Blackest Night is one of our new millennium’s finest examples of humanity’s excessive thirst for fear, violence and consumption, as well as a stellar document of our continuing distraction. Unlike the Twilight franchise, the I Am Legend blockbuster film and other terribly boring undead apocalypses, it’s a steadily riveting experience shot through with mind-numbing artistry. But like other culturally revealing horror and torture-porn exercises of our still-new 21st century, it’s serious sound and fury signifying a great big hole where our souls used to be.Regarding the (intentional?) Sound and the Fury reference, William Faulkner's novel is described by Wikipedia as an "examination of the corrosion of traditional morality, only to be replaced by a modern helplessness." Perhaps this WIRED magazine contributor is expressing a realization that our continual existential and escapist pursuits are ultimately nihilistic. This may also be an example of Ravi Zacharias' observation on our culture's hunger for entertainment and fantasizing on what is in reality banal: evil.
Let’s hope we can get them back before we all turn into the mindless undead in search of the next overkill.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Blast the Senses Until Nothing Tastes
Unexpectedly while reading WIRED magazine review of DC Comic's zombie epic, I came upon some interesting social commentary:
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3 comments:
Like many interesting comic writers today, Geoff Johns can be excessively wordy, but his work with Green Lantern -- and the rest of the DC Universe -- has shown itself to be increasingly inventive, exhaustive (in its historical-mythological scope), as well as entertaining. He's the driving reason why GL's experiencing a renaissance today and now places within the top 3 or 4 of DC's comics/financial icons, right up there with Batman & Supes (see the upcoming live-action movie and the critical/commercial success of the books).
Among the DC superheros I personally like Green Lantern and Flash which apparently are the two heroes of this arc. I did not know, but am not surprised that you read comics.
I don't really buy comics these days (I left behind that habit with sports-card collecting in the early '90s), but it is great to read what's legally out there on the internet, and that includes a lot of IGN previews of titles (like Blackest Night and the other Lantern-colored arcs that led up to it). The public library is okay, but sitting down for some graphic novels at Borders is an involving way to kill some time. Thinking of picking up some tangible Bleach manga to fill in the online gaps at Hulu, though. Maybe now that Marvel and DC have dived halfway into digital distribution, I might spend a few more bucks on comics that won't fill up shelf space at home (similar to the free and paid app balance on the iPhone and Android).
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