Why So Dark?

"Why So Serious?" That's a famous line from Heath Ledger's Joker in the 2012 Batman film The Dark Knight. As a long-standing comic book fan myself, I feel that a more appropriate question would be, "Why So Dark?" Comics darker and darker of late, so dark in fact that at least to this reader, they're hardly enjoyable or relatable anymore.

I'm aware I've been gone for a while; forgive me, life happens. I'm also aware that this isn't an art post, per se. But as almost anyone who knows me can attest, my passion for comics is as strong as my passion for more 'traditional' forms of art, hence this post.

In the last few years, comic books (along with many TV shows and movies), have gotten progressively darker in tone. Perplexity, a new A.I. based search engine says that:

"Comics have become increasingly dark in recent years due to the audience's desire for more sophisticated and realistic stories. This has led to an increase in graphic novels with dark content, such as blood-shedding and graphic violence."

But really, is all this truly more 'realistic'? Yes, a case could be made that we live in a (violent) society- (Yes, another Joker-related saying)-certainly in the U.S. there is a fair amount of killing and gun violence. But there are reasons for that (as well as solutions)-reasons that I won't go into in this post.

But is the world really as violent and as dark as fear-mongers would have us believe? And if it truly is, why would anyone want to see that in their chosen form of entertainment? If this darkness is truly our reality, isn't our entertainment supposed to offer an escape from said reality?

Over last number of years, the number of comics with dark themes has grown tremendously; not only in content but with the very word, "Dark" firmly ensconced in the title. Consider these from Marvel comics: Dark Avengers, and most recently for Spider-Man and the X-Men, Dark Web.

Cover to Marvel's Dark Web #1

Or, how about these offerings from the 'Distinguished Competition'? Dark Knights: Metal, Dark Nights Death Metal , or most recently, Dark Crisis?:

Cover to DC Comics Dark Nights: Death Metal #3

Long gone are the days when the Comics Code Authority tag graced the corner of comics, a measure created as early as the 50's to address concerns over violence, sex, and horror elements depicted in comics. True, it was basically a dog with no teeth; comic creators were expected to self-regulate the content of their magazines in accordance to code guidelines, guidelines that were sometimes ambiguous and unclear. Gradually the CCA was ignored more and more, and by the 90's or early 2000's, it was largely a relic of the past.

Still, for all its flaws, the CCA served as a useful tool to point out the direction comics were beginning to take.

Comics Code Authority logo

Consider Amazing Spider-Man issue #122, featuring the (short-term) death of the Green Goblin: Note that as that Goblin is impaled on his own glider, you see an impact balloon with sound effect "CHUNK!" and dark impact lines that may or may not be blood. But overall, it captures the intensity of the scene without being unnecessarily gory.

The (temporary) death of the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #122 published 1973

When this comic, The Green Goblin's Last Stand, was published in 1973, it was a landmark issue that signaled the end of the Silver Age of comics and heralded the (for the times) 'grittier' Bronze Age.

Fast-forward to 2005 and we get scenes like the one below in which new Spider-Man villain Morlun rips out Spidey's eye-and eats it.

Goofy Dracula wannabe Morlun rips out Spidey's eye and eats it in Amazing Spider-Man #526 vol. 1

Did it heighten the intensity of the scene? Sure. Did it add anything to the story? Not really- Spidey's eye grew back the next issue from some dopey powers that have since been retconned away. And that's also part of the problem. If this kind of gore is going to be depicted, it should significantly add to the overall story, not just serve as a prop for poor writing and to merely provide shock value.

I can't tell you over the last few years how much I've seen dismemberments, decapitations, and characters being torn in half in comics. There's also been a great number of horror elements increasing in comics as well-stories wherein the Hulk goes to hell, Spider-Man fights demons in limbo, and Batman gets sucked into a Dark Multiverse.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude; I've viewed a few horror films back in the day, and I've read horror magazines as well. But overall, I'm not a great fan of the genre, and it's not what I look for in a superhero magazine. I know this stuff sells nowadays, but as an alternative, why not offer them in an alternative title, instead of having all this show up in the character's main title? That way, horror and gore fans are happy, and superhero purists (like me) don't have to wade through all that crap.

So are these darker stories really more indicative of, as Perplexity puts it, a more "sophisticated" audience? Or is this just more evidence that we indeed live in a (more violent, gory, and blood-thirsty) society? Me? I'm just perplexed.

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