Please explain this double standard to me (regarding mortals in comics)

Fantasy of any setting.....Dungeons and Dragons, Lord Of the Rings, Warcraft, et al. Mortals often come into conflict with beings with far greater power than them. Giants, Dragons, Abominations, Demons, and even gods themselves. The heroes of some stories often triumph over them, either by their skill, magical powers or weapons, et al.

But I've noticed that when their counterparts in comic book universes do the same things against beings of similar power, people howl and complain. If any of you read the Superman/Batman story arc Supergirl, Batman confronts Darkseid in an attempt to persuade him to leave Supergirl alone. Batman knows Darkseid far outmatches him in power, so he brings along a Mother Box and steals armor from Darkseid's soldiers for aid. No, Batman did not attempt to outfight Darkseid like he would Bane as he is on an entirely different level. Bring along the right equipment was the right idea. It didn't stop people from complaining however.

Are characters who do the exact same things in fantasy (Wulfgar and Drizzt in Forgotten Realms defeating a White Dragon) overlooked unintentionally when it comes to this? I suppose what made me think about this is what I referred to earlier: mortals do the same things in fantasy that they do in comics. You could even say those characters are medieval super heroes in their own right.

In Fantasy settings there tends to be a little thing called Magic, Magic that lets Mortals take on God like beings, Magic that prevents said beings from obliterating the mortal with a sneeze or a gesture.

Batman, isn't a magician.

Clarke's third law - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

In these stories science/technology are interchangeable with magic and thus serve the same purpose. There is no double standard.

It's about the fans. Superhero fandom is home to a disproportionately large and vocal number of complainers, trolls and general douchebags. Fantasy fandom has it's share of douchebags too, to be sure, but for whatever reason they seem to be more vocal and more accepted in superhero circles. Drop by any of the major comic book web sites and look over their forums and you'll see what I mean.

It's all about plot, and nothing more.

Well the more powerful magic wielding supers kick butt pretty good... Doctor Fate, Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, Captain Marvel (DC), Wonder Woman, Shaman, Zatanna, Juggernaut, Black Adam to name a few.

Eh, I think the apparent double standard has more to do with the exposure of each character. I haven't made an effort read comic books in about 20 years, so correct me if I'm wrong, but there generally aren't widely read and long-standing comic-book series based on fantasy characters, are there?

Even if there are, does their exposure even come close to, say, Batman's? Whatever other factors might be at play, Batman's writers have had more opportunities to fall into cliche-ish behavior. The character has an 80 year history to pick apart.

Hell, if anything, from what I've read on the internet, there are way more eyerolls about Drizzt than there are about Batman -- certainly more per storyline. Drizzt has had what? 10 books to develop his dubious reputation?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

fantasy novels are less likely to be read by hyper critical idiots that don't understand how the world works where as graphic novels are a much more broad audience and stories can cross genres thus the hyper critical idiots that don't mind x in one genre will see it in y genre and then the two cross over and they complain.

That totally makes sense. However, I am still distracted by the context from which I know the term... not that that's your fault.

Writers control the levels of power and who is winning in the comics. Based on the fans and the magazine the story is in.

Dr. Strange should always win over Hulk. As a simple dimensional spell could banish the green goliath. Or a spell of hypnotism or sleep. But...

if the same story would be in a Hulk magazine the outcome could be different and the Hulk would do some unexpected thing or would be buffed or he would be lucky. A floor trash would result in a small piece of junk hitting the magician etc.

Double standarts is like this. The person that the writer wants to win at that moment will do so... to appease the fans of teh book that the story takes place in.

Batman would overcome gods if the fans think he can do it! It just takes longer thinking for the writer to find a possible loop hole!

It's the difference between time and effort. There's much more time and effort involved in reading a 300+ page book with no pictures than there is reading a comic book that's 20+ pages. This extreme reduction in time and effort means that there are a great deal more people that will read the entire story who don't like it. If one doesn't like the 300+ page book, they stop long before they get to the point where Drizzt and Wulfgar defeat the white dragon.

That's actually a decent point, I should think.

Another factor could be that fantasy books take place in a world that is quite different from ours while Batman and other superheroes occupy a world that's nearly parallel. This might make some people more critical of fantastical elements being introduced into the latter world.

I'VE never really minded it, but differeing opinions and all that.



And people were really mad about Hulk losing to Zeus?

Hasn't the Hulk been overpowered enough? I would've thought people were praying for the Hulk to suffer a defeat after the sheer levels of ridiculousness reached with Red Hulk.