By: Rick B

Rick B — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:32:28 +0000

In regard to the strong reaction against Superman’s costume in 1938, it’s worth noting that Superman was not the first costumed character in comics, just in comic books. That distintion I believe went to Lee Falk’s Phantom, debuting in 1936. (And if, as in your discussion of Zatanna, a stage magician’s attire counts as a costume, then Falk’s Mandrake was an even earlier costumed hero, and one with powers of a sort.)

It was interesting to me that in all three Spider-Man films, and to a lesser degree in the new Iron Man movie, the filmmakers all felt the need to show the hero in costume without facial mask, as if the audience needed to be reminded there was a human face beneath a fairly featureless visage. As a longtime comics reader, I found these images disconcerting, and likely for the same reasons you describe – the mask is a key part of the identity of that character as a hero. It’s not of course that the mask makes them a hero, but it is an integral part of that character’s choice to become that particular hero.

As always, many thanks for your coverage and thoughts –
Rick B.

By: Guido Rosas

Guido Rosas — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:02:44 +0000

My guess would be that superheroes work mostly as an american product because, at their essence, they are the ultimate sublimation of american values, as perceived by the immigrants that shaped the country: The dichotomy of the need to belong versus the value of individuality expressed in the secret identity is a trait found almost exclusively in the superhero genre. Most of the classic european heroes don’t have one (King Arthur and Robin Hood, for example) The closest analogue to superheroes we have here in Mexico are the masked wrestlers. The most popular ones have starred in their own action movies (however bad they are) and comic books. They basically function as superheroes, fighting monsters, evil scientists and criminals, with the designs of their masks working as their chevron. The really big difference with superheros (other than the fact that the wrestlers don’t have superpowers -though their physical prowess clearly sets them apart from the ‘regular people’ in their adventures) is that they don’t have a dual identity. Though there’s obviously a face under the mask, thay never switch identities, and we are led to assume that they never remove their masks. It’s almost as if they had transcended whatever previous identity they had to become something superior, therefore rendering their ‘real’ identity unimportant. Of course I’m talking about the role of the wrsetler in fantastic fiction, in real life, the loss of their mask in “combat”, it’s supposed to be the most shameful thing that could happen to them (I know the fights aren’t real by any stretch of the imagination)

Comments on: Comics in Context #227: Sunday Morning at the Met

By: Rick B

By: Guido Rosas