I'm a Ph.D. student at the University of California and one of the things I study is comic book superheroes. At the meeting of the Popular Culture Association earlier this year in Boston scholar Matt Putsz presented a paper called Michael Moore in Tights: An Examination of the Possiblity of Progressive Superheroes. Matt begins by discussing the assumption among comic scholars and readers that superheroes are by their nature conservative -- that they support the status quo and conservative values. He cites Pete Coogan (author of Superhero: the Secret History of a Genre), Richard Reynolds (author of Superheroes: A Modern Mythology), and "Internet critic" Michael Hutchison as examples of this point of view.
But then Matt goes on to talk about the evidence for liberal superheroes in comics, and he asks what a truly liberal superhero would look like, how would he or she operate, what sort of foes would he or she battle? Would there even be battle in the traditional sense? I have some experience writing superhero comics, and I certainly am progressive, so I took Matt's article as a rallying cry. Recently I asked him for a copy of his essay and he graciously sent it. I have now begun blocking out some elements for this "liberal superhero comic," which I am calling Americana. I'll be blogging the creation of Americana and the development of the comic here. I thought I would start with the paragraphs which originally mobilized me on this idea. I quote the "money shot" paragraphs from Matthew Putsz's essay, "Michael Moore in Tights"
This is one of the major storytelling challenges involved with creating liberal superheroes: readers may or may not interpret them in the political ways that the writer intended. Of course, the solution to this is to make sure that the political messages are clear, obvious, and direct. This could result in charges of being preachy, and a series like Animal Man was certainly labeled as such by some readers. But if there is any area of storytelling where painting characters (at least initially) with a broad brush works, it is in the superhero genre and especially in the pages of comic books. Superheroes have always represented ideas, often psychological ideas – guilt, obsession, rage – that were portrayed simply enough that younger readers could comprehend them. Characters have represented more complicated ideas as well. Iron Man seems to be a symbol of the power of technology; Wonder Woman represents the importance of “female” values in a male world. Animal Man is an idea, too: the blurring of the boundaries between animal and man. A superhero who represented liberal ideas might be preachy, and it might oversimplify the concept being symbolized, but comic book superheroes are the perfect sites for creating models of ideas that allow readers and creators to actively engage with them.
If a superhero was made to represent liberal ideas, the question that then needs to be asked is, what are those progressive values that need to be symbolized in a costumed superhero? In 2004, Katha Pollitt, columnist for The Nation, defined liberal values as fairness, equality, education, and more: “Honesty in government, public service for modest remuneration, safeguarding public resources and the land – these are all values we share [as liberals]. Liberty is a liberal value, trusting people to make their own decisions, letting people speak their minds even if their views are unpopular. So is social solidarity, the belief that we should share the nation’s enormous wealth so that everyone can live decently.” A progressive superhero would fight for and represent these values. Perhaps a liberal superhero would be like Tom Joad from The Grapes of Wrath, radicalized by his experience in poverty. A liberal superhero might be like Martin Luther King, Jr., seeing in himself a positive moral duty to battle against unjust laws. Creating a story where a superhero battled poverty, racism, or intolerance would certainly be a challenge. The villains of these stories would have to represent these abstract ideas in the same way that the heroes would represent egalitarianism, free speech, or open-mindedness.
But would the liberal superhero fight crime like his or her traditional counterparts? Perhaps the liberal superhero would be like Michael Moore or Ralph Nader, seeking to punish corporate criminals who sell unsafe products in an attempt to increase profits, take jobs away from communities to make their stockholders just a little bit richer, or skim money from pension funds to pad their own pocketbooks. How would a Michael Moore in tights respond to political injustice, to populations being denied the right to vote, to elections stolen by political functionaries? Like Batman, would the liberal superhero be forced to take the law into her own hands, punishing those she perceived to be criminals before a court of law declared them to be such? The problem here might be one of extremism. Would the superheroic Michael Moore, responding to the injustice of the 2000 election, have been compelled to physically remove George W. Bush from the Oval Office? The status quo-supporting superhero trusts his sense of justice and righteousness to act outside the boundaries of the law. Perhaps the liberal superhero would do the same thing, but the rightness and wrongness of someone “causing” poverty would be much more difficult to determine than that of someone stealing a television. And even if the liberal superhero was certain that a corporate CEO’s or political leader’s actions were immoral or criminal, certainly not everyone would. And not everyone would approve of his or her methods in punishing that crime.
Now, I am not particularly interested in writing a story in which a superhero tries to punish George W. Bush for the War in Iraq. But I am very interested in the parts of this paragraph which I have put in bold -- the challenge here is to make a liberal superhero who fights for these values and does it in a way which does not compromise her liberal beliefs. Moreover, to be successful as a comic book superhero, she is going to have to do it while being cool.
As my pronoun use indicates, I have decided to begin with a female character, as an instant way of contrasting with the vast majority of conservative male heroes out there. A while ago I did an interview for the talented Katherine Keller at Sequential Tart and in that interview she asked me what creative projects I would like to do. I replied that I wanted to write a book about a woman who was smart, strong, "and didn't wear a thong." Americana is going to be that woman.
I spent tonight brainstorming characters, plots, and thematic elements. Some of them are very workable, others are weak. But as my thoughts and pages for this project get refined, you will see them here. I think it could be interesting, and I at last feel like I am starting to contribute to the progressive effort.