The Four Color Media Monitor

Staten Island Advance wrote about a former police officer who's creating a comic that reportedly uses a twist, but seems more like an excuse to veer into making heroes more like villains:

Staten Island native and retired NYPD sergeant Jason Auerbach’s lifelong dream is now on the verge of reality.

Auerbach is behind “The Villains,” a superhero comedy/adventure that ingeniously reimagines the conventional superhero narrative.

Originally written as a film script — and eventually adapted in 2020 into a short film featuring renowned actor Eric Roberts — Auerbach created “The Villains” as a vibrant and imaginative tribute to the genre that has shaped his creative spirit.

He’s currently in the process of turning “The Villains” into a comic book.

“The Villains was written out of my love for the comic book superhero genre and fun popcorn films like ‘Big Trouble In China’ and ‘Zombieland,’” said Auerbach. “As a kid, Marvel comics helped me develop an insatiable love of reading and writing that would culminate in this fun story about villains becoming heroes by stopping a team of villainous superheroes.”

The heart of “The Villains” revolves around an unusual twist: A group of superheroes, who harbor secret ambitions for world domination, unexpectedly unite an eccentric villain with an insecure young hero. This unlikely partnership is further joined by a duo of cunning crime lords. Together, the four form a unique alliance to confront a shared adversary and, in the process, redefine their own roles, ultimately challenging the very concept of heroism.

This may be a comedy tale, but that part about challenging heroism is what troubles me. Mainly because there's not much of it to be found in today's entertainment horizon, in an era where politics trump entertainment value. Why, now that I think of it, the premise sounds vaguely similar to a comic Mark Waid produced in the late 2000s called Irredeemable, about a hero turned villain, and there may have been a followup where a villain seemingly turned hero. But if that's supposed to alleviate concerns, forget it. It's just a cheap way of disguising how a grating theme of a hero-going-villain is the emphasis. And then, look how this new would-be comedy bears the title "The Villains". That's hardly a great way to promote it either.

A real shame a guy who worked in police seems to think this makes a great premise. Because it's simply not.

Labels: golden calf of villainy, indie publishers, msm propaganda