There was a
time when comic books were an essential part of the lives of youngsters. People got hooked
on to the imaginary worlds sketched in panels right from the time they were
kids and let this passion grow and be with them through adulthood. While time
and technology have brought in other forms of entertainment, the humble comic
book has continued to live on in the form of original graphic novels as well as
television shows, videogames and of course, films.
The two franchisees that have been battling it out in the comic
book world as well as filmdom are DC Comics and Marvel Comics. As much as the
darker DC is loved, Marvel caters to a larger variety of preferences with a mix
of genres, peppered with equal measures of angst, drama and humour. Hiren
Vadgma from Porvorim shares,
“I like Marvel more because of the characters it has – Iron Man, Spiderman,
Captain America, Hulk, Thor and many more. It’s fun to see them interact and
have conflicts with each other.” When it comes to the films, she feels that
Marvel movies are well directed and the best part about them are their post
credit scenes. “Marvel keeps the audience curious and excited about what is
happening next,” she says.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has indeed been winning
hearts for a decade and today marks an important day for this world with the
release of its penultimate film, ‘Avengers: Endgame’. The previous chapter,
‘Avengers: Infinity War’, left everyone sitting in silence as they watched some
of their much loved superheroes turn to dust. Shravani Dangui
from Ponda, a huge
fan of Marvel Avengers, says she literally cried at the end of that film. “Yes!
It is the final movie with all of these characters. It’ll probably and
hopefully be a good end and the audience will be satisfied unlike ‘Infinity
War’.” She booked tickets the night it was on sale and is going to watch the
film on the first day second show. She shares her views on what she expects
from the film: “Personally, I don’t want anyone to die, not even Thanos. They
should be able to change his mindset and get back all that have been faded
away.” Similarly, Mihir Sardessai from Caranzalem feels heartbroken for all
the characters and wants no one to die. “I am kind of anticipating one of them
to die so it won’t be as bad when I watch the movie. But it would be a
heartbreak none the less,” he expresses.
Isn’t it crazy the way people have actually connected to each
character? Maurus Fernandes from Panjim loves Robert Downey Jr; he says, “He is the best and
the only guy who can pull off Iron Man’s role; the same goes for Chris Evans.
They might probably appear in future. I just don’t want either of the
characters to die.”
Alrica Fernandes feels that Marvel movies are popular because of the efforts and
team work shown by superheroes. “It makes you escape from reality, nd no it
won’t be an end, even if it is I’m sure Marvel studios won’t leave
disappointed,” she says.
The end credits scene
of Infinity War also showed Nick Furry calling Captain Marvel and then turning
to dust himself. While Captain Marvel blew out minds in the month of March
after its release, all the fans can’t wait to watch what would happen in the
highest budgeted movie End Game today. Everyone has agreed that Marvel movies
have great fan following and great characters, storyline and visual effects.
But now fans are after the character Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) to have her
own sequel like the rest. Some have said, “She has been there since the iron
man series started so yes she does deserve a solo movie if not a series,” and
some others agree, “She was the only woman character even before Captain
Marvel.”
Some scholars suggest
that since comics has become popular among the youth an inclusion of comic
studies as a part of language or literature is great. Not many schools and
colleges have adopted this method, but in Goa the only college that uses this
method is Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science. The Comics Studies
course is called Visual Literature, started in 2016. The topics covered under
this course include history of comics and graphic novels from America, to India
to Japanese Manga, Maus, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Superman year 1, Batman dark
knight rises, Fun Home, Contract With God, Will Eisner and Scott McCloud as
major references. Professor Andrew Barreto who teaches the course says, “It’s the
best way to get kids into the reading habit and studies have shown that there
is an increase in vocabulary as long as the level of comics being read goes
up.”
(With
inputs from Pranali Mantri)
