid, I do this out of the goodness of my heart, so looking at my past works would be THE BEST thing you could do for me and you yourself are THE BEST! But, imagine, if you will, a word, a bad word, and my not wanting to use profanity on this blog, so I hope you get this now? Yeah? Good! No? Ah, well, keep reading anyway!

            Alright, you probably noticed this is “Based on the Marvel Comics by… Part 2.” Yeah, I did a part one, I’m honestly not messing with you, so you might want to go back and see the first “Based on the Marvel Comics by…” When I did that, I had no idea I’d be revisiting this topic, so this was unexpected, but there’s been more thoughts about it, and if I didn’t’ say “Part 2” and just edited the post, no one would notice I edited it and not read my edit, so “Part 2” was necessary.

            Okay, so I have been rewatching all the Marvel television shows lately. I’m currently rewatching “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and noticed something MAJORLY wrong. Last time, I focused my B’ing about crediting the movies to writers who didn’t write all the comics and the new writers not getting credited, putting credit where credit is due and not due. I watched the opening credits and noticed something VERY WRONG! “Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby” popped up. Now, why is this wrong? THERE WAS NO “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” COMIC SERIES BY STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY! Yes, Stan and Jack created S.H.I.E.L.D. in their comics, but never actually wrote a series focusing ONLY on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And let’s look at our cast of characters. Phil Coulson, star of the show. BUT! Stan and Jack neither created Coulson, nor ever worked on ANY comics with him in it. But what about other characters? Melinda May. Nope, not Stan and Jack. Grant Ward. Um, no. Daisy Johnson? No. Leopold Fitz. No, not Stan and Jack’s work. Jemma Simmons? No, they did not create her. So how can you say this show was based on characters who, until very recently did not have characters in the comics corresponding to the characters in the show, in storylines not based on anything Stan wrote, how is this “Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?” Credit where credit’s due? Not there. So how do I feel about this claim? FALSE!

            Now, that’s a main B’ing. I also have a secondary claim. Last time I talked about characters CREATED by certain writers. I can honestly say, upon reviewing credits of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, that there are examples where they do say a character is “Created by” a writer and artist. Yes, I saw “Captain America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby,” but still in the same credits, “Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” I hope you’ve read my first “Based on the Marvel Comics by…” post, or you’re totally not following my train of thought properly, so go and read it now, then come back here and we’ll… well, I was going to say “be on the same page,” but these are two pages, so I can’t say that, so how about… be in the same neighborhood. (Does anyone say that or did I just invent that? If I invented it, totally keep saying it in conversations, having my own colloquialism would be AWESOME!) Well, that might make my point seem all well and good, but here’s my B’ing. I watched “Thor: Ragnarok” and noticed it said “Thor created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” Now, you might not notice my point right away, so reread my last sentence. “Thor created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” Um, Thor was a subject of the pagan Norse mythology from, like, a few thousands of years ago? By the Norse people? They created him and told all kinds of stories about him, and Loki (who gets the credit “Loki created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby” in the “Loki” Disney + series)? A few thousand years ago? Was Stan Lee Norse? Living a few thousand years ago? He was ninety-six when he died a few years ago, so yeah, he and Jack did NOT CREATE Thor! I don’t know who created Thor, no one does, that’s why it’s mythology. So how can you say “Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby” when they weren’t around a few thousand years ago and start the Norse pagan mythology? YOU DARN WELL CAN’T! I know this might seem minor to you, but it’s MAJOR to me! Humor me, I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, many things people consider “little” is planet size to me. So what would be a good credit? Maybe “Thor adapted by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?” Okay, that doesn’t sound all that good? “Thor as inspired by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?” Hmm, still not all that good. There’s got to be a good way to word this, I just can’t come up with one on my own. If you’re reading this link from Twitter, totally feel free to let me know what you would feel would be good wordology. (That’s honestly a real word? I didn’t come up with it?) In fact, feel free to let me know anything you have to say about my blog in general. Send me something I could B’ing about if you want and if I can do it, I totally will, but if I can’t run with it myself, I’ll politely explain why I just can’t make it work. I’m always looking for feedback, by the way, if there’s anything you want to say, just type it in, that’d be totally awesome (I have yet to get any true feedback from people I don’t know, so if you’re the first, you are THE BEST)! I mean, yes, this is “From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin,” but you’ve got a mind too, I would love to hear from you! So comment, retweet, share with your friends, anything, I love having regular readers and new readers alike, keep the fires of my brain burning.

            Anyway, at this point, you’re probably bored. But when I can complain about something, BOY, I CAN COMPLAIN! I’d love to complain with you, by the way, which I practically said in different words, and man does that look weird? Well, since you’ve had enough, I guess I’ll have enough. So, till next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

B'ings: Based on the Marvel Comics by...

 

            Hey, there, welcome to another edition of B’ings! If you don’t know what a B’ing is, look for some of my other B’ings or, if you’re smart, drop four letters from B’ing. Do you have it? If not, I pity you.

            Okay, so regulars to my blog will know I love Marvel comics. I review a lot of Marvel comics events, graphic novels, and prose novels, so please, check some of them out. Or, if you know me personally, you’d know I love Marvel with a passion (and if you know me personally and are reading this blog, you are AWESOME)! And since I love Marvel, I see every Marvel movie as soon as I can. And herein lies a B’ing.

            If you watch a Marvel movie and scrutinize the credits (which no one, but me does this), you’d see that it gives credit to specific writers and artists. For example, if you watch “The Avengers” and looked at the credits, they show a flash that says “Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” Okay, now I go to the aforementioned herein lies B’ing.

            If you think about it, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Avengers. Note the keyword here: CREATED! By crediting ONLY Stan and Jack, you’re essentially saying it’s based on their work. BUT THEY WEREN’T THE ONLY WRITER AND ARTIST! They only collaborated for a specific amount of time on putting out the series! So it is interpreted (by me, of course, but possibly not by you, you have a right to your opinion) as a specific time period where only Stan and Jack did it. But there have been so many writers and artists of MANY Avengers stories over the past sixty-some-odd years, and the film is NOT only inclusive to Stan and Jack. So how can you say “Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?”

            Okay, I have a better example of why it’s wrong (again, in MY opinion). Look at the X-Men movies that say “Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” Stan only wrote less than twenty issues of the original X-Men comics series. The films star characters such as Storm, Wolverine, Mystique, Nightcrawler, Apocalypse, the list goes on and on. BUT STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY DIDN’T CREATE THESE CHARACTERS! In fact, let’s look at titles of the X-Men movies. “Days of Future Past,” “Apocalypse,” “Dark Phoenix.” NONE OF THESE STORIES WERE WRITTEN AND DRAWN BY STAN AND JACK! It’s like looking at works by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and Louise Simonson and Jackson Guise and saying the movies are not based on their works and were done by Stan and Jack. Claremont, Byrne, Simonson, and Guise deserve the credit; it’s THEIR works, NOT Lee and Kirby! But do they say “Based on the Marvel Comics by Chris Claremont and John Byrne” of “Based on the Marvel comics by Louise Simonson and Jackson Guise?” No! Instead you read “Based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby!” I don’t even think any of them get mentioned in the credits of stories THEY wrote or illustrated! Okay, if my point isn’t clear yet, make me make it clear; Say you wrote a short story. Now, it gets published in a magazine. You get the magazine, expecting to see your name. Instead, you’re name doesn’t appear in it! Your big break! NOT THERE! And all you see in the credits are just the editors and staff of the magazine, like they published the magazine and only THEY deserve ALL the credit! Now, imagine: does that feel good? I think in this point you’ll actually have to agree with my opinion on this one. If I saw someone else get credit for MY work, I would NOT be happy! I don’t think you would either.

            BUT! I DO concede there are some examples where I could be wrong, so let’s go back and prove I’m not correct in that assumption. Say you want to be anonymous and give a fake name or just don’t want the credit and accredit it to another name. My previous assessment is wrong in this example. BUT! If this is what you want as your big break, yeah, agree with the former example.

            But Chris and John, and Louise and Jackson did not want to be anonymous when they wrote and illustrated those comics, assuming, of course, these were their real names. But these works were originally credited TO THEM, and NOT Stan and Jack. So does this credit seem bad to them, the writers and illustrators of these specific storylines? I would think so.

And maybe some of my points don’t resonate with you, but these are my opinions, not yours as this is my blog and not yours. I’m just here to give you something to think about.

So, yeah, you’ve read all of this? You are AWESOME! Seriously, I mean it! I always appreciate when someone gives me the time of day to rant and rave! I think we all do. So if you liked this post, there are plenty more posts on this blog that you might enjoy. I write short stories, free-verse poems, reviews, editorials, and of course other B’ings, so please feel free to keep looking. If you do, you are AWESOME! Seriously, I mean it!

All I really have to say for now is, Tim Cubbin… out!