Dear WB

In the last 4 Days the following has occurred:

Joss Wheadon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, X-Men comics) left WONDER WOMAN over creative differences stemming from the studios vision of Wonder Woman. Obviously the man who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer couldn't create a believable female heroine.

David Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins & Dark Knight, Blade, etc etc) was forced off of THE FLASH because WB felt that his script was too serious and not kid friendly enough. The then immediately turned the film over to Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther, Cheaper By the Dozen).

Joel Schumacher (The Batman Catastophies) announced that he is attempting to convince the WB to allow him and his bat nipple fetish to take a shot at Neil Gaiman's epic SANDMAN.

and so:

Dear Warner Brothers,

As a longtime comic book fan I watched for many years as Hollywood managed to mangle interpretations of characters so dear to me. The worst part was that one simple fact that seemed so obvious to a young man seemed to completely overwhelm the adult mind. That fact? That comic book creations and cartoons are completely separate entities.

In modern print media, a cartoon is a piece of art, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. These cartoons were born as illustrated visions meant to satirize everyday life, be it in the form of political cartoons, or the 'funnies' that celebrated family life in Family Circus or even military life in Beetle Bailey.

As we moved from print to media, cartoons took on a new life; that of animation. Still, as we can see clearly from the Warner Brothers canon (and for that matter from Disney or Hanna Barbara), cartoon animation lived an breathed that same satirical humor as its means of life. It was also around this time though that comic book heroes (Superheroes) began to come to life.

Recent times have lead many of us to better understand how our modern day heroes were born (World War II, escaping persecution, etc) so I will move past what we, the educated, already know. But before completely detouring that area, I will discuss one major thing.

These heroes that we 'worship' do not exist on the same plane as Bugs Bunny, regardless of how many Space Jams you give us to blur the lines. They do not deserve to share the same stage anymore that Hercules, Zeus, or for that matter, Jesus.

Comic Book heroes, while drawn and born from similar minds, are modern day mythological and even religious figures. They should not simply warrant, but demand the same respect. Each of these creations teach the same lessons mythology has bred across the generations, so again, while you can certainly allow the Coyote to fall off a 100 foot cliff 100 times, should a fallible figure like Bruce Wayne do so (without his batarang, of course) we, the readers, know that the consequences are more than a cloud of dust.

So I urge you to reconsider each and every move that you make as if the character was not a cartoon, but a myth. Recent times have lead you to turn over your most valuable franchise to brilliant young minds like Christoper Nolan and Bryan Singer. Not too long ago you also witnessed the uproar that a Jack Black Green Lantern movie caused and were wise enough to backtrack. These were the moves that gave us, your audiences, confidence that our heroes were in capable hands. Please remember what you did then and return to that frame of mind.

What it really comes own to is this. Given the opportunity to discuss the miracle of Christ or display the most incredible journey of our time in The Odyssey, would you turn over those films to people like Shawn Levy or would you look to visionaries like Nolan, Singer, Raimi, or Jackson.

Speaking for your audience, don't think us naive to the business and the bottom line. Just don't also think of us as so naive as to buy tickets to movies that ignore our wishes.

Sincerely,
Those of Us Who Get It