Comments on: Why superheroes are fantasy fiction

By: Peter Coogan

Peter Coogan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:31:08 +0000

While I agree with your analysis regarding most superhero stories, it’s possible to have superhero genre stories that have no fantasy at all. Look at “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate”, Batman’s debut story in Detective Comics #27. That story has no SF technology; it’s entirely feasible based on the technology of the time, but it’s a straight-on superhero story. This is one of the reasons I define the superhero genre as a genre unto itself and not as a subset of another genre (like science fiction or fantasy) and as a sub-genre of the adventure metagenre (defined by John Cawelti as stories of the hero “overcoming obstacles and dangers and accomplishing some important and moral mission” (“Mystery, Adventure, Romance”, 39) in my book, “Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre.”

By: Valderlife

Valderlife — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:20:51 +0000

I agree 100%! And it´s hardly difficult to oppose such arguments. But there is something that we can´t deny. The attutude of superheroes has changed dramatically through time. It follows transformtions in society and other needs, which I wouldn´t know how to explain, that are born in humankind. Today our heroes are allowed to marry, get divorced, have identity crises, opposing the solitary knights from the Romanticism. Let alone that the Greek heroes (gods) were much closer to human personalities, but all of a sudden the perspective changed. But there is something we will never forgive in a hero, the lack of humanity, caring for his/her unprotective fellow humans will always be his mission. This is because the outer space, the Olympo Mountains or whatever be the places they my originate from, it lies in fact in ourserves. This´s the essence of being human. If you find a helpless child, would you let it die?

By: Dungeons and Dragons Sunday Link Smashup for May 17, 2008

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