re: #320 Blind Frog Belly White

Batman is SUPPOSED TO BE dark. Not Superman, though. I mean, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” is so positive as to be corny. Batman Vs Superman was just UNRELENTINGLY dark.

I was talking to Hawaii Bro about the DC TV universe. He said the reason he likes Supergirl and doesn’t watch the others is that it retains its optimism, while the rest of the shows are too dark.

You make good comic movies when you stay true to the franchise.

This, this, one billion times.

Grant Morrison wrote a book called “Supergods,” a combination of autobiography and history of superheroes. One of the big takeaways I got from it was that you can do grim-and-gritty superheroes and make ‘em work — “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight Returns” are legitimately great comics — but superheroes work best as aspirational works, where the characters are optimistic, heroic, and inspire others, and you have to go back to that model eventually or the stories fall to pieces. Marvel’s films get that; DC’s films, so far, haven’t.