The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
b-side
Thursday, January 18, 2017 — 5B

CW
TV is a better medium for 
comic book adaptations

Despite a boom in comic book movies, the small screen is 
a better platform for the episodic nature of comic books

We live in what some might 
call “the golden age of comic 
book movies.” That is, we live in 
an age with a seemingly endless 
cycle of comic book films. Capes 
and cowls fill the big screen all 
months of the year. Next year 
alone will see the release of 
three “X-Men” movies, three 
Marvel Studios movies, a DC 
film, a Sony Pictures Spider-
Man spin-off about Venom and 
others as well. But while comic 
book movies have only recently 
begun 
to 
dominate 
movie 
theaters, TV shows based on 
comic books have been popular 
since the early ’90s. It is 
television after all, not movies, 
that is designed to be literally 
episodic in nature, watched 
week to week, episode to 
episode, for as long as possible. 
While it is comic book movies 
that currently take up most of 
the airtime surrounding comic 
adaptations, I believe that TV 
is actually the medium most 
suited to adapting comics.
Unlike movies, TV shows 
don’t have to wrap up their 
storyline at the end of an 
episode. TV shows are built 
off the idea of a cliffhanger, of 
keeping the audience coming 
back week after week. TV 
shows may have given birth 
to the phrase “monster of the 
week,” but they really got that 
idea from comic books. Shows 
like “Smallville” or “Batman: 
The Animated Series,” based 
on comic book stories about 
Superman 
and 
Batman 

respectively, feature an ongoing 
storyline while also allowing 
their heroes to fight different 
villains and foes each episode. 
Cartoons in general are a 
natural home for superheroes, 
with colorful animation fitting 
in perfectly with the artwork 
that children are familiar with 
from reading comics. Shows 
like “Teen Titans,” “Batman: 
The Brave and the Bold” or 
“Riverdale” make great use of 
their admittedly silly source 
material by playing everything 
completely straight, and letting 
the drama play out as it would 
in a comic book, with twists 
taking weeks to play out and 
ending episodes in ways that 
always 
leave 
the 
audience 
wanting more.
Another 
way 
in 
which 
TV shows based on comics 
have succeeded where films 
have failed is the idea of 
the 
“Cinematic 
Universe.” 
This term first came into 
use around the time of the 
original 
“Avengers” 
movie. 
Pioneered by Marvel Studios, a 
“Cinematic Universe” is a series 
of interconnected films that all 
take place in the same “canon,” 
allowing them to build off of or 
out of each other. While this 
idea seemed novel at the time, 
TV beat them to the punch by 
almost two decades. The DC 
Animation Universe began in 
the early ’90s with “Batman: 
The 
Animated 
Series” 
and 
“Superman: 
The 
Animated 
Series.” 
These 
two 
series 
featured 
regular 
crossovers 
and eventually expanded their 
universe to include “Justice 
League,” 
“Justice 
League: 

Unlimited,” “Batman Beyond,” 
“Teen Titans,” “Static Shock” 
and many others. While DC 
fans continue to ring their 
hands over the fate of the DC 
Universe on the big screen, 
DC has twice over had the 
best interconnected television 
universe 
on 
the 
market. 
First with the DC Animated 
Universe of the ’90s and 2000s 
and now with the so-called CW 
Arrowverse, which includes the 
shows “Arrow,” “The Flash,” 
“Supergirl” and “Legends of 
Tomorrow.”
Indeed, TV is more suited to 
the connectivity that is featured 
so 
prominently 
in 
comics. 
In TV, it’s easier to contract 
actors through the network 
to appear on a multitude of 
shows, or to animate a bunch 
of background characters from 
another 
TV 
show 
without 
having to pay anyone a cent. 
In TV, long storylines that 
play out over a half-decade or 
longer are the norm, not the 
exception. It’s hard to really 
imagine a “Riverdale” movie, 
but the series works great on 
TV, where it is just schlocky 
enough to have some kind of 
bonkers appeal. TV shows also 
don’t have to reach nearly as 
large an audience in modern 
times as movies do, and in that 
way they can be more selective 
and considerate of the kinds 
of stories they want to tell. 
While movies appear to be the 
dominant form of comic book 
adaptations, TV shows remain 
strong, and it seems likely that 
they will once again become 
the prevailing method of comic 
book adaptation in the future.

IAN HARRIS
Managing Video Editor

Singing in speech bubbles: 
Gorillaz’s 2-D revolution

How the animated band harnessed the untapped potential 
of virtual music-making and changed the music industry

For a whole month during the 
summer of 1969, the hottest song 
in the United States belonged 
to a comic book character. The 
chart-topper 
“Sugar 
Sugar” 
was recorded by none other 
than the Archies; that’s right, 
the cartoon band made up of 
“Archie Comics” characters like 
Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper 
and 
the 
eponymous 
Archie 
Andrews himself. “Sugar Sugar” 
ruled the airwaves, spending 
22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 
100 and selling over a million 
copies. While not the most 
groundbreaking group at the 
time, both conceptually and 
sonically, the Archies’ animated 
bubblegum fare indirectly paved 
the way for one of the most 
imaginative and experimental 
musical acts of the 21st century: 
Gorillaz.
To 
the 
unfortunately 
uninformed, 
Gorillaz 
is 
a 

virtual band — meaning their 
lineup consists of animated 
characters rather than human 
musicians. 2-D provides the 
lead vocals, Noodle and Murdoc 
play the guitar and bass guitar 
(respectively) 
and 
Russell 
anchors the band on drums. 
However, hidden behind these 
four memorable personalities 
lies the twofold heart of the 
operation: former Blur frontman 
Damon Albarn, who spearheads 
the musical side of things, 
and comic book artist Jamie 
Hewlett, the man behind the 
now-iconic artwork and design 
of the band. The question is, 
how did Gorillaz cement itself 
as a legitimate and legendary 
band and avoid being reduced 
to nothing more than a fad like 
their animated ancestors Alvin 
and the Chipmunks and the 
California Raisins? The answer 
lies in Gorillaz’s understanding 
of the creative potential found in 
the fusion of comics and popular 
music and their unwavering 
dedication to create visuals 
as lasting as the sounds they 
accompany.
The fact that Gorillaz even 

evolved beyond a mere idea 
was as unlikely as an animated 
band earning nine Grammy 
nominations 
and 
achieving 
double-platinum 
status. 
In 
1990, Hewlett was tasked by 
Deadline Magazine, home of 
his comic strip “Tank Girl,” 
to interview Albarn. By all 
accounts, their first meeting did 
not go well. Hewlett initially 
thought of Albarn as “arsey, 
a wanker.” Despite becoming 
mild 
acquaintances 
with 
Albarn and the other members 
of 
Blur, 
including 
guitarist 
Graham Coxon, their friendship 
stagnated 
(especially 
after 
Hewlett began seeing Coxon’s 
ex-girlfriend). Despite all of this, 
however, Hewlett and Albarn 
ended up sharing a flat in 1997. 
And on one fateful day, the pair 
happened to mindlessly watch 
MTV long enough for them to 
realize something. Frustrated 
by the oversaturation of nothing 
of substance in popular music at 
the time, they decided to take 
action. If what people were 
hearing was manufactured, then 
they might as well do it properly. 
Their band was going to be fake, 
but the music sure as hell would 
be real. 
Gorillaz deserve all the praise 
they get musically for their 
attempts to deconstruct and 
synthesize different genres into 
a wholly unique and unheard 
blend of sound, but the true star 
of the show is the captivating 
visual universe Hewlett has 
designed. 
Behind 
their 
five 
studio albums lies a trove of 
music videos, documentaries, 
radio interviews, social media 
posts, 
magazines, 
animated 
shorts 
and 
one 
illustrated 
autobiography that all constitute 
a storyline more expansive and 
detailed than those of many 
comic book heroes. The skeleton 
of the Gorillaz-verse comes in the 
form of four distinct “phases,” 
each correlating with the rollout 
and promotion of their mainline 
albums (excluding 2010’s The 
Fall, which was recorded by 
Albarn on tour on an iPad and 
released as a free download). The 
four phases function as separate 
lenses, showing new angles to 
the same story and charting the 
band’s evolution over its near 
two decades of existence.
Phase 
One, 
aptly 
titled 
Celebrity Take Down, was a direct 
response to the mind-numbing 
dominance 
of 
MTV 
Albarn 
and 
Hewlett 
originally 
felt 
compelled to rebel against. The 
videos for singles like “19-2000” 
and “Rock the House” seem 
tailor-made to be broadcasted 
on the channel. Watching them 
now, they both capture perfectly 
the nostalgia for that hazy 2000s 
aesthetic. The videos for their 
self-titled debut were visually 
engaging enough to subtly slide 
lyrics parodying the shallowness 
of the music industry into the 
mind of viewer without them 
realizing. Ironically, these music 
videos were lapped up by MTV, 
tricking it into following exactly 
what 2-D croons on “19-2000”: 
“Please repeat the message / It’s 

the music that we choose.”
Phase Two and beyond were 
able to reap the benefits of 
Gorillaz receiving international 
attention 
both 
for 
their 
music and novelty of concept. 
The 
music 
videos 
became 
more 
involved, 
cinematic 
productions: “Feel Good Inc” 
and “El Mañana” both seem like 
Hewlett’s take on a Studio Ghibli 
film (with some scenes being 
directly inspired by “Castle in 
the Sky”) and “Stylo” is a foray 
into 3D CGI animation featuring 
the band members caught up in 
a Mad Max-esque car chase with 
Bruce Willis in an El Camino. 
The more attention Gorillaz got, 
the more effort was expended 
towards refining their art style 
and cultivating their expansive 
backstory. With the release 
of 2017’s Humanz, however, it 
seemed like the band became less 
concerned with telling a story 
through music videos like they 
did with Demon Days and Plastic 
Beach, and instead focused on 
showing vignettes of the four 
characters’ current lives using 
a new multimedia approach 
(the first official glimpse of 
Phase Four came from Hewlett’s 

instagram). Although Gorillaz 
has changed much throughout 
the years, their commitment to 
creating compelling art has not 
ceased.
While the story of Gorillaz 
could be easily told as a graphic 
novel or a comic book, the 
fact that it is a band and has 
that extra layer of musical 
storytelling makes it all the more 
noteworthy. Albarn and Hewlett 
are able to disappear completely 
behind the animated facade they 
have constructed, leaving fans 
fascinated by the mystery behind 
Gorillaz and its lore rather than 
fawning over the fake, produced 
image which shroud most pop 
acts. When Liam Gallagher (the 
lead singer of Oasis and rival 
to Albarn during the height of 
Britpop) once derided Gorillaz 
as a “fucking kids band,” Hewlett 
thought it was the coolest thing 
ever said about them: “I want it 
to be for kids. They’re the ones 
who don’t care who’s behind it. 
They think it’s Gorillaz, they buy 
into it the way they should.” The 
fact that when you hear Albarn’s 
vocals you immediately picture 
2-D singing speaks volumes to 
everything Gorillaz is about. 
They’re a larger-than-life band 
that wasn’t even alive to begin 
with.

ROBERT MANSUETTI
Daily Arts Writer

Warner Bros.

TV NOTEBOOK

They’re a larger-
than-life band 
that wasn’t even 
alive to begin with

The fact that 
Gorillaz even 
evolved beyond 
a mere idea was 
as unlikely as 
an animated 
band earning 
nine Grammy 
nominations

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW

 
 
 
 

CupcakKe — Chicago-born 
rapper, singer, activist and 
certified deepthroat pro-
fessional — just changed 
the game for duck onesies 
everywhere with the release 
of her “Duck Duck Goose” 
music video. It’s filthy. It’s 
fun. It features multiple 
close ups of a seemingly 
never-ending stream of 
frighteningly realistic dil-
dos. The shots are simple, 
alternating between cup-
cakKe fully clothed in 
a pool or cupcakKe, not 
clothed at all, lounging in 
a bedroom. She stares us 
straight in the eye as she 
raps, aggressive and unwav-
ering. Her rhymes are per-
fect.
 This is cupcakKe in her 
prime: fur heels and rubber 
duck nipple pasties, smiling 
wide as she delivers, “Tap 

the head of the dick, duck, 
duck duck goose.”
 There’s power in this 
unabashed ownership of 
gratuitous raunch. When 
cupcakKe emerges dur-
ing the first few seconds 
of “Duck Duck Goose,” she 
doesn’t just walk in wear-
ing a mesh bodysuit, she 
struts. When she taps the 
dildo she’s holding against 
a miniature Statue of Lib-
erty, she’s not questioning 
whether or not she can 

make your dick stand up, 
she knows she can. And who 
are we to argue with that 
kind of confidence?
 “Duck Duck Goose” is sex 
positive and body positive, 
but it’s also cupcakKe just 
having the time of her life. 
She manhandles multicol-
ored sex toys with bright 
orange nails; she has no 
time for your opinion.

-Shima Sadaghiyani, Daily 
Music Editor

cupcakKe

“Duck, Duck, 

Goose”

cupcakKe

