The Superhero Thread
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In Block you’ll
find references to superheroes cropping up all over the place like pop up ads
(though less frequent and slightly less annoying perhaps). I’m a latecomer to
graphic novels and won’t pretend to be any kind of expert so if you’re a geek
on the subject you needn’t seek me out and stone me for my opinions. I’m hardly
worth it and I’m quite stubborn when I want to be. I know what I like and I
won’t bow my head in shame hiding from all you literary snobs out there either.
You know who you are, those of you who see this kind of novel as a lesser art
form. You needn’t read any further, I have nothing to say to you.
I only started reading them because at that time I felt I didn’t have enough time in my day to get stuck into a full length novel. It was suggested to me that graphic novels might provide temporary relief by being less of a time investment and more digestible. Well by the time I’d read Maus and Watchmen I realised that that wasn’t necessarily true but by then it was too late. I was hooked. Well, not exactly hooked but sufficiently satisfied (in an “ooh that’s rather nice, let’s try that again sometime” kind of way). I have my partner to thank for the spiritual enlightenment because it was from there that the advice came. Perhaps it was part of an elaborate plot to get me to stop talking in the evenings by burying my head in speech bubbles. I sought out more. I tried not to think about the fact that this meant browsing the teenage section of my local library.
I only started reading them because at that time I felt I didn’t have enough time in my day to get stuck into a full length novel. It was suggested to me that graphic novels might provide temporary relief by being less of a time investment and more digestible. Well by the time I’d read Maus and Watchmen I realised that that wasn’t necessarily true but by then it was too late. I was hooked. Well, not exactly hooked but sufficiently satisfied (in an “ooh that’s rather nice, let’s try that again sometime” kind of way). I have my partner to thank for the spiritual enlightenment because it was from there that the advice came. Perhaps it was part of an elaborate plot to get me to stop talking in the evenings by burying my head in speech bubbles. I sought out more. I tried not to think about the fact that this meant browsing the teenage section of my local library.
I must also give credit to The Path. It took me back to the days of watching old late night Japanese and Chinese movies with my dad. I really liked this comic series. I fell in love with the bold drawing style and really appreciated Bart Sears' written piece within the book which explained his 'visual storytelling' techniques. His description of the artistry became part of my thought process when dealing with certain scenes in my own novel, particularly in dealing with the character of Cas or when I wanted to make a picture more vivid or energetic. When it comes to the art of storytelling I don't see a huge difference between graphic novels and literary novels. You still have to employ similar techniques and take your characters on a certain kind of narrative journey in order to engage your readers fully.
Let me tell you which traditional superheroes I like. I like Batman. I like Spider-Man (although I'm more a fan of the movies than of the comic book itself). All credit to its creator Stan Lee but in that format it just doesn't appeal to me. Moving swiftly over that point, Spider-Man is generally believed to be the everyman blah blah blah. He represents us all. He has his flaws, he struggles financially, struggles to pay his rent, struggles with relationships, struggles with his own identity blah blah blah. In other words, he remains essentially human even after he’s bitten by the spider. That’s key to his accessibility but I’m not saying anything new here. It’s nothing new to comic fans at least. To the lay person whose only introduction to Spider-Man has been via the movies it’s just a rough outline as to why we all like him so much. In a nutshell, despite his superhero status he has problems that we can all relate to.
On the subject of Batman I won’t be drawn into the debate over whether he’s a true superhero or not. I know he’s rich. I know he buys his gadgets and does not have any superpowers outside that of being a skilled fighter but I like him anyway; the more modern incarnation that is, the one that flies solo without Robin. You’ll catch me reading The Dark Knight Returns and watching the dark and dangerous Christian Bale. Again, he’s flawed just like us, likes a bit of a scrap, doesn’t know when to stop and is pretty uncompromising.
I’m not going to bang on about what makes a trademark superhero or how they’ve been used as a propaganda tool since the beginning of time or about their social/cultural impact or the sheer length and breadth of subject matter etc. There are books out there that do that a whole lot better than I can. Suffice it to say it’s all very interesting stuff and I’ve touched on some elements of it in Block in a round about kind of way that suits my purposes.
I have been known to read a little Akira. As well as his Dark Knight I’m not averse to a teeny bit of Frank Miller in his Sin City days and the old school detectives so you’ll find one of the chapters briefly peppered with that style of narrative (dames and suckers and all that stuff).