Superhero Media: Men In Black

So technically, Men In Black is a Marvel comics film, as it draws inspiration from comics published by Malibu Comics, which Marvel bought out in the '90s. Does that mean Kay is the son of Colonel Chester Phillips? Probably not, as the MIB stuff has never been part of the 616 continuity. Anyway, Men In Black is something of a '90s classic, generally considered a great action comedy and has a brilliant cast. In fact, the film is so well loved that I feel silly just piling onto that, go check out Patrik H Willhiems YouTube video about the film if you want to see all of the great work in Men In Black. Naturally, I'm more interested in what a MIB style organisation would be like in a more "conventional" superhero setting. It's really not all that far-fetched, Marvel has SWORD and DC have something I can't recall right now, but how does this clash with the common knowledge that aliens walk around the world in the form of Superman, Invincible and Goku? True, a costumed alien battling robots and rescuing cats from trees is a far cry from abductions and tripods, but who gets to decide what is a good alien and what makes a bad one? 

In Men In Black good and bad comes down to treaties and registration, much like with immigration into most modern countries, which is of course the joke, as the opening sequence of the film makes clear. Well Superman is an illegal alien (in more than one sense), but I'm assuming he gets away with it because of all the help he provides, see also Invincible. Mind you, the MIB seem to keep better track of aliens on the planet than SWORD does, and can I just say that Rip Torn is amazing and was a great loss to us all. Torn plays a great mashup of 007's M and Nick Fury, who comes across as a gruff boss and tough taskmaster, but works in an irreverence and comedy to the role that gets overlooked. Although the giant cockroach in the finale isn't all that interesting, Edgar is a delight through the lens of Vincent D'Onofrio's performance; a Skrull Infiltrator, he isn't, but is weird enough to fly under the radar in New York City. The staggering, stammering and drooling creature in a rotting human shell is far more convincing than the farting green things in Doctor Who. 

I can't honestly say that I'm as sold on Men In Black as some are, but I enjoyed it well enough this time through. I like the concept of alien-hunting agents, but, me being me, already have a SuperSystem team to deal with aliens that is more Super Sentai inspired. However, it's such a cool concept that it may crop up somewhere for me down the track, maybe in a different game and setting though. There are plenty of miniatures in suits, and even a few Men In Black around if that's what you want to do, plus tonnes of aliens to run around catching.