1 Consider the Development of Imagery in the Superhero Film. Are

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Consider the development of imagery in the superhero film. Are its expressive techniques more relevant to traditions of comics or cinema? Illustrate your answer with examples. From a level of camp that was attributed to early1 television and made-for-television film adaptations of superhero comics, to the realism and gritty German expressionist lens that coloured the likes of Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) and Batman (Tim Burton, 1989) respectively (Morton, 2016), the development of imagery in the superhero film has often

teetered between the expressive techniques of cinema, and those of comics. According to

Bukatman (2011: 118), today “the superhero film has displaced the superhero comic in the world of mass culture.” With this in mind, it is expedient to assess which medium’s expressive techniques the twenty-first century is more relevant to. Through the analysis of three films, this essay attempts to do exactly that. Before taking on this endeavour, however, it is important to establish what the yardstick of each medium’s expressive techniques is for this essay. Cinematic expressive techniques will be taken as the mise-en-scène2,

soundtrack/score, the use of the star/celebrity, and visual effects. While the expressive

techniques of comics will be taken as the use of panels, the elements within panels3, gutters,

page-turns, and colour. The following three films will be analysed: Watchmen (Zack Snyder,

2009), a film that is said to be “very faithful” (Crocker, 2009) to the original comic book, but

still appears “something less than the sum of its parts” (Bukatman, 2011:118); Thor:

Ragnarok (Taika Waititi, 2017), the third instalment of the ‘Thor’ series which is most lauded

for its evident “Jack Kirby influence” (Waititi, quoted in Blair, 2017); and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Ramsey, Rothman & Persichetti, 2018), which of the three chosen films is arguably the most relevant to the expressive techniques of comics, given its closeness to the medium as an animated film. Each will be analysed by taking an expressive technique of

1 Roughly from 1951-1968 2 “The contents of the frame and the way they are organised” (Gibbs, 2002: 5). This includes elements such as position of camera, setting, costume, props, lighting, and performance. 3 Caption boxes, speech & thought balloons, special effects. 1 cinema or comics that the respective film uses well, followed by a comparison of how the other two films make use, or do not make use of the chosen technique. This will lead to a conclusion that answers the question “are the expressive techniques of the modern superhero film more relevant to traditions of cinema, or traditions of comics?”

In his review of Watchmen, Crocker (2009) notes that “no comic book has a soundtrack as incredible as this,” and while the adjective “incredible” may be subjective depending on your music taste, what is true is that the soundtrack is an expressive technique unavailable to comics as it is a “strictly visual medium” (McCloud, 1993: 134). An important “scene” in

Watchmen that displays the apt use of soundtrack is the opening credits. The montage of images, action, and muted speech are scored with Bob Dylan’s “The Times Are A-Changin’,”

(1964). This song characterises and emphasises the passage of time displayed on screen as presidents are appointed and assassinated, as the Cold War transitions to the Vietnam War and back again, as old superheroes are replaced by new ones, and finally superheroes are outlawed altogether (see appendix A). The construction of various shots from disparate moments in time sequenced together to make one cohesive scene – that is montage – and ease the spectator into the Watchmen’s universe would not be the same without the music. Dix

(2008: 88) notes that “music provides continuity across a series of disparate shots and thereby serves to distract from the artifice of the editing process.” Therefore, without the music the scene may appear too obviously broken into separate shots, rather than a smooth transition through time, and the appearance of continuous movement. Interestingly enough, even though there’s no music present in comics, they can escape this effect because the mind of the reader is accustomed to working “as a sort of in-betweener – filling in the gaps between panels,” (McCloud, 1993: 88).Whereas, in films the music works so that the spectator does not even notice the gap. As a result, in this respect, the articulation of the imagery in

Watchmen becomes more relevant to that of the cinematic.

The same can be said for Thor: Ragnarok, whose soundtrack was remarked as “a much

needed breath of fresh air” (Heidkamp, 2017). One scene in particular that is popular for the

choice of music track, is the final battle (see appendix B) accompanied by Led Zeppelin’s

“Immigrant Song” (1970). The rock music lends to the violent action and intensifies the idea

of the film’s heroes as ass-kickers (for lack of a better word), something that is fair to assume

if only from the sassy slow motion walk Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) takes before she wields

her sword to slice off the head of an evil walking-dead soldier. Be that as it may, in

discussion of scenes such as this one within the superhero movie, Bukatman (2011: 120)

comments that: “the net effect is of some vaguely rubberoid action figures harmlessly

bouncing each other around the space...and the only emotion in the viewer is

pleasure...provided by the vertiginous kineticism of the sequence.” While this may be the

case in Thor: Ragnarok 4, this essay argues that it does not apply to Spider-Man: Into the

Spider-Verse (ISV).

Similar to the other two films, soundtrack is an important expressive technique used to help drive the narrative in ISV. Whether it is Miles (Shameik Moore) singing along to

“Sunflower” (Post Malone & Swae Lee, 2018) displaying the endearing innocence of a

thirteen year old, or “Scared of the Dark” (Lil Wayne, Ty Dolla $ign & XXXTENTACION,

2018) playing after the death of Peter Parker (Chris Pine) to convey Miles’ fear and a city in

mourning. But, a rather poignant use of music within the film is the personal soundtrack

attached to the Prowler (Mahershala Ali) every time he is on screen. And it is the fight/chase

scenes between him and Miles (see appendix C) that allows for a rebuttal to Bukatman’s

above statement. The audio cue to signal the Prowler’s presence is the result of “the sound of

elephants trumpeting” (Pulliam-Moore, 2018) composed by Daniel Pemberton. And yes, in

these scenes both characters are “bouncing each other around the space”, but with the aid of

4 At one point in this scene Thor (Chris Hemsworth) becomes a human tornado and literally spins through a huddle of skeleton soldiers. 3 the signature Prowler “siren” pleasure is not the only emotion, in fact, it may not even be on the spectrum of emotions that are experienced as one watches. What is experienced and heightened is a sense of danger, a “haunting” (Persichetti, quoted in Pulliam-Moore, 2018), betrayal (especially when the Prowler’s identity is revealed) and even “sadness, given how the character’s story plays out within the grander scheme of the film” (ibid.). Consequently, what is evident through the argument so far is the contribution soundtrack plays to the imagery of superhero films, and that its use in all three films makes their expressive techniques more relevant to the traditions of cinema.

It was mentioned in the introduction that out of the three chosen films, ISV is the most relevant to comics traditions in terms of its expressive techniques, and one of the ways this statement rings true is through the usage of panels in the movie. For example, when Miles is chased by the police with an unconscious Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) attached to him via spider-web, the kinetic energy of the scene is interrupted by a three-panel spread (see appendix D). With the use of these particular subject-to-subject panels, all movement becomes static and the audience is given time to look at each shot separately, and simultaneously figure out how each shot works together, all in the matter of a few seconds.

McCloud (1993: 71) mentions that subject-to-subject panels require a “degree of reader involvement necessary to render these transitions meaningful”, and this is what the addition of panels to ISV asks of the audience. Consequently, Dunn (2019) praises the film for

“trusting in the audience to read the action, and bring their own reaction to it.” ISV momentarily takes the audience out of the movie experience, where sometimes reactions may be given to them, and into the medium of the source material – the comic book – where they are required to do the work. This is just one of many examples where panels are implemented in ISV, and it should be noted that, the intention of the creators was for “someone to be able to freeze any frame of the movie and have it look so good, they'd want to frame it and hang it

4 on the wall,'' (Miller quoted in Solomon, 2018). The success of such an intention means that even when there are no actual panels on screen, “every single shot in the movie seem[s] like a comic book panel” (Kaye, 2018).

Thor: Ragnarok and Watchmen do not use this expressive technique of comics in the same way or to the extent that ISV does. Nevertheless, there is at least one scene in each film of which the imagery could be interpreted as panel-like. In Watchmen, when Rorschach (Jackie

Earle Haley) kills Big Figure (Danny Woodburn) in a prison toilet, every time the door swings back the position of the actors in the shot changes (see appendix E). Each new shot acts like a separate panel, making the closed door the gutter. Alternatively the swinging door could be interpreted as a page turn. In Thor: Ragnarok, after Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been captured by Valkyrie, the screen fades to black, then a shot of Thor nearing unconsciousness, fades to black again, followed by a shot of Valkyrie dragging her captive, and finally another fade to black (see appendix F). Once again, each shot can be seen as a panel with the fade-to-black acting as the gutter, or alternatively as page turns which would make each shot more of a splash page. However, the above may all seem like a pulling at straws, and in this case it is evident that ISV’s expressive techniques are more relevant to the traditions of comics than Thor: Ragnarok or Watchmen.

Bukatman (2011: 121) asserts that, “after Tobey Maguire pulls Spider-Man's mask over his face, the figure on screen literally ceases to be Tobey Maguire.” One of the things that stands out in this assertion is Bukatman’s referral to the actor Tobey Maguire instead of the character he plays, Peter Parker. Through this referral the significance of the star in a superhero film, and its employment as a cinematic expressive technique can be raised. When

Toby Maguire puts on the Spider-man mask his star persona disappears and he actually becomes the comic book character. However, as the character Thor, Chris Hemsworth does not wear a mask which means – using Bukatman’s logic – that he never ceases to be Chris

Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok. The same applies to all the actors in Watchmen, except Haley

(Rorschach) who is the only one whose character wears a mask that completely conceals his identity. In the comics Thor is only Thor, and Night Owl is Night Owl, or Daniel Dreiberg when he takes his mask off. These are fictional characters that the reader can replace with themselves. This is because according to McCloud (1993: 42), “when drawing the face and figure, nearly all comics artists apply at least some small measure of cartooning”, and “when you enter the world of the cartoon, you see yourself” (ibid. p36). However, this is not possible in the superhero film because the superhero is played by a real person with real features. Therefore, for example, in Watchmen, Night Owl is Night Owl, Daniel Dreiberg and

Patrick Wilson. While the real star may merge with the fictional character they play for the duration of the superhero film, the fact that the fictional character is not the real star and vice versa cannot be removed, and by the end of the film they become separate (and different) entities again. As a result, when assessed against this precedent the expressive techniques of

Thor: Ragnarok and Watchmen are more relevant to the traditions of cinema.

To contrast, by nature of it being animation, ISV is able to adhere to McCloud’s postulation that the “cartooning” of some comic book characters creates a level of identification for the reader. Even though there are stars attached to the film, it is only by voice, and the illustration of the characters bare little (if any at all) resemblance to the stars playing them. Instead, the characters are more faithful to the comics illustrations, and therefore the audience is able to see themselves in the action of the film the same way they would when reading the comic. This is an important factor when one of the main messages of the film is that anyone can be Spider-man. ISV becomes a comic book “come to life”

(Debruge, 2018), and as a result, its expressive techniques are more relevant to the traditions of comics.

As mentioned earlier, Thor: Ragnarok has been praised for having aesthetics that are similar to its comics source, and the most noticeable way the film does this is through its use of colour. Newman (2017) comments: “this has the crowded, colourful, double-page-spread look of classic Marvel.” This is exemplified in the bright primary colours of Sakaar, and the garish red that Hulk’s and the Grandmaster’s headquarters are painted (see appendix G).

Even the usual drab tones of gold, black and pastels of Asgard are lit to a new hue of vividness (see appendix H). Through the colour palette, Waititi takes the film back to a time when comics’ “costumed heroes were clad in bright, primary colours, and fought in bright primary worlds,” in order “to stand out from the competition” McCloud (1993: 188). This sense of technostalgia is noted by Jenkins (2017) who states that: “it feels as if Watiti has...taken this as an opportunity to make the type of happy-go-lucky, lightly psychedelic lark that he would’ve watched (and rewatched) as a teenager.” Thus, Thor: Ragnarok serves to remediate5 the past, recalling the humour and “cosmic weirdness” of Kirby’s soap-operatic Thor comics (Newman

2017). In this manner its expressive techniques become more relevant to the traditions of comics.

When it comes to colour in Watchmen, it lacks the vibrant lucidity of its comic book source. The entire film appears to be filtered through a dreary grey (see appendix I), which to its credit is an appropriate representation of the dismal world where superheroes have lost their purpose. After all, the backdrop for the narrative based in the present is the Cold War so it makes sense that the colour palette would also be cold. In this way, the expressive techniques are closer to the traditions of cinema. It would seem, so far in this essay that

Watchmen is the film whose imagery is least relevant to the traditions of comics despite how faithful it is to its source in terms of individual shots corresponding to individual panels in the comic. Nevertheless, it would be remiss to omit Snyder’s use of slow-motion and how this lends itself to expressive techniques relevant to traditions of comics. Take, for example, the

5 “The formal logic by which new media refashion prior media forms.” (Bolter & Grusin, 1999: 273). 7 opening fight scene (see appendix J), where the fast action is interspersed with slow-motion shots that bring the audience’s attention to the detail of the move and/or its impact. This literal slowing of the motion makes the movement almost static, halting the kinetic energy in a similar way to that of ISV, and becoming an almost stationary shot, which can be likened to a panel. Although, Dunn (2019) argues that Snyder’s “slo-mo action sequences confuse the leisure of the reading experience with melodrama”, the stance of this essay is more inclined towards Jenkins’ (2016) argument that “the horrific arcs of gore and suppurating wounds presented in microscopic detail...the physicality and dance-like qualities of hand-to-hand combat,” all serve to present “the maximal and the minimal existing in the same space at the same time.” This is arguably what Moore and Gibbons do in the graphic novel, where you have the “maximal” and “minimal” juxtaposition of the godly Dr. Manhattan and the unhinged Rorschach, along with the constant disruption of time via flashback.

Moving back to the topic of colour, ISV’s use of this expressive technique is very much relevant to the traditions of comics. Nugent (2018) affirms that the film is “a 3D world given a 2D sheen, all primary colours and CMYK-printed6 bluntness.” Besides the fact that the creators confirmed the use of “CMYK offsetting” (O’Keefe, quoted in Chevat, 2018) to create the comic book aesthetics, a scene which exemplifies this is the one when Miles discovers his powers. As he experiences anxiety at the thought of his peers also knowing, he becomes outlined in shades of purples, blues, and greens (see appendix K). The colour of everyone and thing around him becomes distorted through this filter, like underdeveloped camera film, or as Campbell (2018) describes it, being “on psychedelics.” This brings to mind McCloud’s (1993: 190-191) statement of how comics used colours to “express a dominant mood” or “colour as sensation”. Furthermore, this scene is replete with other comic book traditions such as caption boxes, onomatopoeia, panels within panels, motion

6 Four colour printing process: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (subtractive primary colours) and Black (occurs as the three subtractive primary colours filter out light), (McCloud, 1993: 187; CoriGraphics, 2020). 8 lines/effects, and speech/thought balloons. Eisner refers to the latter as a “desperation device” because its use is an attempt “to depict sound in a strictly visual medium” (McCloud, 1993:

134). But, because sound is available in ISV, the speech/thought balloon becomes a stylistic choice that exhibits the film’s relevance to comics traditions.

To conclude, based on the arguments presented in this essay, a simple answer to the question posited in the introduction is that the expressive techniques of Spider-Man: Into the

Spider-Verse are more relevant to the traditions of comics, while those of Thor: Ragnarok and Watchmen are more relevant to the traditions of cinema. If a tally was taken, that would mean that overall, the articulation of imagery in the modern superhero film is more relevant to the traditions of cinema. But, as always, there is nuance. Firstly, only three out of the plethora of superhero films available have been examined, and there is nothing to say that a contrary conclusion would not be reached if different films were chosen. Secondly, there were expressive techniques from both mediums that were not explored such as costume and its relation to colour, camerawork, line-work, or the concept of synaesthesia. Lastly, despite the varying techniques that define and differentiate the traditions of cinema and comics, there are similarities that may make a straight answer difficult to come by. That is to say, comics are like films when it comes to certain vocabulary. We describe the way images are composed within a panel as shots. When perspective changes we say the camera has moved.

In comics there are close-ups, long-shots, canted-angles, and even establishing shots. This is the language of film. Nevertheless, despite all that has been said, the original answer remains.

As long as there is sound and continuity of motion or as Bukatman puts it “kineticism”, superhero films will always be more relevant to traditions of cinema than to traditions of comics. The techniques of comics can be adopted, but ultimately the superhero film will always be a piece of cinema. And this is perfectly alright because the existence of the superhero film does not negate the existence of the comics.

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Appendices Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Appendix F

Appendix G

Appendix H

Appendix I

Appendix J

Appendix K