TrueGentleman

Or rather, Pikachu is filling the space left by Mickey Mouse's absence.

Mickey Mouse stopped appearing in cartoon shorts in the mid-50s. These days, apart from assorted cameos, he's relegated to direct-to-video fare, usually holiday-themed animated specials. His iconic status still means Disney can plaster his imagine on all manner of merchandise, even if it means rewriting copyright laws to extend his protection. Ever since Uncle Walt was put into the deep freeze, however, they have been unable to preserve the character in his original medium. It's telling that the biggest recent breakthrough with the character was in video games, e.g. the Kingdom Hearts series and, of course, Epic Mickey.

That's the dark side of icon status: to be so well-known that nothing interesting can be said about them. (Consider the ongoing problems with the Superman reboot since Christopher Reeves's last film or how the last Sherlock Holmes movie jettisoned virtually every recognizable physical aspect of the character.)

For a real taste of Dick (stop sniggering - at least the forum's censorware is letting it go), check out "Which Philip K. Dick Story Are We in Today?".

Oh, and Ridley Scott is clearly not on board with this project.

I feel safe in declaring these Hollywood schmucks don't know Dick.

If you're going to set up skewed parallels, at least compare the iPad to the Kindle, which has a Web Kit-based browser (experimental). Meanwhile, the iPad's range of full-fledged applications seems to have escaped your awareness.

She looks the part in this case, too (although she's a bit tall).

A tablet computer isn't a substitute for either a laptop or a smartphone - the devices complement each other. The iPad + desktop on a home wireless network, particularly with a tunnelling app, is a great combination.

(I don't understand the defensiveness that many computer users retreat into whenever there's an Apple announcement. It's predictable, though.)

And the decidedly uniconic Ron Erly in the lead role, which along with various preceding examples of bad casting in this thread, suggests in order for an iconic character to work on screen, the right actor is essential.

Perhaps, but one might also receive a lot of caricatured views - more likely Wagner's Brünnhilde as the proverbial fat lady singing in a suit of fake armor than P. Craig Russell's graphic novel adaptations like The Magic Flute and The Ring of the Nibelung. And until there's a production of Die Fledermaus at the Met with Bruce Wayne in the lead, I don't care to know what opera lovers think of superheroes.

They did, back in 1975, and that movie was indeed dumb, as well as podding and charmless. It took the collective achievement of Messrs. Speilberg, Lucas, and Ford to make pulp adventure succeed on the silver screen again. There's now the chance that Shane Black will writer and direct a new movie adaptation of The Man of Bronze, so we shall see how that project works out.

So does that mean that trascending the medium is the ultimate test of an iconic character? If so, that's a lightning-in-a-bottle quality.

People who don't read detective stories recognize Sherlock Holmes (is it the pipe and deerstalker?) or spy novels, James Bond (is it the barrell-of-the-gun opening with theme music?) or fantasy epics, Gandalf (is it the wizard hat and robe?). None of these characters were overnight successes, nor are any of those sub-genres is considered "fresh", although they're all thriving. (And I'm not getting into farther-flung examples, such as Hamlet and Mickey Mouse.)

Is it more important that the general public (which has no taste in superheroes) can identify the character or that they should be recognized by the average fan (who by definition as some taste, however debatable it may be )?

"I haven't read the comics, but I do own the t-shirt"?

A campy TV show from the mid-60s?

In all seriousness, that's what rescued the Batman from neglect and, according to Bob Kane, quite possibly termination. In the 50s and early 60s, the character had utterly lost his way, accumulated a distractingly large "supporting" cast (and with the Bat-Mite simply distracting), and exchanged noir-ish fights with his rogues gallery for sci-fi adventures against monsters that would have embarrassed Ed Wood. With the property in development for TV with ABC, however, it made more economic sense to "reboot" the series under Carmine Infantino for at least a partial return to the character's roots. The TV show, although a step backward from Infantino's comics in some respects, was a huge mainstream success and afforded the character a capital of popularity that could be drawn on for years and has been periodically replenished by Messrs. Adams, Rogers, Miller, Burton, and Nolan.

Doc Savage neither hit such a nadir nor received such a lucky break. Still, I defy anyone to read one of the old pulp adventures of The Man of Bronze and deny that he has IT - that undefinable quality that makes for an iconic hero.

Would Hellboy make the cut? Mignola created an immediately recognizable character design with an unusual origin and entaining adventures. Between blockbuster movies in 2004 and 2008, the character has earned over $250M from the box office alone. His collected comics titles have hit the New York Times's bestseller list. His t-shirt and toy tie-in revenue, however, are doubtless well below Iron Man, who easily won out when the two had head-to-head summer movies.

Are we just going to have to wait and judge by staying power?

If we're now factoring in "popular cultural recognition" for a character's qualifications for iconic status, then Venom, as the weak link in the Spider-Man movie franchise, gets demoted in the same fashion as film-flops Spawn, Judge Dredd, Tank Girl, or the evidently unadaptable Punisher (whose movie career has a whopping three strikes against the character).

On the other hand, one could argue that mainstream recognition is overrated, especially if Hollywood's imprimatur is required. Doc Savage and the Shadow, both iconic pulp heroes, bombed at the box office, but their premiere status is indisputable. Certainly fans recognize them without prompting.

After a disastrous cameo in the Wolverine movie (which was, incidentally, held afloat only by Hugh Jackman's star power, not the character), Deadpool's movie fortunes look increasinly dim as once-favored leading man Ryan Reynolds devotes himself to Green Lantern. The odds of his breaking through are fairly low at this point.

If pop culture penetration is the defining factor for iconic comics heroes, i.e. blockbuster movies, then Pixar's The Incredibles, which got their comic book after their movie, should definitely be considered iconic.

Bendis and FX have had this in development for a while now, so it's encouraging its made it to the next phase.

Coincidentally, their creator, Bill Willingham, was an AE guest author.

And there's a ton of public domain comics heroes Paragon could adapt if they so chose (mostly 30s and 40s, admittedly). It would be interesting to see a "homage" parallel universe in CoH, with appearances by the original Golden Age Bulletman, Phantom Lady, Blue Beetle, Daredevil, etc.

It's more along the lines of "ha, ha, only serious" true.

Don't worry, though - even if Quesada and Alonzo are planning to kill off Marvel Comics, Disney will resurrect it in a year or so, with a brand new hip costume and street-smart attitude to appeal to today's youth!

Damage control indeed, especially since they can't go all the way and retract it. Matt Fraction already humorously hinted that was the plan for his "Fear Itself" series ("Waitaminute. FEAR ITSELF runs over THREE quarters. Hmm").

Gabriel's unconvincing backpedalling about the issue seems disingenuous:
That argument would be far more convincing if the established pattern wasn't a burst of interest from the mainstream media for the death notice, followed by comparative indifference when the ostensibly dead hero comes back, e.g. Superman (Death of Superman), Batman (Batman: RIP and/or Final Crisis), Captain America (Civil War). So if the "actual point" is really the aftermath, why "wag the dog" by promoting the death angle so much? Such joking only underscores the truth that the comics companies are desperate for blockbuster attention but conspicuously lack new ideas. Cheap "comic book death", rather than attracting outside readers, only reinforces the preconception among the general readership that funnybooks are fundamentally unserious.

Also, Iron Man is way overdue for being killed off (again). His name recognition has increased lately, but as his armor upgrades aren't impressing anybody and his movie sequel disappointed at the box office, his title needs a shot in the arm (or one right between the eyes). You read it here first, true believers: Tony Stark is a dead man walking.

See also John Gardner's retelling of the Beowulf myth, Grendel.

We're not allowed either to make comparisons or mention other video games, which makes phrasing posts a delicate matter. Perhaps if quotes from Yahtzee could be extracted about gaming issues presented to the sub-genre of superhero MMORPGs the thread might be allowed to stand.

If not, forum shibboleths require us to post as though video game competition online, much less direct competition upcoming online, does not exist.