Endangered Species
Got back from watching The Incredibles a couple of hours ago. If you've seen the movie, then you might guess where this is going. If you haven't, then you better stop reading, because there's spoilers aplenty. No, really. Turn back now.
Superhero comics fans who felt safe and secure in the knowledge that the subgenre was safe in the loving hands of the comics medium probably watched previous attempts to bring superheroes to the screen with a bit of smugness. Sure, Superman the movie was limited by bluescreens and wires and model shots that didn't look all that great. And as time passed, these fans could retain that security. Movies simply didn't have the imaginative power to threaten the comic book as the delivery vehicle of choice for superhero fiction. Even in the last few years, with the onslaught of superhero titles, the comics fan could probably take solace in the fact that cutting from real actors to digital effects (no matter how good they were) still broke some of the verismilitude (bet that's spelled wrong). And animated superhero offerings roundly sucked. Let's be honest. The Saturday morning programs were produced on less than a shoestring and looked worse than most of the comics they drew inspiration from.
But the gloves are off now. The Incredibles outdoes not only the live-action superhero films, but a good chunk of the superhero comics out there in terms of story, design, action, and inventiveness. It really is a wonderful film, with a solid and involving story at its base. Which is the first part that it get right, but far from the last. It's nearly pitch-perfect in its delivery (though I found some of the cape-catastrophes to be a little out of step with the overall tone, including the one that does in The Syndrome [like he's really dead]). And yes, the people talking about how much it took from Watchmen aren't making that part up (not to mention Superfolks, which I haven't read to judge). Even with such grim undertones, The Incredibles is still a family-oriented comedy that delivers character and action with its own visual style.
One thing that movies can do far better than books or comics or nearly any other form is the portrayal of motion and action. Yes, painting has made attempts, but those are almost always poetic and abstract. Delivering literal and concrete action requires the ability to deliver motion. That's what film does. And now the barrier between imagination and getting that imagination on the screen has been removed (okay, except for that niggling little thing about hundreds of thousands of man hours, equipment and millions of dollars, but before today it was flat IMPOSSIBLE). You thought the comparisons between Spider-Man and X-Men and the titular comics was bad? That's nothing. Once audiences get a taste of what's possible, that will become the standard.
Movies have finally levelled the wall between themselves and the one genre as a whole that comics could claim (for good or for ill) for themselves. Now comics have to worry about doing what they do best, and can't simply try to get along as storyboards for movies that haven't been shot yet. You think that by getting a hotshot artist to draw stuff that's too expensive to shoot will set you apart? I don't think so. Comics, and especially superhero comics will need to concentrate on the strengths of the medium: the ability to bestow importance to instants, the ability to shift back and forth along narrative lines, juxtaposition and ability to deliver a unique (collaborative) vision. And it needs to worry about telling compelling stories, not limping along on character recognition/cults with occasional crossover events to boost interest. Comics need to worry about being their own medium and not merely trying to bogart the surface flash of another (and one that does a better job of it.)
And whoever's working on the Fantastic Four movie sure has their work cut out for themselves now. The bar has been raised immeasurably, in terms of conceptualizing the powers of the various characters. Particularly Elasti-Girl/Mr. Fantastic. The Incredibles shows how that set of powers can be used visually and dynamically in ways that simply haven't happened on the comics page in some time. It'll be interesting to see how many members of the public regard the Fantastic Four film as a mere rip-off of The Incredibles. I bet it'll be more than a few.