All right, here’s the deal… As a writer, I feel like I owe it to you to be honest. So be kind, friends. I haven’t seen Secret Invasion. Boo! Hiss! Yes, I know — I suck, but some of us have articles to write. The show literally came out today. I’ve been writing my little fingers off since this morning so that you can have cool stuff to read. Give me a break.
All that to say, I can’t really pass judgement on the show itself. Though I’m more than happy to talk about the show’s opening credits (which I have seen, thank you vey much). Even more than my journalistic malpractice, it seems that some superhero fans out there are starting to compare Secret Invasion to a DC property that sported a much better introduction.
James Gunn’s Peacemaker has iconic opening credits. Is it weird? Sure. Random? Of course it is, but at least it’s original. Where the HBO series shines, Secret Invasion only attempts to imitate. Literally.
That’s because the opening credits for Marvel’s latest Disney Plus series were actually drawn by, wait for it, artificial intelligence. Horrible, I know. Instead of paying an artist or team of artists to create some kickass material for their opening, the house of mouse decided to use some sort of A.I. setup to make their images — and I don’t think I have to tell you why that sucks.
On one hand, I get it. The A.I. art fits with the show’s overall plot of espionage, shape-shifting, and style changes. On the other, using A.I. these days is a real crap shoot. Some people praise it. Some want to destroy it. Others think it’s only a matter of time before we’ll all be hailing our robot overlords. Either way, this probably wasn’t the right move for Secret Invasion.
Deadlines are shrinking. Writers are striking. Quality has been replaced for quantity, and that’s not a good thing. Creatives far and wide are struggling to make ends meet, and while they try to overcome an incredibly volatile job market — companies like Disney aren’t doing much to alleviate the issue. At least on paper.
A while ago I said that a day may come when we would have to start deciding between what types of media we consume – pieces of content that are entirely made by humans, or those that get a little artificial help. Well, it looks like that day has come.
I’m sure Secret Invasion is good. Heck, it might even be great. So I’ll give it a chance, and so should you. Just keep an eye on how much rope you give to any of these industries. It could quickly become a “you give an inch, they take a mile” sort of thing.