Hello and welcome to Comic Drake, where I talk about comic books and my name is Drake!
If you don’t currently read mainstream American superhero comics then here’s something that
might surprise you.
If you can follow the plots of games like these then you can probably follow the plots
of mainstream American superhero comics.
“But Drake!” some of you guys are probably interjecting “You can’t compare comic
books and video games.
They’re two seperate mediums!”
I mean you really can.
It’s less like apples and oranges and more like oranges and tangerines.
Let me explain.
So both Spider-Man for PS4 and the Batman Arkham series throw you right into the middle
of the careers of both heroes, obviously this excludes Arkham Origins since it’s well…
an origin.
It’s probably worth noting here that both Batman and Spider-Man are the most beloved
characters from DC and Marvel respectively.
Yes, generally when you think of the word superhero than Superman is the one that instantly
comes to mind and yes, Iron Man is the biggest character in cinema right now, acting as the
glue for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, just look at how many more Batman and Spider-Man TV shows, movies, video games,
etc. that these two characters get in comparison to the rest of their company’s other properties.
It’s a lot.
I don’t want to discount the fact that Batman and Spider-Man do transcend the comic book
medium though and most people have at least a passing knowledge of their histories and
associated elements, but I like to think that the point of this video stands regardless.
A main complaint that non-comic readers tend to throw at the superhero genre is that the
stories are hard to follow if they don’t know all of the details of the characters
and their past, but if this is true then how are players able to easily follow the plots
of games like Spider-Man and the Arkham series?
Is it because they know enough to get by because of all of the outside mediums?
Is it because players don’t actually care about the story and instead just want to punch
the bad guys?
These could very well be the case, but I think it has more to do with how these games follow
the golden rule of comics.
The rule is very simple.
If you need to know an older plot point, the writer will let you know.
If you don't need to know something then don't worry about it because it is not relevant.
Usually in these games, Batman and Spider-Man are talking over coms to other characters.
This gives a great opportunity for both characters to explain the situation to each other, generally
dumping exposition in the process.
So whenever there’s a villain fight, you know the basic things like “Poison Ivy:
Crazy plant lady.”
or “Rhino: Dumb strong boy”.
In comics, these same types of conversations are extremely common, but there’s also something
unique to the medium in the form of editor’s notes.
These boxes are the most common way to get information across.
Sometimes, they’re funny, sometimes they give issue numbers, but they always quickly
convey what readers need to know.
After all, even if you’ve been a loyal comic fan for decades, you’re going to naturally
forget stuff over time and might need a refresher.
No matter what, if you need to know something in order to enjoy the story, a good writer
will always let you know.
Even then, characters end up becoming a pile of traits and key moments anyway.
One of the main criticisms I have with superhero comics is that almost any radical changes
or serious character development gets undone so the characters can go back to a status
quo.
Yet this is essential for maintaining the popularity of comics.
I mean, imagine being a big fan of Spider-Man movies, get inspired to pick up the comics,
and then you find out that Peter Parker is dead and instead it’s Doctor Octopus inhabiting
his body…
Look, it might be one of my all time favorite Spidey books, but that can be pretty jarring
for new readers.
The point is that people are expecting iconography whenever they’re engaging in an established
thing that they already know at least a little something about.
I feel like this was said best by Patrick (H) Willems on the subject of the 2010 Robin
Hood movie.
“Robin Hood is not called Robin Hood, he’s also not actually Robin of Locksley, there
is no Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin is not an outlaw, he actually fights alongside Prince
John who is not a villain, Robin doesn’t live in Sherwood Forest, and instead of stealing
from the rich and giving to the poor, he fights with the English army against French invaders.
Basically, other than being about a guy named Robin who uses a bow and arrow, it bares no
resemblance to any previous version of Robin Hood.”
If you look at Spider-Man for PS4 and most of the soft relaunches of the character in
the comics then you get all of the Spidey classics that you’d expect.
All of the usual characters are acting pretty much how you’d think they would, there is
a relatively standard looking super suit, and Peter is juggling all of the responsibilities
of his dual life as best as he can.
Both of these are easily accessible to newcomers even though minor pieces of dialogue imply
that a LOT has happened before this story.
Superhero video games also tend to include a dedicated section of character bios in case
you’d like more information.
They’re not essential for the game, but they do exist if you want them and it’s
not really much different then just going to a wiki and reading a character synopsis.
I feel like the biggest luxury for these games throwing you into the middle of a story though
is that it’s still very clear of where to start.
It’s a new universe so it’s pretty obvious that you just need to pick up the game and
play it.
With comics, you admittedly need to do a little bit of your own research to find which #1
is a good jumping on point, but it’s still really not that hard if you actually give
it a shot.
Even then, I want to make this very clear.
Although knowing facts about characters can make stories easy to follow, a lot of first
time readers might miss the deeper details.
A big example of this would be Jane Foster’s time as Thor and how she gets a lot of flack
from people who didn’t even read writer Jason Aaron’s Thor books that preceded it.
Jane FosThor (as I like to call her) builds upon the themes, stories, and metanarrative
of Aaron’s previous book, Thor: God of Thunder.
It’s totally understandable that to an outsider looking in, it’s just a female knock-off
of Thor that can’t hold a candle to the original.
To me though, a bit of time with a different character that still followed the overall
theme and meta-arc was a really nice change of pace.
This is why I fell in love with comic books.
I feel like it’s the only medium where the more you engage with it, the better it becomes.
I started off not knowing all of these little bits and details, but now that I have a fuckton
of knowledge of the Marvel and DC universes, I enjoy seeing how history has molded these
characters and connecting the dots between different thing.
I love rereading books with this newfound knowledge.
It’s like rewatching a movie with a major plot twist and noticing all of those subtle
details hinting at it that you didn’t notice the first time around.
To make a long story short and to basically just restate the point that I made at the
beginning of the video, if you can follow the plots of games like these then you can
probably follow the plots of most mainstream American superhero comics, provided that you
just find a good jumping on point of which there are several.
If you’re looking for any, I actually have a video explaining jumping on points for Spider-Man
and Batman.
So if you really want to try giving those comics a read, then go watch those videos
and let me know what you think if you tried any of those out.
But if you liked this video then why not consider subscribing or even watching another one?
In fact, you probably clicked this video because you’re a big fan of the Spider-Man game
for PS4 so I made a playlist with every single one of my Spider-Man videos in one easy to
digest playlist so maybe give that a click if you’re interested in learning more.
Anyway, I hope learned at least a little something new and hopefully I’ll see you next time!