Superheroes Terminated?

A superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colourful name and costume, they also obtain the powerful skills and abilities beyond those of human beings. Their occupation is saving the world and stopping all villains' intent on destroying it.Superman has dominated American comic books since his debut in 1938, many of his traits and abilities have become archetypal mainstays in comic book history. The character has influenced the term superhero and in many ways defined it. Superhero narratives range from episodic adventures to decade long sagas and in present day is seen through a range of media formations.Superheroes follow a strong moral code, including the fearless attitude to risk their own lives to save others and in the service of good without expectation of reward, these such motives include a refusal to kill. Superheroes incorporate a number of other attributes to support their alter ego. A weapon of choice seen with Wonder Woman's 'Lasso of Truth', the underlying theme that affects the heroes name, costume and personal effects. For example Batman resembles a large bat, has a bat mobile for transport and his costume also mimics that of a bat. This is often associated with the heroes own fears or an instrumental event linked to the origin of their superpowers. As seen with batman who had a childhood fear of bats. Their secret identity protects all superheroes from their friends and families becoming involved in their superhuman lifestyles.In brief they are also associated with rival villains, a headquarters or base to hide out from the public, a supporting partner (Batman and Robin) a flamboyant costume and the original motivation seen in Spiderman's 'sense of responsibility' for his uncles death, and Superman's humanitarian service and belief in justice.Originally superheroes could be found long before comic strips in newspapers and graphic novels. Many are similar to protagonist character seen in Victorian myths and even Sherlock Holmes investigations. Similar characters such as Zorro, Spring Heeled Jack and even Tarzan can be described as influences in post modern superheroes as they hide their identity with an alter-ego, originate from myths or urban legends or in Tarzans case have superhuman strength.Superman was introduced to the world in 1938, he had many of the original traits that we now associate with superheroes, a colourful costume and cape, the superhuman abilities to save the world and a secret identity, in Clark Kent. This allowed him to blend into everyday society and distance himself from his friends and family who could get hurt if his villains found out who he really was. Superman is considered the most successful superhero of all time, but he still incorporates an intrinsic difference.'The particular brilliant of Superman lay not only in the fact that he was the first of the Super-heroes but in the concept of his alter ego. What made Superman different from the legion of imitators to follow was not that when he took off his clothes he could beat up everybody-they all did that. What made superman extraordinary was his point of origin: Clark Kent.' (Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes, 1967: 18)This is the underlying attraction to Superman's persona, he was hiding from the world in his identity of Clark Kent, to aid him in leading a normal life. But Kent was not his true identity, it was Superman. Bruce Wayne became Batman, Superman became Clark Kent. Alter ego was the significant part to the complex of the Superhero and so Superman's success, he had many underlying themes that children reading about his adventures could relate to, adopted after his whole world had been destroyed, excluded to some extent at school, and the inevitable girlfriend crisis whether it be Lois Lane or Lana Lang. These all were involved in his episodic adventures, often becoming sub-plots and separate collections of comic books specifically related to his love interests, i.e. ' Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane'Another aspect to the success of Comic Books in the past, which is still very much relevant in present day, is the quickly adapting storylines and diversity. This has shown through ever new superheroes, Batman, Spiderman, The Green Lantern, X-men etc...But also we are increasingly seeing women brought into Comic Books, this consequently drawing more women to read comics and so heightening the demand. Wonder Woman is now set into American popular culture but as we can see below was originally was just a novelty.'It was obvious from the start that a bunch of men got together in a smoke filled room and brain stormed themselves a super lady. But nobody's heart was in it.' (Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes, 1967: 45)This shows us that male artists were not really interested in making this new Superwoman. Many of the complexes involved in males superheroes were just transferred to Wonder Woman's persona, and often people perceived her as a homosexual due to her over powering masculinity. It gave the public the view that she could not be taken seriously, and often sums up Women in the comic book industry, if they were not drawn to look pretty and have relationships with other superheroes they must be homosexual. Yet surprisingly as Wonder Woman began to come together and make her mark on American society she became a world renowned sex symbol.The key to the success of the superhero comic is its ability to take the reader away from reality into unknown realms. In present day however they are criticised for not being realistic enough. The concept of comics has enthralled readers for nearly a century, its ability to switch story from issue to issue, depict a whole narrative with hardly any use of language and show intricate images page after page. All this is summarised below.'Each issue is a separate event, the revelation of a new secret about the real history of superhero literature: the connections between works that appear unconnected, the battles for literary priority, the murders that allow a given tradition to survive over its fallen predecessors and influences.' (Geoff Klock, How to Read Superhero Comics and Why, 2002: 154)This unique concept not seen in other art or literature is what makes comic books a huge part of our popular culture, although demand may die, and sales decline the exceptional difference between them and other books, novels, paintings and general literary works, makes comic books unique, no other formation can keep readers returning week after week, with the gritty plots and unrealistic narratives, our own ambitious fantasies want our superheroes to keep on succeeding.The decline of the comic book era was never specific to a period of time, it merely came about as DC and Marvel began to lose popularity, times change and the children and adults who bought the comic books, were moving on into new more exciting hobbies, comics were viewed as old and 'un-cool', there once enthralling simplicity was now not exciting enough. There are numerous events linked into the demise of comic books, The end of the silver age, DC's experimental phase and the writers and artists leaving there respective companies.In the 1950's DC Comics gain a new editor in Julius Schwartz. He recreated many of the 1940's popular heroes launching an era name the 'Silver Age'. The resurrected characters were Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and many others. Through the 1960's DC gathered up its most popular characters and merged them all into a mega gathering of superheroes seen in 'The Justice League of America'. Marvel challenged this by introducing the 'Fantastic Four' in 1961, a family based unit of Superheroes all with their own specific abilities. However Schwartz's comics began to lose popularity.'The general decline in science fiction had damaged it, as had changing art and writing teams. He lured Gil Kane back for a run of great issues, pairing him with fine inkers like Wally Wood and Murphy Anderson. But sales kept dropping. The avuncular chipmunk, who for fourteen years had always seemed to know his next move, was stuck. He figured it was time to learn what younger eyes might see in the character.' (Gerrard Jones, The Comic Book Heroes, 1997: 144)This shows us the feeling within the comic book houses, new younger artists and writers were being brought in, to give the youthful readers what they wanted, many of the legends of DC and Marvel were being replaced, and giving in to the call for a fresher more vibrant approach. This quote is directly relating to the once popular character of the Green Lantern. His approach to calling in Denny O'Neil to 'do something' with the comic, effectively ended the Silver Age.The decline of comic book sales can be attributed to its negative image and also the perceived effect on children and subsequent target audience due to the sometime graphically violent stories and imagery.'The only way of doing justice to any art form is to find its own proper descriptive terms. The comics combine these two different devices is one source of feelings that they are an awkward in-between art, neither purely literary nor just entirely visual. Looking at comics, it is often said, is neither proper reading nor genuine viewing; too much attention to comics is thought to be bad for children, for it keeps them from learning how to do genuine reading.' (David Carrier, The Aesthetics of Comics, 2000:68)Here Carrier forms the argument that because of the comic books more vague approach to art, it is often confused and disregarded when in comparison with other more highly recognised works. Because they have no stature in modern society as works of art, or reputable literature, parents can often misunderstand or misinterpret the morals and values it subliminally informs their children.The superhero film is a progression from the narrative of superhero comic books. Its genre is a cross breed of science fiction, fantasy and action, the main protagonist is often a superhero we are familiar with, or that has appeared at some point in history through the formation of comic fiction, however there is an exception here in Robocop, a similar style of narrative and approach but the character had not appeared in comics previous to the film.Superhero films were immediately commissioned after the success in the early 1940's of superhero comic books. They were however not million pound blockbusters at this time, and were shown on a Saturday aimed at children, starting with Captain Marvel, but Batman, Superman and Captain America also appeared in similar formats.In 1978 'Superman' became the first modern superhero film; it starred Christopher Reeve and was directed by Richard Donner. At the time it was seen as cutting edge in relation to plot lines, subtext and of course special effects. 'Superman' (1978) and 'Superman II' (1980) were considered remarkable successes through the industry and set a new mark through this genre.In 1989, The Batman comic was recreated through film; it set a much darker backdrop, reflecting the atmosphere of the original 1940's onward comics, unlike the earlier glossy television show. The costume and set design were much more elaborate and realistic to some extent, the network of Batman films grew through the 1990's until 1997's 'Batman and Robin' which is acknowledged as a serious failure in Hollywood. This could be interpreted however to have aided the genre as now directors had realised it was to be taken seriously not mocked.In the past ten years a new evolution of Superhero based film has come into the public eye. The release of 'Spiderman' heralded a new era, not only in the narrative and plots of these action base films, but also more diverse special effects. 'Spiderman II' even broke the box office gross record in the first five days of release. Many of the superhero films apply certain age restrictions due to the threatening villains and heavy action. 'The Incredibles' (2004) directed by Brad Bird, represented all a superhero film had to offer but created it in CGI technology. It appealed to both children and their parents, widening the market, there now appeared to be an option for the under twelve's.