Welcome dear readers, nerds and nerdlings, at The Gutter, a weekly exploration of the concepts, reviews and curiosities that live between comic book panels and their adaptations.

I come to you as a fellow fabric nerd, die-hard comic fan since learning to read, and adept at comic book adaptations in their many forms. I mainly devoted my studies to the worlds of Marvel and DC, but I also frequented other realms (Image, Dark Horse, Boom, etc.).

My goal is to use my knowledge to create a conversation about a medium that has become the source of our most popular forms of entertainment, cut out the negative bullshit that sparks too many fan conversations and, of course, invite EVERYBODY to explore the endless world of comedic adaptations. So follow me on The Gutter.

For this episode, I’m going to talk a bit about MPAA notes and the source material, because in a post-dead Pool In the world, an R rating is as important to some fans as a Rotten Tomatoes score. So why is not Venom: May the Carnage Be to note?

While the film has yet to be officially rated yet, all signs point to PG-13, like the first film. The issue of the rating is one that I’ve seen raised repeatedly on Twitter since the first trailer released last week. Some people seem to care more about the note than others, and others care so much that I’m afraid it was. much too long since they saw the sun.

But let’s get into it.

Just put it there, I love blood, guts, and fucking just as much as the next R-rated movie geek. When I’m not delving deep into the comics, I’m a fan of moonlight horror. So trust me, I get it: it’s cool to see the comic book characters that you grew up enjoying meeting your current adult tastes. Blade and Blade II That was certainly an argument for that, even though at the time, Marvel wasn’t exactly capitalizing on those movies – and many audiences weren’t even aware that Blade was a Marvel comic book character. But since the release and success of dead Pool, we’ve kind of moved away from the notion that comic book adaptations of Marvel and DC properties could be noted-R to the notion that they should be noted R.

It’s cool to see the comic book characters that you grew up enjoying adapting to your current adult tastes.

The point is, when it comes to Marvel and DC adaptations, we’re not talking about properties like Sin city or Invincible which have their R-rated aspects cooked directly into the identity of their books. And unless we’re talking about characters that are exclusive to DC’s Vertigo or Black Label, or Marvel’s MAX line, these characters weren’t created with R-rated adaptations in mind. You can have a “fuck” in the movies, but as far as the comics go, it’s PG and PG-13 books. Most people understand this, but the cry for an R-rated Venom the film has become impossible to ignore. I am curious to know why.

When Venom, created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, made his debut in 1988, he quickly soared to be one of the most popular characters in comics throughout the 90s. As a person who grew up and fell in love with comics around that time, I was there to experience the full Venom-mania experience (a craze that could only be matched by Wolverine and Cable).

Muscular guys with absurdly large utility belts and bad attitudes were a sign of the times.

Muscular guys with absurdly large utility belts and bad postures were a sign of the times. Venom was ’90s cool, and’ 90s cool meant the suggestion of gratuitous violence and bloodshed that occurred. off panel, or in the gutter. Because of this, many of us grew up thinking of Venom as that edgy, violent character, an embodiment of ’90s machismo.

But, if we put the nostalgia aside, realized how painfully uncool much of the ’90s was, and looked back at those Venom miniseries that defined the’ 90s, we would realize that Eddie Brock / Venom is. a big nerd.

Eddie Brock / Venom is a big ‘ol nerd.

The guy sings Sinatra as he walks around town, he makes cheesy jokes that make Spider-Man look like Eddie Murphy, and his insatiable craving for brains is nothing compared to his craving for chocolate. Venom is a silly character, at least when it comes to the ’90s comics that the 2018 film and its sequel use for inspiration. I would say it was this silliness that made the first film such a success.

Venom is not funny like dead Pool or Thor: Ragnarok. His best comedic moments are a lot less cool. I’m talking about Tom Hardy climbing into a lobster tank and Venom’s pronunciation of ketchup which makes it the cinematic equivalent of The aristocrats joke.

Venom isn’t a high concept, but it certainly stands out among the multitude of comic book adaptations, due to its subconscious ability to explore the character’s camp possibilities.

The sequel seems to delve into what made the first movie work, which means silliness abounds. As someone who has revisited Venom’s plethora of miniseries, I couldn’t be happier with the prospect.

It’s entirely possible for a sequel to raise the stakes without drastically changing the tone. But what about Carnage? Isn’t Cletus Kasady a serial killer? Yes, but then again, most of his abuse in the comics is suggested rather than brought to light. The serial killer bill can also be time-barred from the Joker, who has managed to do well outside of an R rating.

(Yes, the R rating of Todd Phillips Joker grossed over $ 1 billion at the box office and became a favorite of awards season, but it also sparked a fair amount of controversy for Warner and media-induced anxiety over the security concerns. Venom is not meant to be Scorsese-lite or inspect the ailments of society in an Oscar nominated package that beckons a mature audience cutting their teeth The black Knight a decade ago.)

Whatever insanity or separation angst to explore between the symbiotes and their hosts, it can be done with a PG-13 that doesn’t limit much of the audience that helped the former become so successful. And PG-13 can be pushed quite far, for those who are afraid of too many soft edges. We live in a postThe black Knight world after all.

But would be Venom and Venom: May the Carnage Be be better movies with R ratings? Perhaps.

Logan turned out to be a better Wolverine movie than what had happened before because of it. But Logan also marked the end point of a franchise that many fans had grown up with over the course of seventeen years. Logan came just in time for the adult fans who saw X Men in theaters as children. Joker pulled off a similar trick, taking Heath Ledger’s “pencil trick” and pushing it way past the PG-13 line, all without the added weight of a cinematic universe.

But the Venom franchise (and Sony’s larger Spidey cinematic universe) is only just beginning. There’s no denying the character’s appeal to children. The same qualities that attracted us to all of these characters as children still apply today.

If we’re going to see a new generation of comic book fans, we need to allow them to find their own sense of freshness in character and look between the panels for the shocking acts of violence that are just implied.

There is certainly room for Venom’s cinematic releases to evolve and mature, but right now we’re at the beginning, and this comic book debut was marked by sheer awkwardness that doesn’t hurt. our adult fans.

Thanks for reading, and as always, keep your mind in The Gutter!

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