Exploiting 'rape' to sell comic books - Mark Millar
I actually don't know how significant or viable the comic book industry is as such in light of the emerging digital medium, what I do know is that there was a revamp after the 1990s when, yes if you believe that we should have boom and bust business cycles (I know...I know, we have been reassured by economic academic voodoo priests that this cannot happen ever again, hence the money printing madness of our current global economy and all that debt), Marvel comics was close to bankruptcy in the 90s and most likely was DC comics, along with other major publishers that actually went bust. Such is life of normal business cycles. Still, their business models were restructured and extended as was the life span of many of the bigger companies, with Marvel now branching into films, like DC, which at the same time has a slew of additional risks i.e million dollar plus outlays to million dollar losses. Time will tell if our phantom business cycle will return.
I don't like Mark Millar's comics, I thought Wanted was just awful, as was the movie, his trademark backlash style is a mix of writer-to-reader angst against the super ethos wrapped up in frustrated male titillation. The obsession of comic book to film adaption ala Millar's Kick Ass, as I predicted with this post Jim Carrey just blew up 'Mark Millar's' Kick Ass 2 , which promptly on the release of Kick Ass 2 it flopped at the box-office, could be the beginning of the end. Of course the timing of Kick Ass 2 was close to the horrible shooting at Sandy Hook, which caused Jim Carey to cash his paycheck and then have a change of heart towards violence in film. I suspect if a co-actor on Batman Dark Knight Rises criticized the picture after the Aura shooting, the same box-office fate would have occurred. The point is you can't be flippant with violence in movies or publications, the stages of violence from our society is reflected within a fictional expression, whether it is cinema or books. Both mediums are our dreams and nightmares projected back to us, more so with cinema. Which brings us to the topic of rape. Again Mark Millar seems to not only shoot himself in the foot, but blow his whole leg off, from New Republic refer:
The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some
villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know? I don’t really
think it matters. It’s the same as, like, a decapitation. It’s just a
horrible act to show that somebody’s a bad guy.
This is the same guy that wrote a pleading open letter to Jim Carey to understand that 'his' depiction of violence is all fiction, a fantasy. So therefor his (Millar's) insert of rape scenes into his comics are seen as a legitimate fantasy or titillating experience for the reader which subscribes to Millar's shock value and/or selling point.
It kinda leaves you speechless but not surprised at the triviality, from a lot of men, towards rape and rape victims.
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