Post by Hendo the Showman on Mar 6, 2007 13:53:12 GMT -5
As kind of a spin-off of the "Marvel: Civil War" thread, I'd like to ruminate on secret identities, and who does 'em right, and who does 'em wrong.
With everything I hated about M:CW, I DID dig Spidey outing himself, and the repurcussions. It nicely sums up why most super-heroes have a secret identity. Of COURSE the first thing Kingpin would do would be to try and whack your family. OF COURSE. So I did dig that.
I really liked what DC did with Superman (and then reversed in that bowl of bile that is "Superman Returns") and Clark Kent. Until they re-booted Superman in the early '80's, Superman was the real deal, Clark Kent was how he got around without being hassled every day. CK was the disguise. And as Quentin Tarantino so beautifully put it in "Kill Bill, Part II"...
Then DC turned it all on it's head. The Kents find and adopt young Clark Kent, and his powers mature slowly (no Superboy flying around in a mini Superman suit). His parents help him ease into his powers, and he doesn't find out about his alien heritage until his late teens. Also, his matrix actually doesn't "hatch" him until he arrives on Earth... a big distinction. He's actually BORN on Earth, even though he's of alien lineage. Actually, he's a naturalized American citizen because he's born on American soil (a point that comes up in an Elseworlds book). He only finally becomes Superman because he can't live his life as Clark once he saves Lois Lane (experimental plane she's on). As he tells his folks once he returns to Smallville, "They all wanted a piece of me." So it's his adopted parents who create the iconic Superman image for him, even calling it his "Fortress of Solitude."
Which goes a loooooooong way to explaining the whole Clark Kent/ Superman dichotomy. Think about it... if you're really Superman, why would you need a disguise like Clark Kent? Why wouldn't you simply be Superman all the time? Especially if it's your "joke" on humanity? If you wanted to walk around with mortals, couldn't you just pretend to be different people all the time in different countries? Why tie yourself down? And don't give me that tired old excuse that he pretends to be Superman so he can "get the news" and track down villians and disasters. He's frikkin' SUPERMAN... he can see everything and hear everything just floating over the planet.
No, the reason there's both a Clark Kent and a Superman is because Clark came first, and deep down, that's who the real character is. Superman comes second, and is the costume. Superman is the "secret identity." It's the only way Clark can marry Lois and have a normal life (especially with his parents still alive in the rebooted continuity).
Around the same time DC was rebooting Superman, they were rethinking Batman. Or rather, Frank Miller was. First, he created "The Dark Knight Returns," his telling of the end of the Batman mythos. Then he created "Batman: Year One." By the time he was done writing for Batman, it becomes clear that Batman is the real character, and Bruce Wayne is the mask (which was, in direct opposition to the craptacular new Superman movie, a direction embraced by "Batman Begins").
Now, this has always been a tricky dance for DC, right from the start. Because Bruce Wayne, even from the beginning, was always pretending to be a gadabout playboy. His true personality was closer to that of The Batman. However, DC always made it clear that he WAS Bruce Wayne.
But they didn't.
But they did.
It was troublesome for them until Miller "outed" Batman. And it makes perfect sense. Someone as young as Bruce Wayne was when he watched his parents get killed would get seriously messed up. And it's pretty clear he never got ANY psychological counseling. So he just carries that mess inside him until there's a break. And he very clearly breaks. I mean, he dresses up as a bat and beats the hell out of bad guys ALL THE TIME. He forgoes any pleasures out of life. Everything (including the adoption of various Robins) feeds his "war." And he calls it a war. Someone owes the Punisher a dollar.
Probably the best take on this comes from Alan Moore's brilliant "A Killing Joke". Joker and Batman are tied together in madness. Except for how it's expressed. Joker is trying to prove to Batman that "all it takes is one bad day" to flip someone over from a normal everyday Joe to a homicidal maniac. And it's telling that even Joker can't remember who he really is any given day, because just as there's no real Bruce Wayne, there's no real Joe Kerr (or whoever). There's just Batman and the Joker.
With everything I hated about M:CW, I DID dig Spidey outing himself, and the repurcussions. It nicely sums up why most super-heroes have a secret identity. Of COURSE the first thing Kingpin would do would be to try and whack your family. OF COURSE. So I did dig that.
I really liked what DC did with Superman (and then reversed in that bowl of bile that is "Superman Returns") and Clark Kent. Until they re-booted Superman in the early '80's, Superman was the real deal, Clark Kent was how he got around without being hassled every day. CK was the disguise. And as Quentin Tarantino so beautifully put it in "Kill Bill, Part II"...
Bill: As you know, l'm quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating. Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology... The mythology is not only great, it's unique. Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He's weak... he's unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.
Then DC turned it all on it's head. The Kents find and adopt young Clark Kent, and his powers mature slowly (no Superboy flying around in a mini Superman suit). His parents help him ease into his powers, and he doesn't find out about his alien heritage until his late teens. Also, his matrix actually doesn't "hatch" him until he arrives on Earth... a big distinction. He's actually BORN on Earth, even though he's of alien lineage. Actually, he's a naturalized American citizen because he's born on American soil (a point that comes up in an Elseworlds book). He only finally becomes Superman because he can't live his life as Clark once he saves Lois Lane (experimental plane she's on). As he tells his folks once he returns to Smallville, "They all wanted a piece of me." So it's his adopted parents who create the iconic Superman image for him, even calling it his "Fortress of Solitude."
Which goes a loooooooong way to explaining the whole Clark Kent/ Superman dichotomy. Think about it... if you're really Superman, why would you need a disguise like Clark Kent? Why wouldn't you simply be Superman all the time? Especially if it's your "joke" on humanity? If you wanted to walk around with mortals, couldn't you just pretend to be different people all the time in different countries? Why tie yourself down? And don't give me that tired old excuse that he pretends to be Superman so he can "get the news" and track down villians and disasters. He's frikkin' SUPERMAN... he can see everything and hear everything just floating over the planet.
No, the reason there's both a Clark Kent and a Superman is because Clark came first, and deep down, that's who the real character is. Superman comes second, and is the costume. Superman is the "secret identity." It's the only way Clark can marry Lois and have a normal life (especially with his parents still alive in the rebooted continuity).
Around the same time DC was rebooting Superman, they were rethinking Batman. Or rather, Frank Miller was. First, he created "The Dark Knight Returns," his telling of the end of the Batman mythos. Then he created "Batman: Year One." By the time he was done writing for Batman, it becomes clear that Batman is the real character, and Bruce Wayne is the mask (which was, in direct opposition to the craptacular new Superman movie, a direction embraced by "Batman Begins").
Now, this has always been a tricky dance for DC, right from the start. Because Bruce Wayne, even from the beginning, was always pretending to be a gadabout playboy. His true personality was closer to that of The Batman. However, DC always made it clear that he WAS Bruce Wayne.
But they didn't.
But they did.
It was troublesome for them until Miller "outed" Batman. And it makes perfect sense. Someone as young as Bruce Wayne was when he watched his parents get killed would get seriously messed up. And it's pretty clear he never got ANY psychological counseling. So he just carries that mess inside him until there's a break. And he very clearly breaks. I mean, he dresses up as a bat and beats the hell out of bad guys ALL THE TIME. He forgoes any pleasures out of life. Everything (including the adoption of various Robins) feeds his "war." And he calls it a war. Someone owes the Punisher a dollar.
Probably the best take on this comes from Alan Moore's brilliant "A Killing Joke". Joker and Batman are tied together in madness. Except for how it's expressed. Joker is trying to prove to Batman that "all it takes is one bad day" to flip someone over from a normal everyday Joe to a homicidal maniac. And it's telling that even Joker can't remember who he really is any given day, because just as there's no real Bruce Wayne, there's no real Joe Kerr (or whoever). There's just Batman and the Joker.
