Comic Week: "I'm Superman, lol"

Carrying on our Comic Week feature, Senior Reviewer, Thomas Barr, takes a look at the Superman comic-book series. A character so handsome it hurts, Barr is trying desperately to hate him…

So there’s this guy at school. He’s tall, handsome, athletic, and is never seen with a hair out of place. Every fibre of your cerebral cortex is begging you to hate him. Yet on the odd moments of shared social interaction you begrudgingly find him to be infuriatingly charming and frustratingly likeable. Well, now you know how I feel about Superman. He’s the main man. Numero Uno. You ask the man on the street who his favourite superhero is and chances are he’s going to pay lip service to the Man of Steel. So how is it that what is essentially a pro-American, anti-Fascism propaganda weapon has gone on to become the poster boy for superheroes?

When you ask the question ‘What is it that’s so special about Superman?’ its turns out to be a harder question than it seems. I mean he was the first, the archetype, but that’s not really saying much. Being first doesn’t mean that you’re the best. If I’m on my way to Costa Blanca, I’ll take cramped economy class in a Boeing 737 any day over an admittedly roomier journey in something knocked up by the Wright brothers. He may have been the trailblazer, introducing tropes like superpowers, villains and secret identities, but if you look at Superman’s world now it all seems kind of, well, stupid.

“I’m power hungry and I’m going to defeat you!”
“Well thats embarrassing for you because I’m Superman, lol”
“Yeah well I’m using this [Kryptonite/Magic/Sunblock] to weaken you”
“Oh no that’ll bother me for like 20 minutes while you gloat, then something will happen, I’ll be back to normal and I’ll punch you, really hard, in the face.”

This is what most Superman stories simply boil down to. This is problematic as readers become engaged with characters during their moments of struggle and Superman is just too damn powerful to be interesting. That’s the problem with a character whose power is physicall; the demonstration of it is just not enough to hold the attention of anyone who is older than ten. Maybe back in the 30’s the sight of a man leaping over a tall building in a single bound was mind-blowing, but our modern-day superheroes are three-dimensional with elements of pathos and innovative powers.

Despite all this I just can’t help but have a sizable amount of affection for the big guy. He’s just so epic.

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By Thomas Barr – Senior Reviewer

Comic Week: "The Mother-F**king Batman"

To celebrate the Animated Exeter festival, Exeposé Online Books, Screen, and Games have teamed up to bring you the definitive guide to the world of comics. We will be taking a look at the comic books, the films, and the spin-off games to see which of three comic series is the ultimate franchise. Senior Reviewer, Thomas Barr, will be kicking things off with DC Comic’s Batman…

I love Batman. Everyone loves Batman. People who feel indifferent to the Dark Knight are misguided, let me explain. Batman is one of the world’s oldest and best known comic book characters, having first appeared to readers of Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. No character has Batman’s levels of sustained popularity without good reason, the reason in this case being that he’s awesome. Anyone can find something to enjoy in Batman. If you’re just passingly familiar with him you can still enjoy the heroic exploits, cool gadgets and camp escapism that a man dressed as a giant bat provides. No one can fail to enjoy a man defeating a Shark whilst handcuffed. But as a hardcore fan, I can’t help but look beneath the glossy veneer and find an endlessly fascinating exploration of society, psychology and philosophy. Along with all this he exists as one of the most powerful metaphors in popular literature, as a symbol for the potential of the self.

Of all the best known comic book icons, Batman is the only one not there by accident. His powers don’t come from being a member of an alien race or the result of some freak scientific mishap, they come from him. For Batman, it’s not a case of ‘With great power comes great responsibility’, he grasps responsibility for himself and forges great power out of it. We’re not interested in him for any fantastical powers he possesses, we’re interested in him because of him. He is his superpower. Batman is the epitome of human resilience and determination, through a combination of intelligence and willpower  (and the money doesn’t hurt) he crafted himself into a virtual demi-god. He’s a genius-millionaire-scientist-detective-ninja, don’t you know? (take that Tony Stark).

Batman is inspirational in the way that he fights a universal and recognisable enemy: fear. For me, combatting and overcoming fear is the key theme of the Batman comics. In many ways, he is more human than superhuman. Bruce Wayne suffers the most terrifying experience any child could possibly suffer, he watches helplessly as those he loves most are senselessly taken from him. He sees with perfect clarity the chaos and meaningless cruelty of the world. Yet he does not give in to fear or despair, he chooses then and there to force the world into order  and meaning by taking fear and bending it to his will.

See you do love Batman, and you know why? Not for any of the reasons above, but simply because he is the mother-f**king Batman.

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To see what the Exeposé Online Games team made of the Dark Knight series, click here.

By Thomas Barr – Senior Reviewer
Ed. by Georgina Holland – Exeposé Online Books Editor