Thursday, February 28, 2019

Superheroes, real or imagined

The modern comic book superhero is the current manifestation of the semi divine gods of myth and legend that fight off evil in their universe. They were typically incredibly strong, cunning and exceptional fighters that existed in both secular and religious history. They are found these days populating the entertainment universe  - movies - and print - comic book notably Marvel,   DC and the somewhat lesser known Dark Horse comics. Most people my age were weaned on the DC Comics superheroes with Marvel and  Dark Horse entering the party much later. My superheroes fandom started with DC Comics and Superman, added Batman and The Justice League. I was also a fan of the Blackhawks.

As the real world grew crazier and crazier the comic universe and characters kept pace. Marvel introduced a whole new generation characters - I was a Green Arrow and Speedy fan along with the Flash. To this day I am a fan of those characters I enjoyed as a kid. I had a great Superman suit made by my seamstress grandmother. I leaned fairly quickly as it offered little protection when I jumped into a still smoldering fire pit in the alley by my house. I only made that mistake once. Ahem. I guess I was just caught up in the moment.
TV and Mov ie Supermen

These days we are seemingly buried in movies and TV show depictions of superheroes and their universes. It all seemed to start with Star Wars at the movies and Star Trek, initially on TV and then resurgent in the movies. We  are up to Aquaman now - that movie is quite successful with the box office currently sitting at 1.149 Billion dollars per Forbes after just over 6 weeks in release.
TV, Movie Wonder Woman

Justice League - AquamanLately, in this divisive era of Trump art is imitating Art is imitating life as several shows are focusing on the superheroes - in this case Superman and Supergirl being illegal aliens and with a segment of the earths population opposing them because they are aliens. One thing that has not changed - the good guys usually win, though it may take several episodes  to complete the task at hand.. Somewhat surprisingly to me, my black grandson prefers the female superheroes to the black ones. Wonder Woman is kinda hot.
 

We are also seeing a ump in female superheroes. Wonder Woman now has a group of lady friends. Captain Marvel is next. And, black superheroes are joining the fray.

Superheroes. Serious popcorn movie stuff. You might say I am fortunate to have an 8-year old grandson under the same roof so I can stay current on the various superhero universes. I might disagree due to the nicks and gashes in the walls from his plastic swords and spinning kicks but what the heck.

What does prove a bit tougher is to convince Damien that the real superheroes are the first responders and men and women in the military service that risk their lives daily to protect and serve us. Police, fire, EMTs and the like are constantly on the front line and often in the line of fire of our urban battle grounds. Damien is biracial but identifies as black. He has been in the car with his mom and a friend that was stopped simply for driving while black. That is a very real thing that happens more  than it should. I have been stopped both while driving with two other people - both black - and have been a passenger in the car with two other people - both black - with one of them driving.

That is a quick take on the topic of Superheroes. Be sure to check Ramana's Musings .


2 comments:

  1. You have surprised me again with the depth of your fascination and involvement with super heroes. I must however add the proviso that you have a grandson to keep you up to date and enthused.

    As we sometimes do, we have taken different approaches to the topic and yours is more the traditional whereas mine more on the comic genre!

    Any way, it was a fun topic to write on.

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  2. Seldom read comic books growing up as my limited allowance caused me to make hard choices, including that dime was preferably better spent elsewhere. So I never developed an attraction to super heroes, male, female, or monster, and haven’t since. I do recall occasionally getting a True Comic which was comic takes of real historical tales as I recall.

    I think my grandson enjoys some of the current ones, but I don’t see him often, so don’t know particulars.

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