Page 33, Vol. 1, #17

Super-Reality

As a part of my ongoing crusade to help comics find legitimacy in the public eye, I've occasionally thought about what it is that comics generally do wrong.

For the most part, in this article, when I say comics, I should probably substitute "the superhero genre." I should also note that as I look at this issue, it occurs to me that these same issues are a major part of the reason why some of the best comic stories won't translate to the big screen.

The main problem comics have that makes them distasteful to the general public is not the men in pajamas flying about like fairies. It's not even the often simplistic plot or static characters.

The real problem, as I see it, is that comics, in general, have very little sense of the world changing because of the introduction of extremely new elements, such as, I dunno, physics breaking, magic-wielding gods (literally) walking the earth.

Something like that shows up, and frankly, the world's going to change. A lot. More than just a few news articles and some merchandising.

The closest I've seen comics come to fully acknowledging this fact is in Legends of the DC Universe #2 (way back in March of 1998). Drake, head of LexCorp security, is investigating a series of sabotage acts with Superman's help. When the Man of Steel gives a theory, he likens it to a "30's horror movie" and says "This is crazy! This is like the science fiction books I read as a kid." (This he says to a man who flies and shoots lasers from his eyes). Superman responds "Look around you, Drake. Look at me… look at this world… full of superhumans… aliens and monsters. It's all changing. The world has become crazy. Science fiction is now science fact. This is just another example."

Life simply would not go on as normal with super powered beings running all over the place. Can you imagine the money making potential if any of these guys worked at a normal business? The Flash could get paper work done by hand faster than any computer could. What secretary could compete with that. Yet, it seems that ever superhero wants to work in law enforcement, and that without working on an actual agency's payroll.

Then there's the matter of religion. In JLA, an actual, bona fide angel shows up and this changes no atheist's point of view? Even more to the point, God shows up in some comics. In the… flesh… or whatever (depending on how the comics envisions God) but people don't think he exists. This only gets more complicated when you have characters like Thor, Loki, Wonder Woman, and the like. How do people reconcile their views of monotheism when there are people who are *actual deities* walking around? It doesn't make sense.

I am, perhaps, unfair to comic books. After all, this is a problem with much of wider science fiction. The thing is, good science fiction has, in the last 90 years, mostly learned its lesson. When a new element is added into the mix in a fantasy or science fiction story -- at least a well written one -- the author realizes that it will cause more than a small, localized ripple. When you introduce a new type of science, it will have effects throughout society.

Yet, except in occasional cases, most comics barely even acknowledge the existence of other heroes, even though Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash are all chums. Crossovers are, admittedly, more frequent in the Marvel universe, but still, there always seems to be someone better suited to handle whatever job the protagonist is facing.

Let me give a concrete example. In Superman Returns, Superman almost loses, and in fact, almost dies, because he goes in without help, to a location where Lex has a big pile of kryptonite (to understate the case). Couldn't he have just flown Batman in? I mean, taking Lex and his thugs would have been a 5 to 1 fight, but it's not like Batman couldn't handle that. Then, we call in Wayne Industries to launch the problem (I'm trying not to spoil things) into space, and voila, problem solved.

Just to be fair, we could send Superman to Gotham, too. Who better to take care of things when Scarecrow is releasing crazy gas than Superman (immune to it, presumably, and if not, could simply use his superbreath to blow it all away), who could then literally stop the train with the microwave device with his hands, and smash said device. All of this long before it reaches the central location.

Comics, most of the ones that are published, refuse to think about the consequences of changing the setting. The writing would be much more skilled, the setting more compelling, and the characters more endearing if we can see how they affect the world, more than just being able to nab that robot-using bank robber.

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