By Verity Bird.
It seems we’ve always looked for heroes, ever since the flawed deities of ancient Greece but don’t worry this isn’t a history lesson … ok maybe just a little.
Since the Modern-Age of comic books, we’ve seen our mainstream caped crusaders suffer more acutely with the human condition. We’ve seen Iron-Man struggle with alcoholism in the Demon in a Bottle, a nine-issue arc, Professor-X betray his own dream and be resurrected in nearly every universe and we’ve seen a very human reaction to the zombie apocalypse immortalised in between the ink of The Kirkman crew, and the abandonment of Heaven in Preacher. Of course, no one can forget the savagery of The Killing Joke, one of the bestselling graphic novels of all time. It is during this period that characters became more psychologically complex and we saw a surge of independent publishers willing to put these stories out there. It also saw the rise of the Anti-Hero; favourites like Wolverine, The Punisher, The Watchmen. They challenged the idea of the humanitarian hero “saving you with a smile” and identified with “noble qualities”. These heroes were not the knights-of-right we’re used to, sure, they save the day but they create a whole lot of mess and still complain about the ungrateful public.
The fact is that comic books and graphic novels are dealing with just as broad a topic range as novels is probably a weak point because we’ve been watching the evolution for decades (Anime and Manga!) It’s their catering to us a visual creatures and reaching us in the same ways that the array of superhero movies do (except we’re not force fed images of the highest paid actor as the main plot device.) The artwork in comic books and graphic novels defy the stationary page by having the action dance in an array of bright inks and pencils. We are also seeing the industry adapt socially, which perhaps is not being reflected on the big screen as much. We are seeing the mantle of our favourite characters being passed on not just to the nearest successor but to a new world hero, just look at Riri Williams the new Iron-man/girl, Sam Wilson as Captain America, DC’s Earth-11, and the new female Thor. We are also seeing reboots of our favourite characters, who are being given more relevant storylines and a stronger presence in their own comic series.
Perhaps the biggest contribution to the rise and rise of the superhero, since the crash of the industry and the fall of, and subsequent resurrection of the giants (Marvel) is that comics aren’t just for kids anymore. With the trade paperback, hardcover special edition collections as well as the traditional comic strip being easily available, not to mention digital editions, we have more access. There are hundreds of fandoms dedicated to your favourite publisher (Can you tell I’m Marvel?) The audience is now broader than it ever has been and it looks like the larger publishers are taking note and writing for them. The ratings of graphic novels have broadened over the decades to include mature themes, teen ratings as well as universally accepted arcs. They flirt with themes that force you into a corner of discomfort, pick at your morals through the creation of irresistibly unsympathetic characters, just like the very best fiction. They do all this within an infinite universe that has limitless possibility where death doesn’t always mean death, hero doesn’t always mean noble, and where the Lycra is always flattering. What’s not to love?!?
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