Trickle of Consciousness - Modernization = reduced literacy?

02:25 pm May 5th, 2008




			Trickle of Consciousness - Modernization = reduced literacy?

jkason


	Modernization = reduced literacy?
	I think I'm pretty open about taking changes in stride when it comes to the rebooted Power Pack. I enjoy the new stories for the most part, and I've been having fun with the latest Power Pack: Day One retelling / update of the origin. It seemed concise to have Julie naming the Snarks, for example, and I was even digging on the new, more sarcastic Smartship Friday introduced in the most recent issue. That said, I can't help but be disappointed Fred Van Lente decided that Power Pack's alien mentor Whitey (originally a fan of Earth literature whose intelligent ship, Friday, took its name from Robinson Crusoe) now learns English by watching old movies, and his ship's named after His Girl Friday. I guess it just seems sad to me that even advanced alien races apparently no longer read. For that matter, if we're updating things, is a 1940s movie really any more relevant to a young audience than a classic novel that still shows up on school reading lists? Tags: comics, commentary, power pack

see the 5 drops in the bucket or add a drop


	Comments

	From: ashrising	Date: May 5th, 2008 09:53 pm (UTC)		(wanna link?)

Totally agree with you.

I like these new alternate views, but I see them as something cute, but dummied down...

It's the same with cartoons, in my opinion. Today's cartoons are short, have no continuity, don't need kids to recall what has happened before or think about the consequences of what is happening now. They even have a style of humor that needs little or no thought (T_T)...

I think it is high time to have the real Power Pack return. With a more intelligent series (like the original one). It will be nice to see what they are up to now that they are "almost adults" (or, in Alex's case, already one).

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	From: jkason	Date: May 6th, 2008 02:19 pm (UTC)		(wanna link?)

Actually, I've found Van Lente's take a little less "talking down," which was why I was disappointed in the decision to make Whitey a couch potato.

I can sort of take or leave the notion of a "Power Pack all grown up" series. I would, however, be all over it if Marvel would finally publish an Essentials volume of the original series. A bound trade of those would be something I'd love to have.

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	From: ashrising	Date: May 6th, 2008 04:46 pm (UTC)		(wanna link?)

I have just read the first issue of Day One (I still get my comics in my hometown, and I went on March).

Would love an "Essential", but a "Classic" would be all the better, don't you think?

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	From: thimblekisses	Date: May 6th, 2008 12:27 am (UTC)		(wanna link?)

i love you.
i miss you so so so so much.
it is wonderful to me that you love comic books. cute.
i need you back in my life. NOW. come play me songs on your guitar you can't play with your pride strap.

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	From: mossymonkey	Date: May 7th, 2008 08:34 pm (UTC)		(wanna link?)

Uh, yeah. I don't know about all the comic-booky stuff, but the literacy, or lack thereof, I get to see every damn day. "Kids these days" can get into pre-Potter fiction, but it takes some doing, and only those few who are otherwise literate are willing to go there. It's more like we're seeing the (further) bifurcation of our culture into the literate and the non.

But films? This surprised me: the most popular (with the students) movies I screened for my film class this semester were Singin' in the Rain (1952), and Casablanca (1942/3). The least popular were Lawrence of Arabia (too long) and anything silent.

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