Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 110
January 2, 2013
In Defense of Christians Writing Fiction
Is Christian Fiction harmful? Selfish? There are a growing number of Christians who are writers who will advise it. Consider, Simon Morden who claims that Christian Fiction needs to be torn down, arguing that Christian fiction is basically bad fiction..
Publisher Chila Woychik argues that writing mainstream or crossover fiction is the key to respectability and success.
Finally, Mike Duran argues that "Christian Art" is costing Christians and Conservatives the culture.
All three are suggesting in one way or another that Christian writers need to change the way they approach their work, to write books that will appeal to a more mainstream audience.
My position on the question at the heart of this raging Internet debate is a bit nuanced.
For the record, none of the fiction I write is ever going to be published by a mainstream Christian publisher such as Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, or Bethany House. It is weird in every way, difficult to market in every way, and sometimes I believe that God inspires me with all the story ideas that are difficult to publish. (I have Dystopian Fiction, Man Lit, Christian Superhero Fiction, etc.) and some of my writing-particularly non-fiction is for secular markets.
I say all that, to lay out my personal stake. My stance is a little different. I believe that each writer should write the story they have in the style they are comfortable with.
I would be the last person to suggest that Simon Morden needs to work the Four Spiritual Laws into their crossover novel. There are many times that such an ending would not feel right to a writer. All stories should be written by Christian writers for the Glory of God, but they don't need to be explicit on the Christian point and many authors make their living that way.
On the same token, there are some writers whose purpose and style is much more direct in its Christian content and there is no reason that they should be forced to censor the Christian content of their stories like its something shameful. Obviously, there are ways to go over the top or to write badly when doing Christian fiction, just like there are ways with any other type of fiction. I believe in authors writing what they are called to write.
The suggestion is often that writing Christian Fiction or any sort of Christian sub-cultural items is selfish and neglectful of the wider world around us.
This misses a couple of points. Perhaps, the biggest is that fiction is entertainment and entertainment is hardly an altruistic enterprise. The second point is that Christian Fiction can often be a form of ministry as well as instruction to Christians.
The argument that Christian Fiction is narrowcast to Evangelical Christians assumes that because one is an Evangelical Christian, you have a solid biblical worldview and second, you have no needs that cannot be met by secular fiction.
I'd suggest that both are wrong. In fact, research by Barna has found that Christians lacks a biblical worldview and this is as big a problem as the issues in the wider culture. To that end, writers and entertainers who write works that strengthen and foster that biblical worldview are making a serious contribution to culture.
Secondly, I think that story can be healing. There are many great works of Christian fiction that speak to people's heartaches and pain and can bring healing through the uniquely Christian way they address issues that many people face.
Certainly, good crossover fiction or even clean mainstream fiction can have positive effects that Mike Duran says and I will not argue against writers who choose this route. Indeed, some of my own fiction could go into the crossover category becuase I write what I have and don't try to bend stories either. However, I think the acknowledgment of cross-over fiction does not require the denigration of Christian Fiction and those who labor hard to minister and entertain their readers.
Of course, there's that whole issue of fame and fortune which Ms. Woychik raises and I will address that in my next post.
Publisher Chila Woychik argues that writing mainstream or crossover fiction is the key to respectability and success.
Finally, Mike Duran argues that "Christian Art" is costing Christians and Conservatives the culture.
All three are suggesting in one way or another that Christian writers need to change the way they approach their work, to write books that will appeal to a more mainstream audience.
My position on the question at the heart of this raging Internet debate is a bit nuanced.
For the record, none of the fiction I write is ever going to be published by a mainstream Christian publisher such as Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, or Bethany House. It is weird in every way, difficult to market in every way, and sometimes I believe that God inspires me with all the story ideas that are difficult to publish. (I have Dystopian Fiction, Man Lit, Christian Superhero Fiction, etc.) and some of my writing-particularly non-fiction is for secular markets.
I say all that, to lay out my personal stake. My stance is a little different. I believe that each writer should write the story they have in the style they are comfortable with.
I would be the last person to suggest that Simon Morden needs to work the Four Spiritual Laws into their crossover novel. There are many times that such an ending would not feel right to a writer. All stories should be written by Christian writers for the Glory of God, but they don't need to be explicit on the Christian point and many authors make their living that way.
On the same token, there are some writers whose purpose and style is much more direct in its Christian content and there is no reason that they should be forced to censor the Christian content of their stories like its something shameful. Obviously, there are ways to go over the top or to write badly when doing Christian fiction, just like there are ways with any other type of fiction. I believe in authors writing what they are called to write.
The suggestion is often that writing Christian Fiction or any sort of Christian sub-cultural items is selfish and neglectful of the wider world around us.
This misses a couple of points. Perhaps, the biggest is that fiction is entertainment and entertainment is hardly an altruistic enterprise. The second point is that Christian Fiction can often be a form of ministry as well as instruction to Christians.
The argument that Christian Fiction is narrowcast to Evangelical Christians assumes that because one is an Evangelical Christian, you have a solid biblical worldview and second, you have no needs that cannot be met by secular fiction.
I'd suggest that both are wrong. In fact, research by Barna has found that Christians lacks a biblical worldview and this is as big a problem as the issues in the wider culture. To that end, writers and entertainers who write works that strengthen and foster that biblical worldview are making a serious contribution to culture.
Secondly, I think that story can be healing. There are many great works of Christian fiction that speak to people's heartaches and pain and can bring healing through the uniquely Christian way they address issues that many people face.
Certainly, good crossover fiction or even clean mainstream fiction can have positive effects that Mike Duran says and I will not argue against writers who choose this route. Indeed, some of my own fiction could go into the crossover category becuase I write what I have and don't try to bend stories either. However, I think the acknowledgment of cross-over fiction does not require the denigration of Christian Fiction and those who labor hard to minister and entertain their readers.
Of course, there's that whole issue of fame and fortune which Ms. Woychik raises and I will address that in my next post.
January 1, 2013
Is It Time for Untold Tales of Spider-man Volume 2?
In October 1994, Marvel first had the brilliant idea of replacing Peter Parker as Spider-man by revealing that Peter Parker was, in fact, a clone of a guy named Ben Reilly, who was set to become Spider-man. The saga dragged on for 26 month across four different Spider-man magazines and fans were not pleased with the bizarre tinkering and flouncing around with their favorite wall crawler.
With all the turmoil and fan angst, Marvel introduced the Untold Tales of Spider-man. The Untold Tales of Spider-man was written by Kurt Busiek who wrote a series of tales taken from earlier in Peter Parker's career when Spider-man was fun to read. The series continued to run throughout the entirety of the clone saga, closing up shop in October 1997, but with warm regards from fans of Peter Parker.
If Marvel keeps it's current problematic "superior" Spider-man going on too long, it may find a market for another batch of "Untold Tales."
With all the turmoil and fan angst, Marvel introduced the Untold Tales of Spider-man. The Untold Tales of Spider-man was written by Kurt Busiek who wrote a series of tales taken from earlier in Peter Parker's career when Spider-man was fun to read. The series continued to run throughout the entirety of the clone saga, closing up shop in October 1997, but with warm regards from fans of Peter Parker.
If Marvel keeps it's current problematic "superior" Spider-man going on too long, it may find a market for another batch of "Untold Tales."
December 30, 2012
Raising Spider-Girl
I wrote recently about The First Couple Spider-girl books. What made these stories of the teenage May "Mayday" Parker discovering her identity and struggling with whether to become Spider-girl is that she's a good kid.
Clearly in superhero and science fiction, writers often make the mistake of writing characters it's hard to empathize with: Adrenaline junkie teenage boys who really have no regard for Mom and Dad.
Mayday is quite the opposite. In Spider-Girl, we meet May as someone who is responsible and loves her parents, and wants to respects them. Her challenge is this: her parents want her to stay away from the danger of being Spider-girl, but having learned that great power becomes with great responsibility, she feels compelled to pursue it. Thus, her urge to honor her parents leaves her conflicted between being the type of person her parents taught her to be and obeying their literal instructions.
The answer to what she should do as a teenage girl living in her parents house is pretty clear cut from a Christian perspective as even Christ and went subjected to his own parents.
However, I would say the bigger question may be for May's parents, particularly her father: Is he doing the right thing? Leaving aside the question of hypocrisy (i.e. he was after all the original web-slinging teenager), his initial refusal to bless May's efforts as Spider-girl can raise a bigger point that many Christian parents can relate to.
Childhood: Making Up for Lost Time
Throughout most of human history, long childhoods have been a luxury. Children, even pre-pubescent kids have been expected to grow up fast. In the best of circumstances, this merely involved a lot of chores to help the family enterprise. In the worst cases, it meant struggling to survive in a cruel and dangerous world.
This continued really into this century in this country and in much of the world, it goes on to one extent or another to this day through sweatshops, poverty, and human trafficking.
In America, particularly in the middle class, we've begun to be blessed with more full childhoods. In an ideal circumstance, children can ease into adulthood rather through their teenage years than being thrust out.
Yet, as is the case with human beings we often go too far to the other extreme. For many people, pre-adulthood has gone into overtime. While legal culpability may occur at eighteen, we don't really expect people to grow up and start families of their own until their mid-to-late twenties. In between is a wide swath of permissible irresponsibility.
Often this is encouraged by parents who will continue to do things for their children such as managing their relations with businesses. Yes, there are people in their twenties who can't have an issue with their cable company or bank without mom and dad insisting on making the call.
We recognize this extended childhood in many ways including the new health care law that allows unmarried children up to age 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance policies.
Yet, Spider-girl is hardly alone in portraying teen protagonists taking on very serious adult responsibilities. Why is it that these stories sell so well? I'd suggest that one reason is that beneath any perceived laziness, immaturity, and superficiality, there are many teens who sense something wrong with our current state of affairs. They crave that responsibility, but they have no idea how to achieve it and in many cases if they try to take it, they fail because they've not been prepared. This is a tragedy. When parents don't prepare kids for adulthood, it's just sad.
The Prepared Teenager
Of course in the case of Mayday, she'd been prepared fairly well. She'd been taught values and she's been taught to be conscientious and compassionate. But can or should a teenager be a superhero?
We often assume teenagers are not good for much or just naturally can't undertake any big tasks because they are just teenager. But many teenagers have done amazing things throughout history.
When he was fourteen, John Quincy Adams helped his father represent the United States in Russia.
When she was fifteen, Joan of Arc led the French Army to victory over the occupying English forces.
When he was seventeen, David slew the giant Goliath.
In addition to these historic feats, throughout time many people in their mid-to-late teens have started farms, gotten married, and built businesses. I've even this phenomena among families today as the children in one family I know have started successful businesses and non-profits.
Of course, many parents can be skittish. After retiring as Spider-man to help raise his daughter, it's understandable that he'd be skittish. And while most kids don't want to swing across skyscrapers using only home-made web fluid to keep them in the sky, some kids come up with ideas that scare parents.
I remember when I was starting a teen pro-life group, two sisters joined our nascent group and were able to go to one meeting before their parents yanked them out. While their parents were pro-life, they really didn't want their daughters involved beyond going to the annual Life Chain because it was a difficult and highly charged issue.
While it was certainly the parents right to do this, I wonder if they were right to do it. Clearly the daughters came of their own volition because the issue touched their hearts. Taken too far, "the stay safe," you're too young to handle it can slowly eat away at us. It's quite the opposite of God's charge for us "to be courageous" and to "fear not."
Of course, this doesn't mean kids should engage in a bunch of undirected activity. Without some adult wisdom, support, and help even the best plans could go awry. They should have mentors and people to guide them, and of course, parents can provide some wisdom in the way they support their young people. I will add that in the MC2 Universe where Spider-girl is set, there is in fact a whole community of superheroes with many older heroes such as The Human Torch and The Thing showing the younger kids the ropes and Spider-girl has many mentors as the series progresses.
While many teens are not being prepared to make a difference, when a teen has something to offer, and has the right outlook, attitudes, and values, I think Christian parents would be wise to be supportive and encouraging.
Clearly in superhero and science fiction, writers often make the mistake of writing characters it's hard to empathize with: Adrenaline junkie teenage boys who really have no regard for Mom and Dad.
Mayday is quite the opposite. In Spider-Girl, we meet May as someone who is responsible and loves her parents, and wants to respects them. Her challenge is this: her parents want her to stay away from the danger of being Spider-girl, but having learned that great power becomes with great responsibility, she feels compelled to pursue it. Thus, her urge to honor her parents leaves her conflicted between being the type of person her parents taught her to be and obeying their literal instructions.
The answer to what she should do as a teenage girl living in her parents house is pretty clear cut from a Christian perspective as even Christ and went subjected to his own parents.
However, I would say the bigger question may be for May's parents, particularly her father: Is he doing the right thing? Leaving aside the question of hypocrisy (i.e. he was after all the original web-slinging teenager), his initial refusal to bless May's efforts as Spider-girl can raise a bigger point that many Christian parents can relate to.
Childhood: Making Up for Lost Time
Throughout most of human history, long childhoods have been a luxury. Children, even pre-pubescent kids have been expected to grow up fast. In the best of circumstances, this merely involved a lot of chores to help the family enterprise. In the worst cases, it meant struggling to survive in a cruel and dangerous world.
This continued really into this century in this country and in much of the world, it goes on to one extent or another to this day through sweatshops, poverty, and human trafficking.
In America, particularly in the middle class, we've begun to be blessed with more full childhoods. In an ideal circumstance, children can ease into adulthood rather through their teenage years than being thrust out.
Yet, as is the case with human beings we often go too far to the other extreme. For many people, pre-adulthood has gone into overtime. While legal culpability may occur at eighteen, we don't really expect people to grow up and start families of their own until their mid-to-late twenties. In between is a wide swath of permissible irresponsibility.
Often this is encouraged by parents who will continue to do things for their children such as managing their relations with businesses. Yes, there are people in their twenties who can't have an issue with their cable company or bank without mom and dad insisting on making the call.
We recognize this extended childhood in many ways including the new health care law that allows unmarried children up to age 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance policies.
Yet, Spider-girl is hardly alone in portraying teen protagonists taking on very serious adult responsibilities. Why is it that these stories sell so well? I'd suggest that one reason is that beneath any perceived laziness, immaturity, and superficiality, there are many teens who sense something wrong with our current state of affairs. They crave that responsibility, but they have no idea how to achieve it and in many cases if they try to take it, they fail because they've not been prepared. This is a tragedy. When parents don't prepare kids for adulthood, it's just sad.
The Prepared Teenager
Of course in the case of Mayday, she'd been prepared fairly well. She'd been taught values and she's been taught to be conscientious and compassionate. But can or should a teenager be a superhero?
We often assume teenagers are not good for much or just naturally can't undertake any big tasks because they are just teenager. But many teenagers have done amazing things throughout history.
When he was fourteen, John Quincy Adams helped his father represent the United States in Russia.
When she was fifteen, Joan of Arc led the French Army to victory over the occupying English forces.
When he was seventeen, David slew the giant Goliath.
In addition to these historic feats, throughout time many people in their mid-to-late teens have started farms, gotten married, and built businesses. I've even this phenomena among families today as the children in one family I know have started successful businesses and non-profits.
Of course, many parents can be skittish. After retiring as Spider-man to help raise his daughter, it's understandable that he'd be skittish. And while most kids don't want to swing across skyscrapers using only home-made web fluid to keep them in the sky, some kids come up with ideas that scare parents.
I remember when I was starting a teen pro-life group, two sisters joined our nascent group and were able to go to one meeting before their parents yanked them out. While their parents were pro-life, they really didn't want their daughters involved beyond going to the annual Life Chain because it was a difficult and highly charged issue.
While it was certainly the parents right to do this, I wonder if they were right to do it. Clearly the daughters came of their own volition because the issue touched their hearts. Taken too far, "the stay safe," you're too young to handle it can slowly eat away at us. It's quite the opposite of God's charge for us "to be courageous" and to "fear not."
Of course, this doesn't mean kids should engage in a bunch of undirected activity. Without some adult wisdom, support, and help even the best plans could go awry. They should have mentors and people to guide them, and of course, parents can provide some wisdom in the way they support their young people. I will add that in the MC2 Universe where Spider-girl is set, there is in fact a whole community of superheroes with many older heroes such as The Human Torch and The Thing showing the younger kids the ropes and Spider-girl has many mentors as the series progresses.
While many teens are not being prepared to make a difference, when a teen has something to offer, and has the right outlook, attitudes, and values, I think Christian parents would be wise to be supportive and encouraging.
December 29, 2012
Spider-Girl Reviews: Vols. 3 and 4
Turning to some more happy times for Spider-persons:
Spider-Girl - Volume 3: Avenging Allies by Tom DeFalco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This volume is perhaps the darkest collection of Spider-girl stories yet. There was the story, "Misery" an Annual that sees Spider-girl disintegrate. Although, it had a bit of a cop out ending it showed signs of more trouble to come.
Spider-girl faces Dark Devil and a mysterious vigilante called Kaine. Spider-girl stumbles somewhat badly and her allies seem somewhat unreliable. Meanwhile, her social life is in shambles and her dedication to being spider-girl is tested.
At the same time, she undergoes a test to become a member of the New Avengers and actually goofs around when one of the new young Avengers much to the chagrin of Nova.
Overall, while there were some weaker stories here, this was still a great collection. Spider-girl is establishing herself as a hero, but different than her father as she's a much more social superhero, seeking out team ups and teams.
Spider-Girl Vol. 4: Turning Point by Tom DeFalco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As told in the title, this book represents a huge turning point for the Spider-girl character. Based on Issues 17-21 and Issue 1/2 of Spider-girl, this helps Mayday confront her doubts and establish herself as a hero.
Issue 17 is simply awesome. It features the original Spider-man, in his 40s and with only one real leg, swinging back into battle to try and protect his daughter. But this issue really becomes May's triumph where she establishes herself as a true superhero after issues full of self-doubt after losing to Kaine. This time he faces him again, though with different results. From the high point of Issue 17, the stories that follow almost have to be anti-climatic, but she hits a solid stride taking on new villains such as the Raptor in Issue 18. Issue 19 is a bit of a cheat as 2/3 of the book is dedicated to character's daydreaming but the last 1/3 sets up Issue 20 which is a fight with the new Green Goblin.
Throughout the issues, we're once again reminded that this is a much more social Spider than her father. She has team ups with Darkdevil and Spider-man in Issue 17, Buzz in Issue 18, the Golden Goblin in Issue 20, and the Gold Goblin and Lady Hawk in Issue 21. Overall, this continues to be a fun and very readable superhero world.
View all my reviews
Spider-Girl - Volume 3: Avenging Allies by Tom DeFalcoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This volume is perhaps the darkest collection of Spider-girl stories yet. There was the story, "Misery" an Annual that sees Spider-girl disintegrate. Although, it had a bit of a cop out ending it showed signs of more trouble to come.
Spider-girl faces Dark Devil and a mysterious vigilante called Kaine. Spider-girl stumbles somewhat badly and her allies seem somewhat unreliable. Meanwhile, her social life is in shambles and her dedication to being spider-girl is tested.
At the same time, she undergoes a test to become a member of the New Avengers and actually goofs around when one of the new young Avengers much to the chagrin of Nova.
Overall, while there were some weaker stories here, this was still a great collection. Spider-girl is establishing herself as a hero, but different than her father as she's a much more social superhero, seeking out team ups and teams.
Spider-Girl Vol. 4: Turning Point by Tom DeFalcoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
As told in the title, this book represents a huge turning point for the Spider-girl character. Based on Issues 17-21 and Issue 1/2 of Spider-girl, this helps Mayday confront her doubts and establish herself as a hero.
Issue 17 is simply awesome. It features the original Spider-man, in his 40s and with only one real leg, swinging back into battle to try and protect his daughter. But this issue really becomes May's triumph where she establishes herself as a true superhero after issues full of self-doubt after losing to Kaine. This time he faces him again, though with different results. From the high point of Issue 17, the stories that follow almost have to be anti-climatic, but she hits a solid stride taking on new villains such as the Raptor in Issue 18. Issue 19 is a bit of a cheat as 2/3 of the book is dedicated to character's daydreaming but the last 1/3 sets up Issue 20 which is a fight with the new Green Goblin.
Throughout the issues, we're once again reminded that this is a much more social Spider than her father. She has team ups with Darkdevil and Spider-man in Issue 17, Buzz in Issue 18, the Golden Goblin in Issue 20, and the Gold Goblin and Lady Hawk in Issue 21. Overall, this continues to be a fun and very readable superhero world.
View all my reviews
On the Good Old Days of Spider-man
My wife and I have been watching the 1980 Spider-man Animated series on Netflix.
It was a fun episode.
I remarked to my wife regarding the recent Spider-man Issue. "This was the good old days when Peter Parker was Spider-man."
She responded, "These were the good old days when Peter Parker was Peter Parker."
It was a fun episode.
I remarked to my wife regarding the recent Spider-man Issue. "This was the good old days when Peter Parker was Spider-man."
She responded, "These were the good old days when Peter Parker was Peter Parker."
December 26, 2012
On the Death of a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man
So, it's on the news *spoiler alert* that Peter Parker dies in Issue #700 of the Amazing Spider-man.
Fans are outraged as Marvel continues its multi-year struggle with being able to properly manage its marquee character. I've written about the One More Day story line before but it appears that Marvel's gone even lower-killing Spider-man in the cancer-ridden body of Otto Octavius, Spider-man most dangerous foe going back to Amazing Spider-man #3. This same supervillain who has spent decades endangering human lives realizes how noble Spider-man really was after seeing all of Peter Parker's memories and becomes the "Superior Spider-man."
Really?
The appeal of Peter Parker as the hard luck every man who struggles and at times fails and comes back to do the right thing is replaced by Dr. Octopus, a supervillain who murdered Peter Parker and decides after it's too late that Parker's a noble guy after all and decides to carry it on but is determined that he will be superior in every way to the original Spider-man.
I mean really?
And if you go back to the horrific One More Day story line, you'll recall that the whole point of that was to make Spider-man younger by dissolving the marriage.
And what can make a hero younger than having him possessed by an elderly supervillain?
Of course, as my brother Josh mentioned, in the superhero world, the pearly gates have a revolving door. Some of the heroes that have died and returned have included Superman, Batman, The Flash (Barry Allen), The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Captain America, and the Human Torch, so there will most likely be a return for Peter Parker, although right now Marvel's acting like there's some finality in this.
Marvel has taken a title that prior to "One More Day" sold 120,000 copies an issue down to one that sells less than 60,000. Once the hoopla over Issue #700 is over and the Superior Spider-man is launched, what will the sales be? I think Aquaman will be selling more copies. (Aquaman sells about 53,000 copies a month.)
To me, this re-iterates two key points. First, the comic book companies really don't deal well with characters like Spider-man and Superman who aren't meant to be dark anti-heroes. Marvel and DC respectively have managed to crash the comic books of two of the most popular superheroes on Earth.
Secondly, the comic book companies are poor guardians of superhero heritage. There's are a good reason why smart young comic book writers are increasingly going indie/creator owned. To aspiring young comic artists, the smart advice if you get about your character and world integrity remains the same: Go Indie Young Man.
Fans are outraged as Marvel continues its multi-year struggle with being able to properly manage its marquee character. I've written about the One More Day story line before but it appears that Marvel's gone even lower-killing Spider-man in the cancer-ridden body of Otto Octavius, Spider-man most dangerous foe going back to Amazing Spider-man #3. This same supervillain who has spent decades endangering human lives realizes how noble Spider-man really was after seeing all of Peter Parker's memories and becomes the "Superior Spider-man."
Really?
The appeal of Peter Parker as the hard luck every man who struggles and at times fails and comes back to do the right thing is replaced by Dr. Octopus, a supervillain who murdered Peter Parker and decides after it's too late that Parker's a noble guy after all and decides to carry it on but is determined that he will be superior in every way to the original Spider-man.
I mean really?
And if you go back to the horrific One More Day story line, you'll recall that the whole point of that was to make Spider-man younger by dissolving the marriage.
And what can make a hero younger than having him possessed by an elderly supervillain?
Of course, as my brother Josh mentioned, in the superhero world, the pearly gates have a revolving door. Some of the heroes that have died and returned have included Superman, Batman, The Flash (Barry Allen), The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Captain America, and the Human Torch, so there will most likely be a return for Peter Parker, although right now Marvel's acting like there's some finality in this.
Marvel has taken a title that prior to "One More Day" sold 120,000 copies an issue down to one that sells less than 60,000. Once the hoopla over Issue #700 is over and the Superior Spider-man is launched, what will the sales be? I think Aquaman will be selling more copies. (Aquaman sells about 53,000 copies a month.)
To me, this re-iterates two key points. First, the comic book companies really don't deal well with characters like Spider-man and Superman who aren't meant to be dark anti-heroes. Marvel and DC respectively have managed to crash the comic books of two of the most popular superheroes on Earth.
Secondly, the comic book companies are poor guardians of superhero heritage. There's are a good reason why smart young comic book writers are increasingly going indie/creator owned. To aspiring young comic artists, the smart advice if you get about your character and world integrity remains the same: Go Indie Young Man.
December 22, 2012
Do Superheroes Need Nicknames?
I was talking with my wife and co-author Andrea Graham about publishing a collection of the first two Adventures of Powerhouse novellas. She suggested a title of a book that would be evocative of "The Man of Steel." She asked, "What's Powerhouse the Man of?"
I've thought about it and I haven't come up with a good secondary Superhero nickname for him. It's seems odd that a Superhero would have a nickname, but it seems to flow out if, particularly the Golden and Silver Age.
Some of the nicknames I've noted:
Superman:
Man of Steel
Man of Tomorrow
The Last Son of Krypton
Supes
Batman:
The Dark Knight
Caped Crusader
Bats
Robin:
The Boy Wonder
The Flash:
Fastest Man Alive
The Scarlet Speedster
Wonder Woman:
Mighty Amazon
Iron Man:
Shellhead
Spider-man:
Webhead
Web-slinger
Now most of these nicknames come from the Golden and Silver Age. Some of them have been retired. Some were completely unnecessary (anyone seen any real weak Amazons wandering around?) but it's a great superhero tradition and I'll have to find someway to fulfill it.
I've thought about it and I haven't come up with a good secondary Superhero nickname for him. It's seems odd that a Superhero would have a nickname, but it seems to flow out if, particularly the Golden and Silver Age.
Some of the nicknames I've noted:
Superman:
Man of Steel
Man of Tomorrow
The Last Son of Krypton
Supes
Batman:
The Dark Knight
Caped Crusader
Bats
Robin:
The Boy Wonder
The Flash:
Fastest Man Alive
The Scarlet Speedster
Wonder Woman:
Mighty Amazon
Iron Man:
Shellhead
Spider-man:
Webhead
Web-slinger
Now most of these nicknames come from the Golden and Silver Age. Some of them have been retired. Some were completely unnecessary (anyone seen any real weak Amazons wandering around?) but it's a great superhero tradition and I'll have to find someway to fulfill it.
December 18, 2012
Book Reviews: A Look at Spider-Girl
Note: Spider-girl was a character published in Marvel's MC2 Universe from 1998-2010. In this post, I include my review of the Spider-girl trade paperback which contained Issues 0-8 as well as the 2nd Digest which contained issues 6-11 due to the overlap:
Spider-Girl by Tom DeFalco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In 1998, Marvel created an alternate universe called the MC2 Universe with stories written by Tom DeFalco. It envisioned future heroes carrying on for many of the old standbys. In this alternate universe, the undisputed star was Spider-girl (May "Mayday" Parker), the daughter of Spider-man and Mary Jane Watson. In the mainstream continuity at the time, Mary Jane miscarried their only child. Spider-girl imagined that the child had lived and that she developed spider powers in High School. Peter Parker had retired as Spider-man after losing a leg and was now a police scientist.
This Trade Paperback Contains Issues 0-8 of the Spider-girl series beginning with the return of the Green Goblin in Issue #0 and continuing on as Spider-girl meets up with villains old and new including Venom, Crazy Eight, Spyral, and the Dragon King while also meeting up with the universe's heroes including Dark Devil, the Fantastic Five, and Lady Hawk.
As great as the superhero action is, the story is also a great dramatic story due to her parents disapproval of her being Spider-girl. If she were one of those rebellious kids, this really wouldn't be much of a story. However, what makes her story work so well is that May is really a good kid who respects her parents. When she's disrespectful to her mom in response to a question she corrects herself. Ultimately she's torn between doing what her parents said and living out the values that they taught her and given Spider-man's credo of, "With great power comes great responsibility," we know what that teaching is.
It's not ultimately just a great superhero story, but a great human drama that parents and kids can relate to.
There are of course some minor problems. The most glaring is that the artwork for Issue 0 is really poor. However, it did pick up in the regular run in Issues 1-8. So overall, this is a great book that I highly recommend.
Spider-Girl Vol. 2: Like Father, Like Daughter by Tom DeFalco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great stories as Spider-girl continues to grow as a character including how Spider-man retired to take care of family and Peter growing to accept May in the role.
Loved the trip back to the 1960s and the meeting of Spider-girl and her father's younger self, although they overplayed sexism as such in the 60s.
Still, Spider-girl continues to be a great read so far.
View all my reviews
Spider-Girl by Tom DeFalcoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In 1998, Marvel created an alternate universe called the MC2 Universe with stories written by Tom DeFalco. It envisioned future heroes carrying on for many of the old standbys. In this alternate universe, the undisputed star was Spider-girl (May "Mayday" Parker), the daughter of Spider-man and Mary Jane Watson. In the mainstream continuity at the time, Mary Jane miscarried their only child. Spider-girl imagined that the child had lived and that she developed spider powers in High School. Peter Parker had retired as Spider-man after losing a leg and was now a police scientist.
This Trade Paperback Contains Issues 0-8 of the Spider-girl series beginning with the return of the Green Goblin in Issue #0 and continuing on as Spider-girl meets up with villains old and new including Venom, Crazy Eight, Spyral, and the Dragon King while also meeting up with the universe's heroes including Dark Devil, the Fantastic Five, and Lady Hawk.
As great as the superhero action is, the story is also a great dramatic story due to her parents disapproval of her being Spider-girl. If she were one of those rebellious kids, this really wouldn't be much of a story. However, what makes her story work so well is that May is really a good kid who respects her parents. When she's disrespectful to her mom in response to a question she corrects herself. Ultimately she's torn between doing what her parents said and living out the values that they taught her and given Spider-man's credo of, "With great power comes great responsibility," we know what that teaching is.
It's not ultimately just a great superhero story, but a great human drama that parents and kids can relate to.
There are of course some minor problems. The most glaring is that the artwork for Issue 0 is really poor. However, it did pick up in the regular run in Issues 1-8. So overall, this is a great book that I highly recommend.
Spider-Girl Vol. 2: Like Father, Like Daughter by Tom DeFalcoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great stories as Spider-girl continues to grow as a character including how Spider-man retired to take care of family and Peter growing to accept May in the role.
Loved the trip back to the 1960s and the meeting of Spider-girl and her father's younger self, although they overplayed sexism as such in the 60s.
Still, Spider-girl continues to be a great read so far.
View all my reviews
December 17, 2012
The Rise of Super Posers
In last week's blog post, I wrote last weekabout attempts to dilute Superman's character and moral goodness to make him more relatable.
Perhaps, this shouldn't surprise us. After all, it seems like we're all being asked to spin ourselves whether it's from book marketing to getting ahead on the job.
Some times, strategies to market or sell a product are warranted, wise, and necessary.. Yet, I can't help but notice that there are times when advice to market yourself end up eliminating the self you're supposed to be marketing.
There are many examples of this but some of the best ones come to Christians. Christian Writers in particular are often advised to do things that force works not to be who they are.
There are so many debates within the Christian Author Community that add up to some people telling some other people to do things in a sort of cookie cutter way that's not true to who they are.
Some think it's practically immoral and a sin to target books to a specifically Christian audience. That there needs to be an evangelistic focus for the book, particularly for novels. And if your book is deemed as too Christian and too narrowcast, you're not doing your job as an author, you're failing to reach the world, and are both a publishing failure and a bad Christian. (implied)
The truth is that there is a large market of readers for many types of work and many Christian readers that are willing to read stuff that's more explicitly Christian. And writers should write what they are called to write.
Imagine Ted Dekker sitting down to write prairie romances or Janette Oke having written a Cyberpunk thriller. It'd be just as absurd as imagining Superman as a post-modern angsty blogger.
Of course, authors aren't the only ones under pressure. Many a church has undergone radical changes that don't look right. When a pastor says dude or dresses casual on Sunday service and is really not comfortable with it, it shows and man is it awkward.
This is, I fear, the result of many Church growth books whose well-meaning authors end up communicating that they have the way to "do Church" and offer their patterns as if they got them engraved in stone off a mountain.
So, we're seeing a lot of copying and imitation. Before I had my GPS, there was one part of town I got lost in all the time because I'd be confused because there were several recently built churches that looked practically identical and I'd think it was another landmark and make wrong turns.
Rather than trying to copy someone's mechanics, I think what ultimately matters in Christians is love and genuineness. There are churches where people are called by their first name (or even dude) and there are churches where people are called "brother or sister." There are churches with all sorts of talent and all sorts of styles of worship. What ultimately matters is love and being genuine, and if we can get that right, it will do more than all the cookie cutter designs in the world.
Perhaps, this shouldn't surprise us. After all, it seems like we're all being asked to spin ourselves whether it's from book marketing to getting ahead on the job.
Some times, strategies to market or sell a product are warranted, wise, and necessary.. Yet, I can't help but notice that there are times when advice to market yourself end up eliminating the self you're supposed to be marketing.
There are many examples of this but some of the best ones come to Christians. Christian Writers in particular are often advised to do things that force works not to be who they are.
There are so many debates within the Christian Author Community that add up to some people telling some other people to do things in a sort of cookie cutter way that's not true to who they are.
Some think it's practically immoral and a sin to target books to a specifically Christian audience. That there needs to be an evangelistic focus for the book, particularly for novels. And if your book is deemed as too Christian and too narrowcast, you're not doing your job as an author, you're failing to reach the world, and are both a publishing failure and a bad Christian. (implied)
The truth is that there is a large market of readers for many types of work and many Christian readers that are willing to read stuff that's more explicitly Christian. And writers should write what they are called to write.
Imagine Ted Dekker sitting down to write prairie romances or Janette Oke having written a Cyberpunk thriller. It'd be just as absurd as imagining Superman as a post-modern angsty blogger.
Of course, authors aren't the only ones under pressure. Many a church has undergone radical changes that don't look right. When a pastor says dude or dresses casual on Sunday service and is really not comfortable with it, it shows and man is it awkward.
This is, I fear, the result of many Church growth books whose well-meaning authors end up communicating that they have the way to "do Church" and offer their patterns as if they got them engraved in stone off a mountain.
So, we're seeing a lot of copying and imitation. Before I had my GPS, there was one part of town I got lost in all the time because I'd be confused because there were several recently built churches that looked practically identical and I'd think it was another landmark and make wrong turns.
Rather than trying to copy someone's mechanics, I think what ultimately matters in Christians is love and genuineness. There are churches where people are called by their first name (or even dude) and there are churches where people are called "brother or sister." There are churches with all sorts of talent and all sorts of styles of worship. What ultimately matters is love and being genuine, and if we can get that right, it will do more than all the cookie cutter designs in the world.
December 10, 2012
The Decline of Superman: Let Superman Be Superman
Continuing our list of the things that D.C. Comics and screen producers are doing that tend to sabotage the fortunes of the man of steel.
The final item is:
3) Compromising Superman
One thing Superman can't be is compromised but that's what film creators and comic artists have done.
A couple key issues illustrate that.
First, in 2006 movie, Superman Returns, rather than standing for, "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," Superman was said to stand for, "Truth, Justice, All that stuff."
Defenders of the producers were quick to point out that Truth, Justice, and the American Way were not part of the original Superman credo. Originally, it was "Truth and Justice." During World War II, the American Way was added in and it was done again in the 1950s during the Cold War.
This was true as far as it goes, but I'd suggest that there are two ways it compromises on Superman mythos.
The first is that American Way was far more ingrained into the Superman ethos. It was used in the 1988 Ruby-Spears Superman Cartoon series. As recently as 2001, Action Comics #775, one of the greatest Superman stories of the modern age was entitled, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" 2001 is long after the cold war. More importantly as Superman Returns held itself up as a sequel to the original Superman movie from 1978, the phrase was used there.
The second point is that it lacked any sort of principle. Consider the times when Superman didn't stand for "The American Way" specifically. In the post-war radio series Superman stood for tolerance, in the 1960s cartoons, he stood for, "Trust, Justice, and Freedom." In the 1990s TV series, he stood for "Truth and Justice."
All of these are real ideals. "All that stuff" isn't an ideal. It's a marketing ploy to make the movie appeal to international audiences and others who are uncomfortable with patriotism. The result? Superman Returns was out grossed by every flag-waving Spider-man flick. Having a Superman movie that uses something other than "the American Way" as a credo could work? Having a Superman movie that compromises itself to win box office approval? Not so much.
Another example is the issue of sexual integrity. Throughout the Superman mythos, he's been a character whose primary concern has been others. Most of the time, there was simply no time for serious romance. In the last few decades,that's changed. In many cases, this added to the mythos and complexity to the character.
However, it can also have some negative consequences when premarital sex is introduced to the scene.
In Superman II, Clark Kent gives up being Superman so that he can be with Lois Lane and has sex with her. A bad move. Only when the world faced really serious danger did he come to his senses and take up his responsibility. If nothing else, that certainly warps the Messianic imagery so central to who Superman is.
Of course, the sex scene in Superman II ends with Superman having an illegitimate son in Superman Returns that he doesn't see until the child is several years old. Yes Superman Returns dares to feature a Superman who is an absentee father who abandoned the world as well as his son.
However, in the 1990s Superman TV show saw a reversal. The issue of sex was broached in that show and Lois finds out as she and Clark are making plans for their wedding that Clark/Superman has saved himself for marriage.
Then of course, we have Smallville which features Clark Kent having premarital sex with both Lana Lang and then Lois Lane. The series ends with Clark and Lois still unmarried but forever in a relationship.
Now clearly even in Smallville and the Superman movies of the 1980s and 21st Century, Superman certainly is not as promiscuous as your average man, but that misses the point of the Superman character.
Superman is not a little bit better than the rest of us. He's a character whose supposed to embody moral excellence and virtue. He's supposed to be someone who is too good to be true-but actually is.
What is most often presented is a compromised character who is defined by other characters such as, "Superman is less dark than Batman." "Superman is more decent than, more noble than other characters."
Yes, if we're grading on a curve than that's enough. But Superman is supposed to raise a high standard not jump over the low hurdles laid out by other characters. Sadly, when Superman is just "Other heroes lite," he's fails as a character.
The answer to the problem with Superman may be simple, "Let Superman be Superman." Not dark, brooding, chained up, cynical, or any of the rest but optimistic, decent, honorable, and principled.
The power of the first Superman Movie was that it succeeded in restoring in adults, the wonder of childhood and the optimism and integrity of a simpler time of life.
And if Superman's ever going to come back, it will be because comic and film writers decided to let the Man of Steel be the hero he's meant to be.
The final item is:
3) Compromising Superman
One thing Superman can't be is compromised but that's what film creators and comic artists have done.
A couple key issues illustrate that.
First, in 2006 movie, Superman Returns, rather than standing for, "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," Superman was said to stand for, "Truth, Justice, All that stuff."
Defenders of the producers were quick to point out that Truth, Justice, and the American Way were not part of the original Superman credo. Originally, it was "Truth and Justice." During World War II, the American Way was added in and it was done again in the 1950s during the Cold War.
This was true as far as it goes, but I'd suggest that there are two ways it compromises on Superman mythos.
The first is that American Way was far more ingrained into the Superman ethos. It was used in the 1988 Ruby-Spears Superman Cartoon series. As recently as 2001, Action Comics #775, one of the greatest Superman stories of the modern age was entitled, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" 2001 is long after the cold war. More importantly as Superman Returns held itself up as a sequel to the original Superman movie from 1978, the phrase was used there.
The second point is that it lacked any sort of principle. Consider the times when Superman didn't stand for "The American Way" specifically. In the post-war radio series Superman stood for tolerance, in the 1960s cartoons, he stood for, "Trust, Justice, and Freedom." In the 1990s TV series, he stood for "Truth and Justice."
All of these are real ideals. "All that stuff" isn't an ideal. It's a marketing ploy to make the movie appeal to international audiences and others who are uncomfortable with patriotism. The result? Superman Returns was out grossed by every flag-waving Spider-man flick. Having a Superman movie that uses something other than "the American Way" as a credo could work? Having a Superman movie that compromises itself to win box office approval? Not so much.
Another example is the issue of sexual integrity. Throughout the Superman mythos, he's been a character whose primary concern has been others. Most of the time, there was simply no time for serious romance. In the last few decades,that's changed. In many cases, this added to the mythos and complexity to the character.
However, it can also have some negative consequences when premarital sex is introduced to the scene.
In Superman II, Clark Kent gives up being Superman so that he can be with Lois Lane and has sex with her. A bad move. Only when the world faced really serious danger did he come to his senses and take up his responsibility. If nothing else, that certainly warps the Messianic imagery so central to who Superman is.
Of course, the sex scene in Superman II ends with Superman having an illegitimate son in Superman Returns that he doesn't see until the child is several years old. Yes Superman Returns dares to feature a Superman who is an absentee father who abandoned the world as well as his son.
However, in the 1990s Superman TV show saw a reversal. The issue of sex was broached in that show and Lois finds out as she and Clark are making plans for their wedding that Clark/Superman has saved himself for marriage.
Then of course, we have Smallville which features Clark Kent having premarital sex with both Lana Lang and then Lois Lane. The series ends with Clark and Lois still unmarried but forever in a relationship.
Now clearly even in Smallville and the Superman movies of the 1980s and 21st Century, Superman certainly is not as promiscuous as your average man, but that misses the point of the Superman character.
Superman is not a little bit better than the rest of us. He's a character whose supposed to embody moral excellence and virtue. He's supposed to be someone who is too good to be true-but actually is.
What is most often presented is a compromised character who is defined by other characters such as, "Superman is less dark than Batman." "Superman is more decent than, more noble than other characters."
Yes, if we're grading on a curve than that's enough. But Superman is supposed to raise a high standard not jump over the low hurdles laid out by other characters. Sadly, when Superman is just "Other heroes lite," he's fails as a character.
The answer to the problem with Superman may be simple, "Let Superman be Superman." Not dark, brooding, chained up, cynical, or any of the rest but optimistic, decent, honorable, and principled.
The power of the first Superman Movie was that it succeeded in restoring in adults, the wonder of childhood and the optimism and integrity of a simpler time of life.
And if Superman's ever going to come back, it will be because comic and film writers decided to let the Man of Steel be the hero he's meant to be.
Christians and Superheroes
I'm a Christian who writes superhero fiction (some parody and some serious.)
On this blog, we'll take a look at:
1) Superhero stories
2) Issues of faith in relation to Superhero stories
3) Writing Superhe ...more
On this blog, we'll take a look at:
1) Superhero stories
2) Issues of faith in relation to Superhero stories
3) Writing Superhe ...more
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