Comment About Superheroes
I am posting this response to eclexys ' recent installment of a series of posts about the movie Kick Ass. I feel the need to post comments that are long. I am not sure why I do this.
I have to correct you on the "Superman fighting the KKK" thing. Superman did fight the KKK in one of the radio serials. The episode used real passwords and other inside info that was provided by Stetson Kennedy after he did some undercover work.
This video has the long version of the story (which is really interesting):
The short version is here:
I would like to see those kinds of superheros that you mentioned. In the interest of giving credit where credit is due Marvel comics was a real pioneer in this sense. Spiderman is an imperfect hero, The X-men were created to represent the persecution of Gays, blacks, Jew, or whoever. Marvel had the first black superhero.
When they do deal with issues in superhero comics like the ones you mentioned or the ones I care about, it usually comes out as trite and uninformed.
Mostly for this reason I have given up on Superhero comics and prefer Vertigo. One exception I would like to share is that I tried to go back when I heard about Marvel's Civil War series. The premise intrigued me: The government wants to force all superheroes to unmask and register with the government. Every page I read made me lose brain cells.
The story, or as far as I could muck through, and character revealed that the authors are clearly unfamiliar with issues like human rights and limits on government. There was never even a coherent reason why characters chose one side other that other that I could emphasize with. The authors have no idea why people rebel against their governments or why governments step on peoples rights.
Anyways that is my embittered two cents on the topic of superheroes. I am still waiting for a proper socialist or anarchist superhero. There is a Soviet one called Atomika which has some beautiful art work.
I have to correct you on the "Superman fighting the KKK" thing. Superman did fight the KKK in one of the radio serials. The episode used real passwords and other inside info that was provided by Stetson Kennedy after he did some undercover work.
This video has the long version of the story (which is really interesting):
The short version is here:
I would like to see those kinds of superheros that you mentioned. In the interest of giving credit where credit is due Marvel comics was a real pioneer in this sense. Spiderman is an imperfect hero, The X-men were created to represent the persecution of Gays, blacks, Jew, or whoever. Marvel had the first black superhero.
When they do deal with issues in superhero comics like the ones you mentioned or the ones I care about, it usually comes out as trite and uninformed.
Mostly for this reason I have given up on Superhero comics and prefer Vertigo. One exception I would like to share is that I tried to go back when I heard about Marvel's Civil War series. The premise intrigued me: The government wants to force all superheroes to unmask and register with the government. Every page I read made me lose brain cells.
The story, or as far as I could muck through, and character revealed that the authors are clearly unfamiliar with issues like human rights and limits on government. There was never even a coherent reason why characters chose one side other that other that I could emphasize with. The authors have no idea why people rebel against their governments or why governments step on peoples rights.
Anyways that is my embittered two cents on the topic of superheroes. I am still waiting for a proper socialist or anarchist superhero. There is a Soviet one called Atomika which has some beautiful art work.