Derek Hiemforth Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 A hypothetical situation... Let's say your best friend has won (by random chance) the opportunity to compete in a lucrative RPG contest, with a $50,000 prize provided by a rich eccentric gamer. The contest involves a group of gamers playing in a mainstream superheroics adventure, and the prize will be awarded to the gamer who best captures the flavor, spirit, and tone of mainstream superheroics in his or her roleplaying. Trouble is, your friend knows nothing about superheroes! And there's only a few days before the contest, so he or she only has a very limited time to get up to speed. Given all this, what five "pieces" would you recommend to your friend that best capture the feel of the genre, or cover the most essential character(s), or so forth? (In this context, a "piece" is something like a single novel or novella, a relatively limited story arc within a few issues of a comic book (say, up to 12 issues), a single movie, a single episode (or, at most, a small stretch of episodes) of a TV series, and so on.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Mask Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Movies - Spiderman , Batman Begins, Tv- Justice League Unlimited, Comic Book- Justice Society. Book - Kingdom Come . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Hiemforth Posted January 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Movies - Spiderman ' date=' Batman Begins, Tv- Justice League Unlimited, Comic Book- Justice Society. Book - Kingdom Come .[/quote']Which episodes of Justice League Unlimited, and which issues of Justice Society? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Hmm...quick look through comic collection... Captain America #247-254. Stuff on the nature and role of being a hero, value of life even odd forms and villains. Captain America #290-301. Lots of stuff on heroism in various forms. Restraint, when not to fight, love&hope over hate and fear, stuff like that. Batman #455-457. Emergence of Tim Drake as Robin. Being smart, value of looking before you leap, being heroic isn't not being afraid - it's being afraid and acting anyways. Avengers #160's - good Ultron storyline, creation of Jocasta and again value of life premises, Nefaria power-up storyline. Spider-Man movie. Great power, great responsibility, the hero's burden. Plus a lot of action and wrecking things in all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials 1. New Teen Titans: Judas Contract 2. Kingdom Come 3. JLA/Avengers 4. Avengers Forever 5. Golden Age/Marvels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials No movies. All comics. Kingdom Come Dark Knight Returns Watchmen JLA New World Order... and something Silver Age, just to give a slightly more rounded view. Perhaps Tom Strong or Astro City? Oh - looking above, I agree with Marvels! So I think Dark Knight has to go. One of the top 5 comics ever written certainly, but I think the others give a better overall education into the genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Have him watch the old Batman TV show. Although kind of silly, it does capture the essential spirit and feel of super-heroes. If he plays his character like Adam West, but tones it down a little, he should do fine. The old Superman TV show is good for this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arac-4105 Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials the first Superman movie (for general inspiration) the first Nightwing graphic novel (for character focus) The Dark Phoenix Saga in X-men (it shows how _people_ matter in a cosmic-powers storyline) Watchmen (shows how good/bad can be a matter of perspective) Any Spiderman graphic novel (to show how screwed up a superhero's life can be) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Gandhi Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Superman: the Motion Picture Spider-Man Astro City: Life in the Big City TPB Heart of Ice, Batman: the Animated Series Invincible, first 12 Issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Kingdom Come Astro City: Confessions (my own favorite) JSA -- I forget the number, but the issues where they fought Ultra-Humanite when he had the genie and ruled the world The Spider-Man movie The first collection of the new JSA (I seem be fixated on the Justice Society...) That's about all I can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials My Top Five Essential Superheroes 1. Kingdom Come TPB 2. Astro City TPB Series 3. Batman: No Mans Land TPB Series 4. Starman IV (Will Payton) Spent as much time in Secret ID as Superhero ID 5. Checkmate! Series explored the Normals response to Normal crimes, terrorism, etc... in a Superhuman world. Cheers QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeropoint Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials The Incredibles Astro City Batman Begins The Essential Spiderman The fifth slot I'm not too sure about, but it would most likely be something from Batman: The Animated Series, the animated Justice League series, or possibly Big O, which, despite being a giant robot anime on the surface, has a lot of the classic superhero elements in it: a stylish, confident hero who uses powers far beyond those of normal men to protect people from powerful threats. A wide variety of villains, both one-shot and recurring. An arch-nemesis whose origin and powers mirror those of the hero. A secret base, complete with staff who are also a step above the common man and woman. Zeropoint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials This may seem like an odd choice, but I would start with Unbreakable. Can Superman I & II (Christopher Reeves) be considered one piece? Next Batman, the movie with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. If I've only got one left it would be Spiderman. If the two Superman movies counted as one, can the two Spiderman movies also be counted as one? And If I haven't run out yet, finish with X-Men I & II. Lots of good stuff left out, but that 16 hours of video I believe hits many of the tropes of the genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials I have to second Unbreakable. Kingdom Come is another good choice to capture the genre. Batman or Batman Begins, either/or IMO, captures the essence of non-powered Super Hero. Spiderman, it captured the fun ride the genre can be (for me at least) without turning campy or comedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casualplayer Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Big Jake, with John Wayne. One man getting the job done. The Incredibles. From the casual competence of Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible to the wonder and enthusiasm of Dash and Violet, this movie was perfect. It showed just how easily a thinking GM's NPCs can really mess you up if they have Syndrome-level resources. Tom Strong, from Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse. If you were smart enough to make a talking gorilla, wouldn't you? An engineer with noblesse oblige. The Matrix II, for the fight scenes so they have some idea of what super strength and speed mean. To Kill a Mockingbird, movie or book. There's a reason why it's Superman's favorite book. Atticus Finch is awesome. A young Gregory Peck would be the perfect movie Superman. Gladiator almost bumped one of these, but for its more medieval slant. Kingdom Come is ok if you want to see if they like the most iron-ic of Iron Age books. Make a legend, soil it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials 1. "Unbreakable". Excellent choice, McCoy. It's a great representation of a 'real world' superhero. It puts things into context. 2. Astro City. Anything, but "Life In The Big City" is probably a good place to start. 3. Ultimate Spider-Man, first twelve (well, the whole thing, really), because honestly, it's the best representation of a superhero comic I've seen in ages. 4. "Superman" - probably the best representation of a superhero film until very recently, and even still it's the best representation of an icon. 5. I'm waffling here, but I'm gonna go with the X-Men "Dark Pheonix" saga, because of the depth and breadth of the plot, the characterization, and the overall scope of the story. So many to choose from here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials To Kill a Mockingbird, movie or book. There's a reason why it's Superman's favorite book. Atticus Finch is awesome. A young Gregory Peck would be the perfect movie Superman. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Hmm. You want superhero stuff. I think you have to get the idealism of superheors - the whole Be a Hero type thing. You also have to get the group idea and something of the sense of fun and irreverence that comes through in many comics. 1) Judas Contract - Marv Wolfman Teen Titans 2) Justice League - (first 10 or so of the Giffen/De Matteis run) 3) JLA - almost any of the first story arcs done by Grant Morrison to provide a different context to that same team. 4) Dark Pheonix - agreed as an excellent epic story 5) Fantastic Four - the recent Mark Waid hardcover (volume 1). You have to have something by the FF and these were classic FF stories against their arch-enemy Victor von Doom. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials This may seem like an odd choice' date=' but I would start with [i']Unbreakable[/i]. Can Superman I & II (Christopher Reeves) be considered one piece? Hmmm. Well, I believe it is not 'well-known', but most of the footage from 1 & 2 was shot all at the same time. Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando, for example, never came back on set to actually shoot scenes for what was to become Superman 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Mask Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Which episodes of Justice League Unlimited, and which issues of Justice Society Any story run would do . These to my mind give you the best superhero team feels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rune Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials It's not an easy choice, but here are my selections: 1. The Incredibles 2. Spider-Man the Movie 3. Astro City: the Confessor Storyline 4. DareDevil: Miller's Born Again arc 5. Avengers #19-22 (Introduces the Swordsman, and then Power Man; shows a team of heroes bickering with each other but also working together.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDaddy Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials Unbreakable - Why be a hero? This movie says why better than any other. Watchmen - How do these superhero people live? Spiderman (the movie) - It really doesn't get any better than that as superhero movies go. Marvels - A great synopsis of marvel superherodom from an outsiders view. Batman: War on Crime (Ross, Dini) - A great exploration of Batman's motivations, and the most amazing artwork in comics. The montage of Bruce Wayne's training includes a shot of his bare back, covered in scars. I found it one of the most moving images I have seen in comics, because it shows the price he pays, and keeps paying, for his obsession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDaddy Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 Re: Superheroes: The Five Essentials 1: The Specials 2: Superman IV, the quest for peace 3: Steel 4: Leonard, Part 6 5: Captain Planet and the Planeteers, season one Because I'm bitter because my friend won and I didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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