The Superhero Myth & Unchecked Power

[Reverend Jax]

So I was at Borders sitting in the isle with a few friends, reading comic Trades last night, cause I'm cheap, plus reading with pictures is easier than all-word book thingies.

 

I picked up Classic Spider-Man (ishes #1-20, plus annual #1). I had already read issue #1 in my middle school years, so I flipped around, and found the origin of The Scorpions. I read it, and came to the part where Jameson realized he was saved from the thing he created (the Scorpion) by the thing he created it to destroy (Spidey), and was soaking in the irony. He went on to say (in monologues form) how he still hated Spider-Man, cause The Scorpoin made him realized how unchecked power is bound to become a public danger.

 

I realized then that I couldn't agree more with Jameson. Unchecked and uncontrollable power is one of the most dangerous things in the world. I then thought: Is that what the Superhero myth is based on? That a man with unchecked power, would chose a noble and selfless existance of sacrifice for the greater good, unlike almost all examples in history where unchecked power leads to corruption and abuse?

 

Is that what makes Superheroes so fasinationg, and so popular? What do you all think?

[Jables]

I whole-heartedly agree (not speaking for everyone of course). I mean the 'neo-realism' that themes most books these days is all very chic, & worth a read, but characters like Supes & Captain America are a vestige of old-skool values (correct me if I'm wrong on the Cap score). Realism is great, but that's what the outside world's for. Escapism truly is a world where power may not always corrupt & there's still a little black & white.

[The NZA]

Good thread...yeah, that's the main thing about Supes, right? He coudl rule this place, but he choses to serve, no matter how much shit gets taken from him.

I do, however, enjoy the realistic ones...Rising Stars and volume 1 of Powers both focus (like Watchmen) on what superheroes could be like were they to live in real society, and the downfalls of god-like beings who solve their problems with violence. Greg Rucka's recent run on Wolverine has been great, cause he's showing Logan all the thigns about society that cant be fixed with claws.

 

Invincible is another; a direct look at what if that Superman figure had an ulterior motive, owing loyalties to his home planet..? But again, i go for Rising Stars, because it shows how a paranoid populace, and more importantly, a power-hunger military industrial complex goes to great lengths to neutralize anything potentioally more powerful than it, even if that something has a clear, and postiive, social agenda.

 

But..my thing is this: I like how Daredevil is human. He strives for justice and all, but he's not Batman, and he fucks it up once in a while: he'll try to kil Bullseye for killing his girlfriends, and that's very human. Miller - and now Bendis - have really made Matt three-dimensional by breaking him down, showing his flaws, yet showing him rise to the top when he's no reason to do so...there's one part where someone observes that DD's city has taken everything from him: his father, his vision (much worse than being born blind, id imagine), his loves, yet he still feels loyalty to it, even when it seems to want the evil kingpins he spends his nights fighting.

 

That kind of nobility, i can respect; superman's...feels flat, and i cant relate to it, to be honest. There's been a handful of stories based on him that felt more than one dimenstional, you know?

[The NZA]

Yup....really nothing more to say after an answer that strong.

 

Seriously though, Jax: you should really read Watchment sometime, ill lend it to you wheever you're down. Alan Moore and some of comic's finest material ever written, way ahead of its time & i think youd rather enjoy it. That, and Rising Stars, which I dont have in trade yet....

[IguanaDon?]

I gotta' admit. I had the urge for a bit of the Punisher last night.

[Lycaon]

Actually, from what I've seen, even Superman's gone off the deep end and threatened the world before. I seem to remember picking up a comic story arc some years back where he had created some superman robots to serve his "interests."

[The NZA]

Shit, that sounds like it woulda been an interseting arc too...lemme know if you figure out which one it was.

[Lycaon]

I think it happened in 1999. Some Character named Dominus manipulated Superman's perception of reality.