Re: POP CULTURE RANTS: Be it comics, movies, animation, manga, anime, graphic or popular novels, if you got a beef, put it here!Just

[CantDraw]

I’m not usually one to enter these discussions, but I’m a fan of both stories. The idea of a nerd-ish boy becoming a wizard is pretty standard (Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, etc.). Assuming that she’s into comics, it wouldn’t surprise me that the idea of an English boy with glasses becoming a wizard could have come from BoM, but that’s pretty much were the similarities end (although, I don’t remember Tim’s childhood – it’s been a long time since I read it).

The themes of both stories are very different, as well as the mythology. Also, their characters develop along different paths. Gaiman deals more in archetypes, Rowling is more character-driven. Gaiman is anti-Western/post-modern literature, Rowling is pro-Western literature. Of course, since I’m more about characters, I enjoy the Harry Potter series far more than BoM. In fact, out of my top seven list of stories, I only have one that would classify as archetypal and it’s not one of Gaiman’s.

What’s funny is that I never hear anyone complain that Gaiman borrow’s characters that he didn’t create from DC Comics, as well as other places, into his stories. Not that I’m complaining either, but if it’s going to be said of Rowling, then it needs to be said of Gaiman, too.