I found the X-Men to be refreshingly different from other superhero comics that we read, especially regarding the dialogue. The dialogue in the original X-Men was much more natural than in early Superman and Wonder Woman. Instead of internal monologuing and exposition, the X-Men banter and joke among themselves. The team's playfulness as they train reinforces their youth and might make them more immediately relatable to teen readers than Superman and Wonder Woman, who both are and speak like very formal adults. Dialogue in the X-Men had a very natural, easy flow that we are used to in contemporary comics and movies but was different than previous superhero comics (and Crime SuspenStories as well). The casual dialogue humanizes them and differentiate them from other superheroes and each other, while Superman and Wonder Woman at similar stages of continuity seemed wooden and very similar to one another.
Nell, I agree wholeheartedly with what you said here, and I would point to the timing of the creation of the X-Men vs. the timing of the first Superman and Wonder Woman comics. X-Men began in 1963, in a much more liberal time generally than the 30's and 40's of Superman and Wonder Woman. This obviously translates to the dialogue, where the looser, more slang based dialogue of the 60's really shines, especially in comparison to the super strict and rigid dialogue of the previous superhero comics.
ReplyDeleteI think another thing that separates the X-Men dialogue from the dialogue of other superhero groups is that the X-Men were developed together with the intention of showing superheroes together in a group setting. This may have made Stan Lee and Jack Kirby more conscientious in regards to how the interactions between characters were portrayed in respect to the dialogue and banter. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and other DC characters were developed individually, and a lot of the dialogue in the comics are actually inner monologues, making the creators and writers less focused on how the interactions between superheroes feel, as that was not a format that the writers were initially concerned with.
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