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| Social Crusader and Sci-Fi Adventurer |
How do you make Superman relatable?
Chris Cornell background music brooder
Budweiser
beer drinker
Getting
called “dick spaz” as an adolescent
Letting
Dances with Wolves become Dances with Twister
Jesus
(Gotta hit the audience on the head with that one multiple times. Subtlety is lost on Snyder)
Smile only once in costume
Snap the
villain’s neck (A little at odds with the whole “He’s really Jesus” thing, no?
Snap the
villain’s neck
Snap the
villain’s neck
Neck. Snap.
Relatable… really? I’ve never had to kill anyone. I don’t
think it’s very likely I’ll be in situation that requires me to decide between
life and death. I have no interest in firing a gun, drone, or any other
projectile weapon upon a member of the animal kingdom. Call me an East Coast
liberal bleeding heart, but to borrow a phrase from one writer of word
balloons, “with great power comes great responsibility.”
When it comes to power, Batman is Warner’s money maker. What
makes him more relatable than Supes? I hate hearing “he’s got no superpowers!”
Bruce Wayne is a rich guy who selflessly cares and protects the innocent.
That’s a superpower!
I love my Batman. Sure, he’s just a man, but he will always
require a greater suspension of disbelief than Superman. Batman is a wonderful
adolescent power trip. Sleep all day, stay out all night chasing fetish babes
on rooftops, having your father figure still make your bed and meals, being
adored by your younger brother, and the car… “Chicks dig the car.”
“Clark Kent
has a boss”—Grant Morrison
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| All Star Superman #1 Don't mess with Perry White |
When I first read that in an interview while still in
college I realized how much Superman is Everyman. Batman will never settle
down. Superman can’t wait to marry Lois (again). Bruce Wayne’s teen years were
spent becoming ninja James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. Clark
had to work a part time job to have enough money for renting a tux so he could
take Lana Lang to the prom.
I don’t want to see sad Superman, beer Superman, or killer
Superman. If Hollywood
really wanted a fresh take on the character they should have checked out Grant
Morrison’s relaunch of Action Comics
for the New 52. Of course he had me from the start when Morrison said he was
going for a Bruce Springsteen Superman. “Tramps like us.” Jeans and a t-shirt.
Visually, very different, and so was the guy behind the S. Young, brash, and
cocky in the best way. He got to be reckless and cut loose. It’s been too long
since the world got to see a tough and confident Superman.
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| YOU'LL BELIEVE A MAN CAN SMILE |
Since 9/11
fiction has had it bad for the post traumatic or emo hero. Not only comics like
Idenity Crisis and The Ultimates, and the rest of Mark
Millar’s resume, but TV’s 24 and Lost had more posturing and
indecisiveness than in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Heroes become less heroic and villains get more sympathetic. Think of all the Breaking Bad addicts I’m sure were sore
Bryan Cranston won’t be the next Lex Luthor.
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| Action Comics #1 |
My frustration is with the writers, companies, and
network/film execs tearing down society’s last examples of moral virtue. When a
Wolverine movie has a lower body count than Man
of Steel we know we’re really not in Kansas
anymore. The real people that get paid to bully fictional characters under the
belief that Iron Man, Green Arrow, and Supes need to kill because it’s more
realistic is a self defeating battle. Superheroes aren’t real and aren’t bound
by the rules and physics of reality.
Let’s look into the very first issue of Action Comics 1938. Superman saves an innocent person from being
executed. What honestly separated the superhero from the pulp noir avengers and
detectives was a code of not killing. Sure, there’s the badly drawn first year
of Bob Kane Batman, and propaganda WWII when killing enemies of the state or
nation was commonplace, but for the majority of their 75 year history killing
is a no no for superheroes.
Back in the heyday of the great Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams run
on Green Lantern/Green Arrow they told the story of what would happen if a
superhero caused someone to unintentionally die. The hero Green Arrow should
have stuck with his trick arrows. Nevertheless, GA was so wrought with guilt he
ended up shaving his head, but keeping the goat beard and joining a mountain monastery
to atone for his sins.
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| "The Killing of an Archer!" circa 1972 |
Since then a lot of bad writers have had Green Arrow ditch
the boxing glove or handcuff arrow for a sure kill shot.
With that said, Season 2 of TV’s Arrow was a great turnaround from the boring watered down Batman
clone of the first season. It started out with a new mission statement and
promise of trick arrows and no killing. Sure, it stumbled a little (killing
Veritgo, Laurel still being a damsel and the flattest character, Amanda
Waller & Suicide Squad), but I can’t deny I didn’t look forward each week
to seeing the show really become a well made superhero show by the end finale, cumulating
in the hero not killing the villain, as well as a season packed with Black Canary love, Roy Harper becoming Red Arrow, Barry (I've seen the amazing Flash pilot) Allen, Summer Glau as Ravager, Dr. T.M. Morrow (Season 3 crossover with The Flash, please have the supers fight Amazo), and Deathstroke being big enough of a Big Bad to qualify as page to live action perfect!
A bit of a ramble, but I think it boils down to this…
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| Arrow S2 > Man of Steel |
and some Irish Punk Rock for good measure.
“I could be a soldier
Go out there and fight to save this land
Be a people's soldier
Paramilitary gun in hand
I won't be no soldier
I won't take no orders from no-one
Stuff their f*#%ing armies
Killing isn't my idea of fun”
Go out there and fight to save this land
Be a people's soldier
Paramilitary gun in hand
I won't be no soldier
I won't take no orders from no-one
Stuff their f*#%ing armies
Killing isn't my idea of fun”
Hah! Perfect points here. If you're going to have a hero who doesn't kill, he CAN'T FREAKING KILL (on purpose). The Death of an Archer was a great example of when the paradigm itself fails, everything else comes when the writers fail the paradigm.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't watched Season 2 -- I tend to wait for Netflix. But I'm itching to see what they've done and am actually surprised how much I'm enjoying a DC title about a character I nominally know little about...
Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I dig Green Arrow, I can't think too many great stories that have him in a solo act. Since his 70s reinvention as an ex millionaire on a soapbox fighting it out with the more conservative Green Lantern, he really shines as a "Fat Cat" hating character when he's surrounding by the Justice League or the Republican National Convention, or in brief cameos ala TDKR. I give the makers of Arrow a lot of credit for being able to make Ollie the main focus, though they wisely create a "City of Heroes" in S2. That's all I'll say for spoilers
I knew little about Green Arrow before Arrow. Only guest star appearances (and then, the biggest part I've actually read that included him was TDKR, so not a great example). I've followed up after the show -- still not interested in the character, but very happy with the show.
DeleteI dislike archers in comics, for some reason, but over the past year have come to love the show Arrow and the current Hawkeye comic. Obviously there is talented writing and storytelling that's the big pull, but it does seem like a strange, pointy convergence for me.
But still. A bow and arrow? Come on.
Lol. Just a little suspension of disbelief is required. But then again, I grew up watching Kevin Costner a lot as Robin Hood on cassette, along with the Disney Fox version so I had a soft spot of archers long before I was introduced to Tolkien in school.
DeleteI was able to check out the first volume of the recent Hawkeye run when I was home last. Amazing that all Matt Fraction and the artist had to do to make Hawkeye appealing to me for the first time was to get him out of that horrible purple suit and let the guy relax in sweatpants on his days off from the Avengers. Really smart stuff. I just had a little prob with Clint seemingly kill off a mobster with a playing card in the 1st or 2nd issue.