Counterfictionals and the presidency

I had missed this because I only read DC comics these days, but Stephen Colbert's clever but knowingly doomed campaign for the presidency (in South Carolina) survived and thrived in the Marvel Universe. In fact, he won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College, because, according to Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, "the Marvel Universe reflects what happens in the real world."

Now there's a counterfictionally loaded assertion.

Didn't we have a discussion here about the "real life" locations of Gotham and Metropolis?

Which is irrelevant for Marvel Comics, because instead of creating fictional cities, the vast majority of the events of the Marvel Universe take place in New York City. Well, at least they take place in the Earth 616 version of New York City, and to try to bridge the reality and fiction, the comic industry fan mag Wizard has put together a map of important locations in the Marvel Universe New York City. Marvel themselves apparently did something similar a few years ago, and fans, of course, have done the leg work and taken photos of the real-life NYC equivalents.

Oddly enough, on the whole, I find Marvel's NYC far less interesting than Gotham or Metropolis. There's less room to play with, and while DC's fictional cities each have their own mythologies, Marvel very rarely makes use of the history of NYC in its storytelling. (It's worth noting that NYC actually exists in the DC Universe. Nightwing is hanging out there, at the moment.)

(Via Kottke, shared by J. Lavolette.)

A Massive Military Buildup

Where does the officers corps of the imperial army in Star Wars come from? In the prequels the Clone Wars are fought entirely by Jedi, drones, and the clone forebears of storm troopers. The clones even have separate names, ranks, responsibilities. But at the end of Sith Tarkin is overseeing construction of the Death Star, dudes have uniforms, rank, a whole bureaucratic substructure independent of the Senate, the Jedi, even Vader. And there's no sense at all of the storm troopers in the Original Trilogy having any kind of officer corps.

Part of the drama of the original trilogy is the tension between Vader and the uniformed non-clone military. Also, the fleet is composed along racist lines: no unhelmeted clones, no non-Caucasian aliens. (The Bounty Hunters are dismissed as "scum.") Where do these guys come from? Are they conscripts? The mobilized remains of a brownshirted imperial militia?

Along with the retarded faceless droid armies in Phantom Menace and after, not exploring the encroaching militarism of the Empire is a serious oversight. It's not just a political failure that produces the empire -- it's the seizure of the mechanisms of force and the elimination of the Jedi as a competitor on the legitimate use of violence. As someone interested in how armies work, and fictional representations of soldiers and officers, I love the intimations in the OT and feel that very large gap in that part of the story.

Armies I think have to be seen as an emerging theme of the comics as well, and in some sense superhero stories are inherently anti-military. Obviously the recent Iron Man film addresses this head-on, but you also have The Hulk, Captain America, Nick Fury and SHIELD, and so on.

There is a utopian imagination at work whereby we seem to dream of a world where right-minded, ultrapowerful civil servants (whether Supermen or Jedi) eliminate the need for standing armies, traditional manifestations of force, and hostile international/intergalactic relations.

The great counterexample might be the Green Lantern Corps, a kind of armed invisible UN that is designed to keep the peace but also act as a kind of nuclear deterrent against interplanetary (as opposed to merely global and local) aggression. The Green Lanterns effectively seem to recognize each planet/sector as sovereign and world wars as local affairs in which they need not interfere.

And so, as with Star Trek, international or interethnic conflicts get allegorized as conflicts between actual aliens, while Superman, Batman, and friends are available to deal with local petty crime.

Star Wars may be the only manifestation of an honest-to-goodness civil war where the conflict between superhuman beings (the Sith and Jedi) are played against the backdrop of a purely human conflict between two organized armies. The events intersect but they do not determine one another. Even the destruction of the second Death Star has nothing to do with the Jedi or the Force really; it's Ewoks and rebels killing storm troopers, and a non-Force wielding fleet whomping the Death Star and Imperial troops.

So: how do these armies get started? (The rebel army is even more of a mystery.)

Why Superheroes and Politics Don't Mix

John August, "Aquaman is a Pescepublican":

Recent articles about the political leanings of popular comic book characters got me thinking about the uncanny valley between fictional and real-world ideologies. We’re happy to have characters speak in broad terms — “With great power comes great responsibility” — but the minute they start referring to specific issues, we become very uncomfortable.

How does The Flash feel about immigration? Is Wolverine pro-choice? Does Black Canary support the First Amendment rights of hate groups? We don’t know, and really don’t want to know....

I’d argue that the thematic success of comic book characters, and comic book storylines, comes from how closely they can approach the line separating Real from Too Real, without crossing it.

On a slightly different note. . .

Chuck Dixon (DC Comics writer) on Batman's religion:

Graham Nolan and I had an ongoing argument about whether Bruce was raised Catholic or Protestant. I recently conceded to Graham than he must be Catholic. No Protestant ever suffered guilt the way Bruce does.

So what would you do with religion in a comic-book universe? (This may be a more interesting question in the DC universe than the Marvel universe, where all the pre-Christian deities—Zeus, Ra, Odin—are semi-active characters.)

What religion is your favorite character? (Click here for a cheat sheet.) How do you know and how does it affect how he/she operates? (Keep in mind for the purposes of this question, "religion" is cultural as well as theological.)

Dialogue on Superman and Batman: May 22, 2008

Gavin: SO why do you like Superman so much?

me: Me? Who said I did?

2:52 PM Gavin: Don't you?

me: I had a powerful childhood attachment to a Superman doll.

Gavin: It's like a Beatles/Elvis thing.

Superman/Batman.

And I thought you were on the Superman side of the question.

2:53 PM me: Because of that, I've been given many Superman objects.

Gavin: Ah.

2:54 PM me: I probably prefer Batman as a character.

My favorite childhood superhero (say, 4+) was Spider-man.

Gavin: Well, that makes the discussion much less fun. :-)

2:55 PM me: I had glow-in-the-dark Spider-Man pajamas, that I got for my fifth birthday. They were awesome.

I also really liked Voltron then too.

Gavin: I find Superman much less resonant than Batman.

me: There's something appealing about Superman's terminal quality.

2:56 PM He's like Saint Anselm's God.

Gavin: And I can elucidate my reasons for being interested in Batman as an icon, but I've been looking for some insight into Suprman.

me: There's a good cartoon that I watched that has a nice take on Superman.

Gavin: I've been interested in the way in which when Superman and Batman are at odds, Batman seems to win far more than his share.

me: It's Justice League: The New Frontier.

Gavin: And I wonder how much of that is narrative necessity.

2:57 PM me: Well, Superman rarely has to exert himself strategically.

Gavin: It Batman and Superman are really fighting, and Superman is to win, then there's not much left of Batman.

me: It's all about how he's going to overpower you. While Batman has to rely on a different set of skills and strategies.

2:58 PM Gavin: You seem to like that "New Frontier" cartoon. I've avoided it as not being part of the Bruce Timm DC universe, but I haven't really heard all that much about it.

me: If Superman regularly fought people who fought like Batman, it would be different.

I only saw the New Frontier cartoon a few days ago.

2:59 PM I've previously spoken favorably of Superman: Doomsday.

Gavin: I've heard just a little more about that one.

me: The crappy part of Frontier is the villain.

3:00 PM Superman only really fights people with overwhelming power, people with no power at all, or people who trick and trap him.

You'd think he would be better at detecting tricks and traps.

But now, he always charges in.

Gavin: With X-Ray vision? Yes.

3:01 PM me: And super-senses.

You'd think he'd be able to hear or smell Kryptonite gas.

Gavin: You know, if I were ever to write a Batman/Superman, I think I'd have to explore Superman/Clark Kent and Batman stripped of Bruce Wayne.

3:02 PM me: The other thing to wonder about is why Superman is so impotent. It's almost as though he has a psychological aversion to using his full powers.

He's always reining it in, like a boy embarassed by his erections.

Gavin: One, depending on the Superman characterization, doesn't seem to make sense. Why does Superman need a secret identity? He has (almost) no vulnerabilities? What does he have to gain?

3:03 PM me: Presumably he's trying to observe and understand people, and he wants to have friends, a romantic life, etc.

Gavin: Batman is almost the reverse. He gains too much from his secret identity. Unlimited funds, friends everywhere, the ability to buy and build anything, and keep trophies of everything.

3:04 PM Yes, and I think that would lead superman to spend most of his time as Clark Kent.

me: Yet at the same time, "Bruce Wayne" is a much bigger farce than "Clark Kent."

Gavin: Which he may actually "do" in the comics, but not in terms of panel time.

Yes, and thus why bother maintaining something so cares so little about?

3:05 PM me: What Batman should really do is fake Bruce Wayne's death.

3:06 PM Put Alfred or Barbara Gordon in charge of the company and be Batman full time.

Gavin: Well, again, I like the idea of Batman being stripped of Bruce Wayne, the secret getting out, at least to people who matter, and limiting Wayne's access to resources.

And Batman continuing to wear the mask not because it keeps a secret, but because it is his face.

3:07 PM In that way, not just Batman but Bruce Wayne himself becomes part of the urban legend.

Also, get rid of the Bat-Signal, and the Batmobile.

3:08 PM me: The biographical Bruce Wayne really is Batman, while the biogra[hical Kal-El is a version of Clark Kent.

Gavin: In a sense, but again, I like your idea of Supes being ashamed of his powers.

3:09 PM To the point where it pains him to put on the cape.

Clark Kent is actually a strange double-blind.

Becuase Superman is a mask.

And clumsy, mild-mannered Clark Kent in Metropolis is a mask.

3:10 PM Clark on the farm in Kansas is what you're referring to as the biographical Clark Kent/Kal-El.

In a sense, Supes hides even more than Bats.

Bats is really Bats in the cape.

3:11 PM Supes is only really himself when he's visiting the farm in Smallville.

me: That's why Batman increasingly wears the costume when he

's in the Batcave.

By himself, alone.

In a mask and cape.

Gavin: I think the costume could stand a redesign too.

3:12 PM me: I can think of two reasons why Kal-El would be ashamed of his powers.

Gavin: Something a cross between Batman Year One, and Batman Year 100.

Which are both good takes on Bats.

me: First, he's been conditioned to hide them for so long, that he has to overcome psychological resistence to using them.

This is the sort of "ashamed of his own erection" theory.

The other is the primal trauma.

Gavin: But Kal-El's shame is more than just his powers. Kal-El is nearly always hiding.

3:13 PM me: Superman's powers are a direct result of the destruction of his planet and the death of his parents and every other member of his race.

His powers make him an outsider to humans, but an outsider to Kryptonians, too.

Gavin: But that's something he knows about, but doesn't remember.

At least in my take.

My take would be--no other Kryptonites.

me: Still, he's forced to acknowledge it.

3:14 PM Gavin: No Supergirl, no bottle city of Kandor.

me: It's not like other Kryptonians had the same powers.

Gavin: Not even ma & pa Kent know much about Krypton, and they don't understand & aren't interested in what they know.

It's alien, literally.

me: Everything Superman does is an effort to make meaning out of that loss.

3:15 PM Just like Batman.

But while Batman hardens himself against his own feelings of vulnerability, Superman does the opposite.

He is wary of and maybe even resentful towards his powers.

Gavin: Yeah, but in all truth, I like Batman not so much as a man driven by the death of his parents, but as himself.

me: Not least because without them, he and the Kents could just pretend.

3:16 PM Gavin: He would have been Batman, in one slightly different shape or another regardless.

Ah, but I like the home-ness of Clark using his powers on his farm.

me: I don't remember which thing I read, but I always liked the idea that Bruce Wayne comes up against a bizarre wish-fulfillment -- he wanted his parents to die. He wishes he were the criminal who killed them. That's why he becomes one of them.

3:17 PM Gavin: There's a solitude on the farm, a separation that means that he usually doesn't have to pretend.

The wish fulfillment thing gets played with a lot, but often in contrast to a villian that's a mirror image of Bruce.

Both Hush and The Black Mask are like that.

Have that sort of a back story.

3:18 PM me: But see, if you give Kal-El the same psychological depth, then you have to grant that there's at least some element of resentment towards the Kents.

Gavin: Yes!

me: Even if it's awkward, pubescent resentment.

Gavin: Alienation.

me: Superman has to be seen as a kind of perpetual teenager.

3:19 PM Gavin: Which becomes self-alienation, because what separates Kal-El from the Kents is somthing he himself doesn't really understand, because there's absolutely no one to explain it to him.

me: All of the plays on son and sun -- the sun gives him his powers, the sun killed his parents.

Gavin: The rural gay teenager that thinks that he's the only one in the world.

me: Chunks of his home world continue to poison him, yet that's all he wants to return to.

3:20 PM Gavin: Except Kal-El is the only one of him in the world.

(Also, fewer other superheroes.)

me: and none as powerful and alien as he is.

Gavin: Maybe The Flash, Green Lantern, but that's about it. Just Supes and Bats.

3:21 PM me: I like the idea of a rel btw supes and j'onn j'onnz.

Gavin: Not many supervillians either.

3:22 PM Luthor and the Joker would be allowed, because they have no powers.

The Martian Manhunter has never been a character that I've been terribly aware of.

He again, almost has too many powers.

3:23 PM He can fly AND he's strong AND he can shapeshift AND he can read minds?

Too much.

3:24 PM me: Yeah, it's kind of a grab bag.

3:25 PM But he's the other superpowerful alien from a dead world.

Gavin: Right.

me: and infinitely more mature than Kal-El.

Gavin: Ha!

True.

me: If more obviously scarred.

3:26 PM John lost his children.

Gavin: Yeah, but his secret identity is an old, pulpy trench-coat detective.

Boring.

3:27 PM me: Batman has a great line in the Frontier cartoon:

Gavin: The cartoon rightfully ignored it.

me: "With the other one I need to lug around a 70,000 dollar radioactive rock.

3:28 PM Gavin: :-)

me: "With you, all I need is a dime for a pack of matches."

Gavin: With J'onzz I just need a pack of matches.

Yeah, that's what I thought it would be. :-)

3:29 PM me: Again, that's what makes Batman different.

He always has a plan to kill everyone he knows.

He's like the RAND corporation of superheroes.

3:30 PM Gavin: Yeah, Batman knows everything about everyone.

And even has a plan to take himself down.

Let's start with the Bat

In honor of the upcoming The Dark Knight, and in the hopes that Heath Ledger's performance changes the way I look at the Joker forever, here are five key traits of Batman's world, according to Gavin. (Most of my ideas are tweaks and expansions, rather than purely original, so sources will be cited.)

1. Bruce Wayne is the mask. Batman is the real identity.

There are a number of sources for this idea, but the first place I heard it articulated was by Kevin Conroy, who did Batman/Bruce Wayne's voice for the Batman Animated Series. I would go a bit further and play with the idea of Bruce Wayne being just one of Batman's masks. There is some precedent for this in the comics: Matches Malone, Lefty Knox. Batman can be anyone, anywhere. Paranoia is at least as powerful as physical intimidation. The man you've worked with for years, your best friend, could be the Bat. The Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storyline also plays with the idea of a Batman without Bruce Wayne, and the Over the Edge episode of the Batman Animated Series provides another key to that door. Batman would still be Batman even if the Bruce Wayne mask were taken away.

2. Never during the day.

This is a throw-off line from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, which writers ignore at their peril. The Bat doesn't make public appearances. He doesn't testify in court. The only time you will ever see him is when he takes you down or saves your life, and even then, only for a moment. The Bat only works as a secret, a rumor, a myth. The Bat can never be captured, tied up, or examined under light. The mask is flimsy, and the only way to keep someone from pulling it off is to wear it sparingly. Other masks (see #1) are more durable, and just as useful.

3. The utility belt has a finite number of pouches.

Batman: Year 100 has the best take on this. Making Bruce Wayne a man with unlimited resources is ultimately a mistake. Batman is interesting only in his limitations. No superpowers. The only available tools are what he can carry silently. In this spirit, there is no Batmobile. (Also see #2.) Batman does not travel in a marked car that stops at traffic lights and signals left turns. If he drives, it is in an unmarked car, without the mask. Motorcycles make more sense, since a helmet is a mask, but still only something plain and unmarked. Something that can be abandoned.

4. There is something deeply wrong with Batman.

Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum is a good source for this. Batman can't be written as totally crazy, because the sense of right and wrong is so essential, but Batman is so hell-bent on rightness, on structure because of something missing inside of himself. He has to spend every moment of his life building order out of chaos because he doesn't have that order inside of him. Detective fiction is also instructional: Batman is obsessive/compulsive (look at his trophy room in the Batcave), and either a bit autistic or sociopathic. He can't forget and constantly has to organize the information in his head before he loses his place. He can't relate to people, but is a tremendous actor. He's jarringly detached, but he can never let go of anything.

5. Jason Todd

He was Robin. He died. He's dead. Bringing Jason Todd back was the worst decision a Batman writer has ever made, and that's saying a lot. The false Jason Todd in the Hush storyline is interesting. Jason Todd really being alive is not. Losing a Robin, and the guilt Batman feels (or doesn't feel?) about it is key to his character. His inability to stop using a sidekick is key, too. Hell, at the time she replaced Tim Drake, Batman didn't even like Stephanie Brown. Why do children keep seeking the Batman out, and why is he, the strongest will in the DC universe, unable to say no?

In the future, I'd like to revisit individual elements of the Batman—the costume, the villains, Gotham, the origin story—and examine what changes and what says consistent. (Hopefully I can dig up some nice images for some of these topics.)

As evidenced by the various Elseworlds titles, the Batman mythos is hugely productive. There are a million ways to take the basic elements of the mythos and translate them to a variety of situations. I'd like to posit the (hopefully) controversial thesis that Superman doesn't work in the same way. With the exception of Mark Millar's outstanding Red Son, I'm not aware of a wealth of really interesting variant superman stories. Anybody want to call me on that?