The Americana project is an attempt to create a consciously liberal, progressive superhero, in an effort to demonstrate liberal values in a popular culture arena and, at the same time, tell some fun stories. There have been three diaries on the project so far.
A couple of days ago I sat down and drafted a one-page "Pitch" which tries to encapsulate what the series is about. This is very much a draft text; I am not sure I can get across the fact that I am writing this character "straight" (that is, seriously, and not for laughs or camp) without including a sample script. But it was time to boil it all down to one page, so here goes.
AMERICANA
“Is it possible to tell superhero stories that have liberal or progressive messages? Would it be possible to create superpowered characters that advocated liberal ideals and then based his or her ‘crime fighting’ on those values? Would these characters still be considered heroes?” Matthew Pustz, Michael Moore in Tights: An Examination of the Possibilities of Progressive Superheroes
Americana is the answer to Pustz’s questions: a consciously liberal superhero whose stories promote progressive values and whose antagonists symbolize both social ills and conservative ideology. The challenges inherent in this sort of tale – most notably the need to avoid lecturing the reader – are clear, but so is the solution; even in the 16th century authors like Sidney and Spenser knew that the secret to educating an audience through literature was to do so by example, not by rule. Americana does not preach; she demonstrates successful progressive values in an adventurous mode.
Let’s call her Louise Clark, for that is the name she chooses for herself upon arriving in our time. Her home is the 22nd century, a dystopia in which the ideology of the far-right has run to its ultimate conclusion and reduced society to neo-feudalism; a tiny fraction of super-rich rule a nation of the destitute. The people have faith in God, but that sincere faith is only used as a tool by hypocritical politicians. Likewise, everyone has access to cheap sources of information, but that information is all lies and manipulation. Global flooding has claimed the country’s former coasts; all natural resources are exhausted. It does not take a genius to see the despotism of Louise’s world, but it does take a hero to have the courage to do something about it. Her only superhuman trait is the ability to heal rapidly from wounds, the result of military experimentation on unwilling subjects. It is this which allows her to survive the otherwise-lethal transit backwards in time. Her self-imposed mission: to prevent the evolution of her own future. In saving the world, she will seal her own non-existence.
Upon arriving in a superheroic 21st century, Louise crafts the Americana identity, taking inspiration from her love of uniquely American culture: the Western, jazz music, the Gothic, detective novels in the Chandler style. Her red, white and blue uniform (one can be both a patriot and a liberal at the same time) is a mixture of military styling and the cowboy – bullet-proof military jacket, cowboy boots, rodeo gloves and pants, not a bikini. Her weapons and equipment have a similarly retro look, but are products of 22nd century science: golden wings that unfurl on her back like a dream from Leonardo da Vinci, a lariat that unspools from her belt, a computer system that takes root in our digital network, slowly expanding and growing within it like the roots of a tree.
Her foes symbolize the evils of our society: the super-wealthy vampire who creates an ever widening gap between the rich and poor; the Golden Boy willing to perform any crime if it gets him higher up the corporate ladder; the octopus of the mega-corporation, with fingers in every plot; the incorporeal chains and manacles of poverty itself, depriving a human being of freedom of choice; the Think Tank, trundling unseen beneath the city; the ambivalent but hungry shark, always-moving embodiment of a legal code which can be used either for good or ill; the Fox, lying even as he claims to be “fair and balanced”; the PATRIOT, governmental agent empowered to invade your homes, tap your phones, even imprison you without trial in the name of security. Americana has no shortage of foes.
But Louise is not without allies. Can a sidekick be done seriously in a 21st century comic? Americana’s reverence for the past insists it can. We will call this young man Bootstrap, because he pulls himself up. And when Louise upstages the aging conservative foil Old Glory, she will earn the admiration of the mysterious U.S. and Rushmore, the Living Monument. Abroad, she will be aided by – and in turn come to the aid of – the French heroine Magnifique, and wrestle with the complex issues posed by the Muslim hero Muezzin.
Throughout her adventures, Louise will struggle to keep her identity secret, aware that the world she fled might seek her out. (Indeed, such a foe is already closer than she imagines.) She will teach science at a university near Washington. She will fall in love, have that love rejected, and then – very tentatively, see it embraced by an uncertain partner afraid of the implications. She will maintain her values, and demonstrate that one can be a liberal and still be strong, be a liberal and still be victorious, be a liberal and still be cool.