Huh.
All the nominations for the bloggies Australia and New Zealand category are Australian. Well, I think they are. I didn't check that last one on account of explicit content. But it's called Aussielicious so I think it's a safe bet.
This makes me feel terribly patriotic and competetive. Come on New Zealand bloggers! Pick up your game! Sheesh.
In other news, I read a fantastic Superman comic on the weekend. Recommended by Hix, it's a Kurt Busiek (Astro City) title called Secret Identity. Basically it's set in something like our world, where Superman and Batman and everyone are famous because of comics. A kid is born to the Kents in Kansas and his hair is dark, so they name him Clark. A hilarious joke for everyone but him.
Then when he turns 18 or so, he actually gets the superpowers and has to decide what to do about it. He likes privacy, so he decides to go with the secret identity thing. It follows him throughout his life; teen, twenties, middle age, old age and tells a rather charming tale about trying to keep a part of your life completely normal when this other part is taken up with extraordinary feats and keeping the government from finding out who you are.
It got me thinking about how 'uncool' it is to like Superman. Like, people always complains that he isn't interesting because he's "Just a big boy scout" and it always kinda rankled with me that that's a valid reason.
Sure, Superman has a moral code that he sticks to pretty strictly, and that might make him a little less interesting than say, Punisher or the Sandman. But that's only one aspect of who he is, and it's a trait shared with all sorts of other heroes.
Is it because he's got all the Big Name superpowers? Flight, invulnerability, heat vision, freezey breath, Xray vision, etc. Is a hero less interesting if they can do less? I think his abilities are balanced by his weakness: exposure to kryptonite hurts him and then he dies. And if you've seen Smallville you know that that kryptonite stuff is everywhere!
But my point is, there is more to him and that is what makes him an interesting character. For one, he is an alien, and can never truly integrate into human society. By virtue of what he can do, he is excluded. The outsider perspective can be interesting to explore because everyone at some point, feels like they are on the outside looking in.
Point two: because he is so powerful, and one of the first superheroes invented, he can act as a metaphor for all heroes*, for the human condition and for all sorts of things like war, peace and justice. This is useful for storytelling purposes, and one thing that secret identity did very well, making him a metaphor for everyone on some level.
Point three: Because he has a strict moral code, he is a contrast to other characters. Obviously Lex Luthor, but also Batman. Batman himself has a strict no-guns-no-killing code, but he uses intimidation tactics and fear as weapons. Superman is more about fighting the big fight and keeping himself clean as he does it. He is noble, and noble is something worthwhile in a role model.
So yeah. I'm a Superman fan, and I am not ashamed of it. I think he is more than a Big Boy Scout, and I like stories that have him in.
Soundtrack to this entry: Superman ~ Five for Fighting
*(Kurt does an interesting thing with this in Astro City, in a short story called "Flying")
Posted by jenni at January 29, 2007 05:15 PM