raul grau
Jun 11, 2005, 04:50 pm
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/oneshots1.jpg" hspace=10 align=left border=0 alt="One-Shots logo">By Patrick A. Miller (Ricky), antedivilius@yahoo.co.uk
Superpowers and the Super-Powers
There is one scene from Kurt Busiek's Avengers/JLA that stuck in my mind: Superman and Captain America compared their personal views, and while Cap claimed that he always felt that he didn't do enough, Superman stated that he was afraid of doing too much.
It's sensible, if you think about it. Superman (at least the way he is written today) is so uber-powerful that there's practically no limit to the things he could achieve. Think about World War II. Superman could have singlehandedly defeated the combined German and Japanese troops in less then 2 days. He could have as well, because he was around at that time, no matter what modern continuity tries to tell you.
There's a very practical reason why he didn't, and neither did any other superhero. Have real history and comic-book history diverge too far, and you'll lose future readers, who get confused by all the fictional history. Try to imagine for a moment that the Avengers had stepped in 10 years ago and ended the first Iraq War. They might even have arrested Saddam Hussein, and brought him before an international court. Now jump ahead 10 years to the present, and explain to new readers why there can't be a second Iraq War in the Marvel Universe.
Well, there are a number of ways to avoid the problem once it starts. You could just keep silent on the issue, avoiding the topic in further stories, but what's the point of writing the story in the first place, if it later gets retconned out? (Or you just bring Saddam back, no matter what happened to him and his country. They're doing the same thing with super-villains all the time, after all! When was the last time Norman Osborn stayed dead?)
However, as big an issue as accessibility might be, it has never stopped a comic book writer. (I remember the time I explained to my girlfriend who Rachel Summers actually is. I can still see that look on her face, the one you normally reserve for the mentally unstable.) I find it a far more likely explanation that superhero comics are an escapist's medium. Readers seem far more interested in Spider-Man beating the crap out of Electro or the Green Goblin for the seven-zillionth time than in asking the big questions, like "How come those supervillains can't be kept under arrest". There seems to be even less interest in questions like "What would happen if Superman got tangled up in world politics?".
Well, there is some. There have been several daring writers who tackled this and similar issues, and most of them received pretty good feedback from their fans.
The most iconic of these stories is probably Kingdom Come. Alex Ross' astonishing art made the book an instant classic, but it was Mark Waid's writing that cannot be praised enough. He showed us a world ruled by superhumans (you can't really apply the term 'superhero' in the context of this book) - a world ruled by superhumans devoid of any respect for normal humans. They had learned many years early that nothing could stop them, except other superhumans, so they just didn't care about normals anymore. Superman's return brings back a certain degree of hope, but it soon becomes obvious that he can't solve the problem either, because he's become just as blind to the needs of common people as the vigilantes he tries to stop.
In the end, the built-up tensions break loose and the two warring factions of superhumans tear each other apart in a battle that may well consume the very Earth that Superman and his allies set out to save. The ultimate lesson to be learned from Kingdom Come is, cliche as it might be, "with great power comes great responsibility". Not only the responsibility to use your power, but also the wisdom to stand down and not impose your will on the world. Superman and the other heroes from Kingdom Come forgot that - they lost all sense of moderation and let loose with all the power they had, never questioning their legitimacy. They very nearly destroyed all they hoped to preserve.
And therefore Superman said to Captain America, "I'm sometimes afraid I'm doing too much". He has the power to shape the world in his image, and if he did so, he might well cause more harm than good.
There's a thing called democracy. You might have heard of it. It's mostly about everyone having a vote, and how bad it is when someone makes decisions against the will of the majority of people. That's exactly what went wrong in Kingdom Come.
The obvious solution seems to be obedience. People elect governments. So, logically, a superhuman that follows his government's orders ought to be able to avoid this kind of trouble. Sadly, comic-book governments seem to be utterly corrupt, hell-bent on exploiting their superhuman retainers against the benefit of the people.
There's a strong tradition of dysfunction there, reaching back to the days of The Dark Knight Returns, and its sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again. The all-mighty regime had outlawed superheroes, but kept a bunch of the most powerful in action as their obedient lap-dogs. Lost between a strong sense of patriotism and fear of retaliation against the people they love, Superman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman kept following governmental orders, no matter how callous and immoral they were.
Supreme Power is a current repetition of the same story: The government lays its hands on all the superhuman resources they can get, tries to enforce its will on them, and then eventually enforce its will through them over the rest of the world. Mark Milton (so basically, Superman again...) eventually grows tired of being used and manipulated, so he just leaves. There's nothing the government can do about it. Only after they lose control over him do they realize the power that he actually holds. No one can oppose him, since he could destroy the American Nation single-handedly if he choose to.
The Ultimates 2 revolves around a similar topic. The Ultimates are the US government's superhuman strike force, stepping in wherever American interests are at stake. The irony is in the slow build-up. The team starts out as a group of pretty heroic individuals in Volume 1, but then gets slowly corrupted into this ambiguous governmental agency. From the very beginning of Volume 2, we're told that there's a traitor among them, but when the writer eventually has the traitor speak, we finally understand that it's not him that has turned bad, but the organization that he's working for. He might very well be the true hero of the story.
Yet another great example of governmental miss-use of superhuman resources can be found in Mark Millar's run on The Authority. The US government takes over the team at one point, getting complete control over them and using them to crack down on dissidents and other 'unpopular' people.
I'd also like to briefly mention former Soviet heroes, who've posed a serious threat to Western lives while following direct commands from their governments. Some people will disagree, but there's no real difference between one of "our boys" ordered to take down enemy targets and the enemy's soldiers ordered to take down "our boys".
So, in conclusion, governmental control over superheroes seems to be a pretty bad idea. Not that it ever worked, though. When Mark Milton decided that he had had enough, there was nothing the government could do to hold him back. When Ultimate Thor announced the hidden agendas of SHIELD to the world, the only thing that could stop him were his former team mates. When the government decided to take down the Authority, the only way they could attempt it was with another superpowered wacko.
So, once again we learn that nothing can stop superhumans except other superhumans, which might very well lead to the only possible solution to keep superhumans in check: Super-HEROES.
Who stops Magneto every time he threatens mutual annihilation? - The X-Men.
Who stops Kang every time he tries to conquer the world? - The Avengers.
Who stops Galactus every time he wants to eat Earth? - The Fantastic Four.
Who could stop Mark Milton if he decided to declare War on the US? - Only another superhuman of sufficient power.
Basically, the only thing that could keep superhumans with an agenda in line would be a big enough crowd of superhumans set out to hold up the status quo. So let's be glad that so many of our favourite spandex-clad idols support the status quo unquestioningly, and so few of them act like the Authority, toppling dictators and freeing prisoners from concentration camps...
<center><hr width=75%></center>
Patrick A. Miller does believe that there is still a lot of potential to be explored in the impact superheroes could have on the world they exist in. He's currently writing a story called Blue Soul in which he shows superheroes taking a personal interest in global politics.
<center><hr width=75%></center>
One-Shots is an ongoing, revolving column, ready and willing for your contributions. Please read over our <a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32883" target="_blank">guidelines</a> first, and then send your submissions to Raul Grau at columns@comixfan.cjb.net.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and are not reflective of Comixfan or its other staff in general.
Superpowers and the Super-Powers
There is one scene from Kurt Busiek's Avengers/JLA that stuck in my mind: Superman and Captain America compared their personal views, and while Cap claimed that he always felt that he didn't do enough, Superman stated that he was afraid of doing too much.
It's sensible, if you think about it. Superman (at least the way he is written today) is so uber-powerful that there's practically no limit to the things he could achieve. Think about World War II. Superman could have singlehandedly defeated the combined German and Japanese troops in less then 2 days. He could have as well, because he was around at that time, no matter what modern continuity tries to tell you.
There's a very practical reason why he didn't, and neither did any other superhero. Have real history and comic-book history diverge too far, and you'll lose future readers, who get confused by all the fictional history. Try to imagine for a moment that the Avengers had stepped in 10 years ago and ended the first Iraq War. They might even have arrested Saddam Hussein, and brought him before an international court. Now jump ahead 10 years to the present, and explain to new readers why there can't be a second Iraq War in the Marvel Universe.
Well, there are a number of ways to avoid the problem once it starts. You could just keep silent on the issue, avoiding the topic in further stories, but what's the point of writing the story in the first place, if it later gets retconned out? (Or you just bring Saddam back, no matter what happened to him and his country. They're doing the same thing with super-villains all the time, after all! When was the last time Norman Osborn stayed dead?)
However, as big an issue as accessibility might be, it has never stopped a comic book writer. (I remember the time I explained to my girlfriend who Rachel Summers actually is. I can still see that look on her face, the one you normally reserve for the mentally unstable.) I find it a far more likely explanation that superhero comics are an escapist's medium. Readers seem far more interested in Spider-Man beating the crap out of Electro or the Green Goblin for the seven-zillionth time than in asking the big questions, like "How come those supervillains can't be kept under arrest". There seems to be even less interest in questions like "What would happen if Superman got tangled up in world politics?".
Well, there is some. There have been several daring writers who tackled this and similar issues, and most of them received pretty good feedback from their fans.
The most iconic of these stories is probably Kingdom Come. Alex Ross' astonishing art made the book an instant classic, but it was Mark Waid's writing that cannot be praised enough. He showed us a world ruled by superhumans (you can't really apply the term 'superhero' in the context of this book) - a world ruled by superhumans devoid of any respect for normal humans. They had learned many years early that nothing could stop them, except other superhumans, so they just didn't care about normals anymore. Superman's return brings back a certain degree of hope, but it soon becomes obvious that he can't solve the problem either, because he's become just as blind to the needs of common people as the vigilantes he tries to stop.
In the end, the built-up tensions break loose and the two warring factions of superhumans tear each other apart in a battle that may well consume the very Earth that Superman and his allies set out to save. The ultimate lesson to be learned from Kingdom Come is, cliche as it might be, "with great power comes great responsibility". Not only the responsibility to use your power, but also the wisdom to stand down and not impose your will on the world. Superman and the other heroes from Kingdom Come forgot that - they lost all sense of moderation and let loose with all the power they had, never questioning their legitimacy. They very nearly destroyed all they hoped to preserve.
And therefore Superman said to Captain America, "I'm sometimes afraid I'm doing too much". He has the power to shape the world in his image, and if he did so, he might well cause more harm than good.
There's a thing called democracy. You might have heard of it. It's mostly about everyone having a vote, and how bad it is when someone makes decisions against the will of the majority of people. That's exactly what went wrong in Kingdom Come.
The obvious solution seems to be obedience. People elect governments. So, logically, a superhuman that follows his government's orders ought to be able to avoid this kind of trouble. Sadly, comic-book governments seem to be utterly corrupt, hell-bent on exploiting their superhuman retainers against the benefit of the people.
There's a strong tradition of dysfunction there, reaching back to the days of The Dark Knight Returns, and its sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again. The all-mighty regime had outlawed superheroes, but kept a bunch of the most powerful in action as their obedient lap-dogs. Lost between a strong sense of patriotism and fear of retaliation against the people they love, Superman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman kept following governmental orders, no matter how callous and immoral they were.
Supreme Power is a current repetition of the same story: The government lays its hands on all the superhuman resources they can get, tries to enforce its will on them, and then eventually enforce its will through them over the rest of the world. Mark Milton (so basically, Superman again...) eventually grows tired of being used and manipulated, so he just leaves. There's nothing the government can do about it. Only after they lose control over him do they realize the power that he actually holds. No one can oppose him, since he could destroy the American Nation single-handedly if he choose to.
The Ultimates 2 revolves around a similar topic. The Ultimates are the US government's superhuman strike force, stepping in wherever American interests are at stake. The irony is in the slow build-up. The team starts out as a group of pretty heroic individuals in Volume 1, but then gets slowly corrupted into this ambiguous governmental agency. From the very beginning of Volume 2, we're told that there's a traitor among them, but when the writer eventually has the traitor speak, we finally understand that it's not him that has turned bad, but the organization that he's working for. He might very well be the true hero of the story.
Yet another great example of governmental miss-use of superhuman resources can be found in Mark Millar's run on The Authority. The US government takes over the team at one point, getting complete control over them and using them to crack down on dissidents and other 'unpopular' people.
I'd also like to briefly mention former Soviet heroes, who've posed a serious threat to Western lives while following direct commands from their governments. Some people will disagree, but there's no real difference between one of "our boys" ordered to take down enemy targets and the enemy's soldiers ordered to take down "our boys".
So, in conclusion, governmental control over superheroes seems to be a pretty bad idea. Not that it ever worked, though. When Mark Milton decided that he had had enough, there was nothing the government could do to hold him back. When Ultimate Thor announced the hidden agendas of SHIELD to the world, the only thing that could stop him were his former team mates. When the government decided to take down the Authority, the only way they could attempt it was with another superpowered wacko.
So, once again we learn that nothing can stop superhumans except other superhumans, which might very well lead to the only possible solution to keep superhumans in check: Super-HEROES.
Who stops Magneto every time he threatens mutual annihilation? - The X-Men.
Who stops Kang every time he tries to conquer the world? - The Avengers.
Who stops Galactus every time he wants to eat Earth? - The Fantastic Four.
Who could stop Mark Milton if he decided to declare War on the US? - Only another superhuman of sufficient power.
Basically, the only thing that could keep superhumans with an agenda in line would be a big enough crowd of superhumans set out to hold up the status quo. So let's be glad that so many of our favourite spandex-clad idols support the status quo unquestioningly, and so few of them act like the Authority, toppling dictators and freeing prisoners from concentration camps...
<center><hr width=75%></center>
Patrick A. Miller does believe that there is still a lot of potential to be explored in the impact superheroes could have on the world they exist in. He's currently writing a story called Blue Soul in which he shows superheroes taking a personal interest in global politics.
<center><hr width=75%></center>
One-Shots is an ongoing, revolving column, ready and willing for your contributions. Please read over our <a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32883" target="_blank">guidelines</a> first, and then send your submissions to Raul Grau at columns@comixfan.cjb.net.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and are not reflective of Comixfan or its other staff in general.