Night of faith

I did stumble on a website stating that at least some Batman stories do seem blasphemous. Admittedly that’s a pleasant surprise in that quite a few Christians are this wary of superhero media. Though I’d say X-Men’s way worse in this regard, often depicting Protestant Christians as villains and the one heroic Protestant often gets mistreated and recently got killed.

I don’t think the Batman brand’s anywhere as bad as X-Men. As for other franchises, their own respective authors might luck out if their fans did pray for their salvation and may even retell the Bible using familiar characters. I’d say the real trouble, for most franchises, is turning it into a kind of religion. So much so that it subsumes whatever need to go for an actual religion that it’s horrid.

Alternately speaking, Gail Simone did pitch a storyline where one character was to convert to Christian after encountering somebody and then lead a new life. That storyline never saw the light of day. But I think even somebody as secular as Simone at least has a good idea of Christianity or at least any real sympathy for it despite her shortcomings.

But I suppose if Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown, well any Bat character, were destined to go to hell that’s something shocking. Supposing if Poison Ivy, Joker, Bane, Penguin, Leslie Thompkins, Bruce Wayne’s relatives, Harley Quinn, Riddler and the like are in hell, with the surviving Bat-characters being about to go there that’s a frightening thought to realise.

For every celebrity who’ll luck out because somebody prayed for them, there’s another whose going to hell anyways and the very few (the elite if you will) are already in Heaven. David Bowie, Prince and Michael Jackson, to some, are already in hell for various reasons whereas a living rockstar might that would be too frightening for some fans to consider.

Even though technically they screw up a lot and don’t bother reining in on it. (There are those who try to rein in on their vices, even God/Jesus.) Supposing if Tim and Steph risk being in hell for vices like animal abuse, bisexuality, belligerence and stubbornness even if canonical stories do support this to some extent, it wouldn’t flatter their fans.

But it seems if a writer were to have the guts to send many DC characters, even superheroes, to hell that would be frightening because no matter how good they seem to be they will go to hell unless if they change and accept somebody. Or whatever.

Mary Sueing away

I sometimes think when it comes to calling Batman a Mary Sue, if he’s caught dead being wimpy or doing other stupid stuff that angers fans (whilst not always the case) he’s definitely not a Mary Sue because of that. Same with Carol Danvers or even Felicity Smoak at times. Actually to me, what makes a character Mary Sue isn’t necessarily always a matter of being flawless or wish fulfillment.

It would be wish fulfillment to want Kitty Pryde to actually have retractile claws and become a proper feline. In fact, I actually think Mary Sue goes beyond that since wish fulfillment can involve things that are practical or feasible if only others will to. Though not always the case, the inability to commit to a logical conclusion or possibility could make a character Mary Sue.

But in the sense of having counter-intuitive character development. I mean you have people tempting to turn Kitty into either a feline or a female Wolverine (ironically cats tend to have retractile claws, whereas wolverines don’t so it’s oddly more practical for her to have retractile claws on top of going through narrow spaces easily).

Why bother creating a female Wolverine when you can give Kitty claws. The other problem, to some, may necessitate making Kitty Pryde actually more feline than that and sticking to it given how writers are tempted to do so. It’s even part of her name and this writes itself well. Likewise there’s counter-intuitive plot development.

I mean if you’re faced with an evil demon tempting you a lot, if you do fall in love with it it should ruin your life or at least give an incentive to escape it. So I think my idea of a Mary Sue involves not so much a matter of infallibility but rather of a counter-intuitive development that makes some people riled up with certain fanfictions.

Very American but also very un-American

That’s not to say superheroes are necessarily hated throughout the world as much as sometimes they’re not some country’s idea of Americana. It’s like why Archie’s so popular in India, he’s not entirely unheard of America either. But that Archie seems to resemble Indians’ idea of what America would be like and to be honest, it’s got that oddly romantic air that’s practically lost or absent in superhero comics.

To be honest, when it comes to DC Comics although cities like Central City could be a stand-in for Athens and Gotham for New York it gets lost on non-Americans. Quite ironically and whether if some like it or not, Gotham might as well be London. Any Americanness will inevitably be lost on some outsiders anyways. As for Marvel, it’s often set in actual New York but that too’s lost on outsiders. Not because New York’s unreal.

But because it’s not their idea of New York. Riverdale and Disney’s Duckburg are both fictional but they’re also Indians’, Brazilians’ and Europeans’ idea of America. Or rather what they think America could be like and is like if they ever went there at all. To be honest, I could easily see Archie Andrews as actually living in Minneapolis. I have a hard time believing that Barry Allen’s Midwestern.

(If anything he could even be Italian and Central City might as well be Florence.)

In some regards, the America as presented in superhero media is so far-removed from some countries’ idea of Americana that whether if some fans and writers like it or not Batman might not be a New Yorker and Barry Allen might not be a Midwesterner. That could be my opinion but that does explain why Disney comics have a particular mystique in Europe and Brazil (or Archie Comics in India).

Not that superhero comics are entirely unpopular and forgotten but they’re just not that country’s idea of Americana.

Families in superhero comics

I think Mr Jeffrey A Brown had a good point about the depiction of mothers and motherhood in comics though that may also extend to parenthood and families in general. I also like to add my own opinion that the problem with giving superheroes younger biological relatives is that it makes those superheroes too grown up and that it’s not fun coming up with stories where Superman has to discipline or tutor Supergirl (and Superboy) a lot. It probably did happen in canon, just not very often.

There’s a reason why Supergirl got sent to live with the Danvers or why X-Men’s Rachel and Cable as well as Illyana weren’t just aged up (at least the latter two are) but also often sent to live with somebody else. Same with DC’s Bart Allen, moreso had he been conceived as a parody (at least initially so). It’s one thing to be with a surrogate mother, it’s another to be in close contact with a biological relative willing to care for and tutor them.

If Barry Allen had been allowed to grow old, he would’ve made Max Mercury redundant. (Same reason why I think having Black Canary as Tim’s aunt would’ve also made both Lady Shiva and Dana Winters redundant.) Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures had Joseph Joestar grow old and accompany/tutor Jotaro Kujo, who then he himself eventually mentored and cared for some of his younger relatives. Both of them screwed up (and one Jojo relative’s not any better either) but still.

I suspect that in superhero fiction, it seems much more advantageous to be a surrogate child (especially if you’re Dick Grayson or Tim Drake but exempting Jason Todd and the like) than to be a biological child (Damian Wayne and to some extent, Helena Wayne). The former can easily lend itself to fan insertion, the latter poses a certain dilemma wherein if writers were seriously focused on depicting superheroes looking after their biological relatives wouldn’t be fun when canonical.

That’s not to say Superman and Batman never had sons, they certainly did in the older stories but it seems those stories seemed apocryphal for a long time until recently where both of them actually have biological sons. Likewise, Batman’s own biological daughter Helena Wayne came from an alternate universe predating Marvel’s Rachel Summers. She too was eventually refashioned as Helena Bertinelli.

Keep in mind similar things happened to Bart Allen’s initial New 52 appearances (DC Rebirth might just be a retweaked New 52). He went from being the biological grandson of Iris West and Barry Allen to being this person named ‘Bar Torr’ though this was eventually undone. But even then it does make you wonder why superhero writers (and editors) seem almost awkward in imagining superheroes as biological parents and grandparents.

It’s like what’s been done to Cable in Marvel where he was initially introduced as an infant but reintroduced as an old man whereas his own father remained youthful as ever. Not that it’s impossible for a child to age faster than their parents (progeria or otherwise) but it seemed the idea of allowing Cable to age naturally, if it were published at all, would’ve been apocryphal at that.

(Rachel was also supposed to be born naturally at some point in the 1990s X-Men comics.)

This also happened to Bart Allen and lately Superman’s son Jon Kent. Or for another matter, Illyana who’s not only aged up but sometimes demonic. (Yikes!) Let’s not also forget that Damian Wayne’s name also sounds sinister. As well as Raven being Trigon’s daughter, perhaps wit the near exception of her, the two youngsters being biologically related to their better known relatives and made demonic makes it seem as if they’re a burden.

Of course children can be a burden to deal with, but it seems in the superhero ecology fan surrogates are viewed more favourably than biological relatives are at times. The latter’s not always this maligned but still suspected in the sense of not being that much of a blank slate especially when it comes to possible storylines of superheroes having to tutor and care for them, all that hard stuff.

And why sometimes superhero mothers like Catwoman and Stephanie Brown give up their children for adoption or in Tigra’s case, those children are never to be seen again even when we could’ve gotten storylines where she becomes a professional huntress and takes her son to hunting trips (some mothers already do this).

Titanic Bats and Legions of Superfolks

Like I said, part of the reason why Teen Titans is more popular than Legion of Super-Heroes is that the latter’s more insular but there are other factors to play. Superman used to be the biggest DC brand and still is to some extent (partly why we have still have Supergirl and Superman around, whether in the cinemas, on telly, merchandise or in magazines).

Superman was so big it even included magazines specifically centering on Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Legion of the Superheroes which Superman and Supergirl do show up and are closely affiliated with to varying degrees. But once the grim and gritty school of storytelling arose, that’s when DC began favouring Batman more.

So much so that it now became really consistently expected for Batman’s protege Robin to lead almost every incarnation of Teen Titans even if Dick Grayson was technically doing this before (the 1960s). As well as Batgirl, Catwoman, Dick Grayson, Robin, Red Hood and Batwoman getting their own magazines.

It’s not that Superman and company are going away, they’re just nowhere as big as they used to be and moreso in comics. Logically it makes sense that even if Superman is still a big brand enough to have its spinoffs adapted for telly (Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes, DC Superhero Girls, Young Justice, Superboy, Smallville, Krypton, Lois and Clark), it’s going to pale in comparison to what Batman’s getting.

At this point Batman can claim The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Teen Titans (all five incarnations and six if you include Young Justice), Beware the Batman, 60s Batman, Batman: the Animated Series, The New Adventures of Batman, Gotham Girls, Harley Quinn, Gotham, DC Superhero Girls, Birds of Pray, Batman Beyond and Batwoman.

So anything strongly affiliated with Superman at this point’s going to pale in quantity compared to Batman these days so there’s that.

The perils of super-domesticity

I suspect part of the reason why not too many superhero comics focus on allowing certain female characters to remain mothers for long’s got to do with that it doesn’t seem fun writing about superheroines who have to care for their families. For every Susan Storm who sticks to her children (same with Jean Grey), there’s always yet another superheroine or female character whose child’s often made unavailable shortly after they’re born. Not to mention it clashes a lot with their images.

Never mind the odd potential of stories where Tigra takes her son on a hunting trip, looking for vermin or that Stephanie Brown might end up being more dedicated to her family than originally intended. (That’s if she’s lacking some resources herself and she can’t always be around strangers for long.) Though this might not be unique to superhero comics, superheroes from my personal experience seldom care for their biological relatives.

Let alone, actually be made to look after them a lot. Yet Disney and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures don’t shy away from making Donald, Joseph and Jotaro care for their younger relatives in some way even if they themselves sometimes screw up. (The other problem’s that for some superhero readers, having a child would age up a character or at least make them much more mature than they should be.)

Not to mention the odd storylines where Stephanie Brown nags at Tim Drake for not helping her around. She might not be alone in this one but that’s saying if because suddenly both Stephanie’s not a sidekick and Tim’s not badass anymore. She’s the one barking orders whenever Tim lazes around but that’s way too unattractive for some readers to take. Never mind that it happens in the real world and Spongebob Squarepants anyways.

Seldom biological families

Like I said about superhero comics, they rarely if ever not only have biological families but also look after them too. It’s like in the Superman stories where if/when Superman got Supergirl for a cousin he often made her live with somebody else even though she sometimes assists him.

Or more recently, the Batman stories where Batman finally turned out to have a biological son but was initially raised by the Assassins or something though he could be trying his hardest in looking after him. Though I suspect this runs counter to the perception of superheroes as adolescent power fantasies.

If that’s the case, it makes sense why the minute some superheroes start having children or younger relatives in general they almost always end up being raised by somebody else. Bart Allen ended up with Max Mercury. Supergirl got raised by the Danvers. X-Men’s Rachel got trained and brainwashed by Ahad.

(She’s Jean’s and Scott’s daughter.)

Stephanie Brown gave up her baby for adoption. Cassandra Cain ended up being raised by Barbara Gordon after fleeing from her parents. Though that isn’t always the case (X-Men comics do have characters with recurring children and younger relatives, most notably Scott’s Cable and Rachel as well as Havok and Wolverine’s female clone though Dazzler’s Longshot counts).

But there are instances where if some superheroes do have children or younger relatives at all, they’re never to be seen again. Almost as if having a biological family in some way or another destroys the illusion of change in that they’ve got familial responsibilities to do. Even if they may not always succeed at it.

This isn’t always the case for other fictions. Let alone consistently so. But it seems for every Donald Duck, Goofy Goof, Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo (characters who do look after or accompany younger relatives a lot), there’s yet another superhero who even if they do have a younger relative said younger relative’s often either sent to live with somebody else or never to be seen again.

Fear of domesticity

I suspect part of the reason why you don’t see that many truly married characters in superhero comics (or any adventure comics), let alone characters in actual long term relationships without convoluted nonsense is that it seems either boring or maybe some are just too private to depict married relationships (the latter seems likely). Another one, if the Flash comics are any indication, is that the girlfriend in question would be a nag. Or in Spider-Man’s case, she’d emasculate him in some way by being better than him in something else.

She could be wealthier (Mary Jane) or possibly much better at sports/physical activity than he’ll ever be (Big Barda, Wonder Woman and Supergirl to some extent). Though keep in mind that some writers seem comfortable enough to have the super-strong, brawny likes of Big Barda and Supergirl date/marry highly intellectual/academic men. Whilst others seem to have trouble considering the odd possibility that Stephanie Brown might be kilometres better than Tim at sports.

(Though one wonders if Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Jean Grey and Big Barda get away with this by the virtue of being highly exceptional, supernatural women that does excuse them from certain criticisms that plague poor old Mary Jane and Iris West.)

If that’s case, I guess the more normal a woman is whenever she starts emasculating her male counterpart the more hated she gets even if it’s not always nor consistently the case (especially for Wonder Woman and Supergirl). But it still makes sense that there’ll be attempts to knock them down. Look no further than what’s been done to Big Barda. Ad infinitum.

There are a number of Spider-Man readers who can’t stand Mary Jane, finding her emasculating on the belief that she outearns Peter Parker and preferring him to be with Gwen (who in reality wasn’t any better early on). There are a lot of fans who can’t stand Iris West, black or white. There are some who consider her to be a mean little shrew.

Even before the CW programme aired. Whilst Steph’s an already polarising character, should she turn out to be better than Tim in sports and nag at him whenever he refues to help her in caring for her family and doing household duties fans will surely hate her for being a ball-breaker. And partly why domesticity rarely happens in superhero comics. Nobody wants a nagging wife/girlfriend.

Nobody wants a girlfriend/wife who’s stronger or better than him in some regards (look no further than what Mary Jane gets). Alternately speaking, not too many superheroes have children. Let alone allow them to grow up and have children or at least learn to look after younger relatives in general for extended periods of time, even if they may not always raise them right (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures or X-Men comics to some extent).

This might partly account for why at least in the magazines writers never allow Spider-Man to grow up. Never mind that early on in the comics he was actually mature for his age (having to look after his family and a job whilst studying). Similarly, we never get to see Steph look after younger relatives for long even though other characters are allowed to do this (Donald Duck, Jotaro Kujo and his grandfather Joseph). But that would necessitate situations where she’d nag at Tim for not helping her around.

The only few characters allowed to actually raise children or look after younger relatives in any way, even if it’s flawed are generally rather a few. These include Invisible Woman and Mr Fantastic, Superman (at times), Jean Grey and Scott Summers, Roy Harper, Wally West and the Invisibles to whatever extent. When I mean by that, most superheroes rarely look after biological relatives.

Just a few of them actually do it often. But that would mean necessitating the character to mature for good. Jotaro Kujo went from a delinquent to a loyal mentor to his younger relatives even if he still screws up. Donald Duck’s sometimes responsible for his nephews. Even Peter Parker has to be responsible for Aunt May. There won’t be any illusion of change in here.

Especially when they have serious familial obligations to do, they can’t go back to being children again. That’s a strong contrast to the usual superhero get-up where if a superhero turns out to have a younger relative they let other people babysit them. This is what Supergirl usually gets and we rarely see her hang out with fellow Kryptonians.

If superheroes are supposed to be a childish power fantasy, having them get to raise younger biological relatives ruins this. But that would mean characters would have to become adults. The younger relative might be a nephew/niece or even uncle (again in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, the first lad Jotaro mentors is his much younger uncle) or an actual son/daughter (X-Men has this in spades).

You could age up that child but once that happens, characters like Jotaro and Scott can’t go back to being children as they’ve got a younger relative to raise and care for. And why the illusion of change thrives on minimising or eliminating the possibility of familial obligations and domesticity for most superheroes.

The idle Boy Wonder

It’s not that Tim Drake lacks flaws or flaws with real consequences but that he’s so pedestalised as to make him likable. Consider what would happen if Steph nagged at him for not helping her around in caring for her family members. That would mean a never-ending cat and mouse situation between her anger and his laziness/neglect. The worst case scenario’s that they get into real fights with Tim constantly shirking at whatever duties she imposes on him (Aunt Dinah Lance would feel the same way too).

Heck, rather than pluckiness and wit Steph’s now got a massive temper from being tired of Tim’s constant laziness and stubbornness. Black Canary would feel the same way if she were his aunt. But that would necessitate storylines where Tim does suffer the consequences of his actions and actually grow in some ways. Or at least sometimes bother to correct himself as he’s only human. Not to mention having to tone down the prior Mary Sueish portrayal.

(Or even eliminating those altogether.)

It’s not that he lacks flaws but that he lacks any real accountability for what he does. But that would necessitate Steph losing her cool a lot whenever he avoids domestic duties she tells him to do. And she’d even beat him up if he doesn’t comply.

Kind of insecure

There was controversy over Batman’s portrayal in one comic book. It is wrong to sexualise certain characters meant for children but at the same time, most seem comfortable with nude or semi-nude women. Desensitisation people and why some people were right in criticising the latter. Admittedly, the likes of Boris Vallejo aren’t any better when depicting women.

But the fact that he does semi-nude (and sometimes nude) men gives me the impression of him being sometimes more comfortable with male bodies. (To be fair, he did bodybuilding before and possibly still does so he would’ve been fairly desensitised to nearly-naked and naked men by then.)

Maybe insecure’s not the right word but that they do seem startled by naked/semi-nude men as they’re not used to it.