Okay, here's the second part of my essay on Ennis and Whedon. We'll get to more of my points about Ennis in the third and final part, to be written soon (hopefully) and posted (possibly).
Whedon, who has spent his time writing comics, is not the first person to shed light upon the faults of a genre which is dominated by the fisticuffs and adventures of spandex-clad adventurers. But he may be the most cerebral, especially when compared with notorious hero-hater Garth Ennis.
For those not familiar with Ennis, he is a renowned writer of comics, notably "Hellblazer," "Preacher" and "The Punisher." He is famous for depicting intensely graphic scenes in his stories, and does not shy away from extreme violence, sex and profanity. Rather, they are staples of his work. And while he has claimed he does not in fact "hate" super heroes, he admits to resenting their domination of the genre he makes his living in.
This resentment comes across in comics like "The Punisher," the tales of an armed vigilante in the Marvel Universe. His encounters with heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine often involve the complete humiliation of these characters. Indeed, in 1995 Ennis wrote a one-shot story aptly titled "The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe," in which one guy with a gun kills every hero and villain in the world.
In case that doesn't paint a good enough picture of Ennis for you, one of his current projects, entitled "The Boys," is about a group of shady characters in an alternate universe who take it upon themselves to keep the super hero population under control, often through violent (or otherwise disgusting) means. Their logic is this: the super heroes are corrupt and careless in the destruction they wreak, so they need to be put in their place.
"The Boys" is super hero parody as much as "Dr. Horrible, but it fails on a number of levels where Whedon's musical does not.
Parody is obvious throughout "Dr. Horrible." Captain Hammer makes references to a "Hammer Cycle" and "Hamm-Jet," obvious allusions to Batman's many self-titled gadgets and vehicles. Dr. Horrible tries to give himself a new catchphrase (to little effect). And Whedon also does a fantastic job of making up hero/villain names, which come only in passing but are great fun to imagine: Bait and Switch, apparently a female duo; Conflict Diamond, which really only hit me on the second or third viewing; Johnny Snow, the analog for every lame ice-themed character.
But it is the reversal of the roles of the two main characters that creates the real fun - the titular mad scientist is decidedly the protagonist, yet he is the supposed evil-doer. And while his nemesis Captain Hammer is supposed to be an archetypical hero, he is obviously little more than a bully and allegedly a corporate tool. Whedon makes the Doc interesting by emphasizing his motivation: social change. But what he does with the Cap is even deeper: he makes us hate the hero. Why? Because he solves everything with his fists and a cocksure arrogance, leaving the brainy opponent in his dust.
In other words, we hate Captain Hammer for all the same reasons Lex Luthor hates Superman.
In an issue of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's brilliant comic "All-Star Superman," Luthor boasts to Clark Kent about the muscles he has developed while lifting weights in prison. He claims his strength is an extension of his own resolve, whereas Superman's are a matter of sheer chance: "Anyone can be strong if they come from Krypton." This sentiment is reflected so strongly in "Dr. Horrible" that I have to wonder if Whedon had that specific line in mind when he was writing his musical. At one point Captain Hammer asks Billy, the Doc's alter-ego, if he has seen him at the gym, before smirking to himself, "Wait, I don't go to the gym. I'm just naturally like this."
My roommate Devin said it best upon viewing: "What a douchebag."
One of Hammer's last lines, "I'm in pain! This must be what pain feels like!" is another jab at invincible heroes like the Man of Steel. I would give more credit to Whedon if the idea of a hero feeling pain for the first time hadn't been done many times before, most notably (for me) and emotionally in "Superman II," when a de-powered Clark is hit in the face and looks down at his fingers, stammering, "That's my blood."
But beyond this critique of super-powers lies a condemnation of the idea of super hero battles entirely. You might find it strange that in a medium which is increasingly aimed towards an older audience, the characters still resolve their problems through fist fights. They settle their differences through violence, and Captain Hammer embodies that idea. Though he is supposed to be a "hero," setting an example for people, we are reminded again and again of his extremely violent tendencies. Before he is even introduced, Dr. Horrible tells us the Cap dislocated the Doc's shoulder, "again," the week before. We are told he throws cars at people, and we see the joy he seems to get out of beating on a nerd like Dr. Horrible.
Beyond that, even, we see his incapability to settle situations without punching something. When he first appears, he exclaims the line "The day needs my saving expertise!" Expertise? This is hilarious - all he can think to do is punch and break a gadget he doesn't understand, and his tampering nearly kills an innocent bystander. This is a nice bit of foreshadowing, considering he later in fact does kill that same bystander by messing with a gadget he again doesn't understand.
We'll get to Garth Ennis in the final part of this essay. Now that we've seen how parody can be done well, I have some critiques of Ennis' style and execution, and hopefully some comparison.
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