Saturday, January 28, 2006
Comic Art
You are looking here at the inspiration for the series on the chanacters of the Justics Society that we find ourselves in the middle of. The modern Mr. Terrific is black. A few weeks ago I looked at black superheroes - so I had to talk about him and one thing lead to another.The coolest thing about the JSA is the concept of generations. Mr. Terrific was, as you see on this cover, originally a Golden Age hero. As a kid. I thought the whole "FairPlay" emblazoned on his gut was just too, too, but in my advancing middle age I have come to appreciate this hero more and more.
We all know the theory of epic heroes, they all it seems must be born of tragedy, and have some sort of tragic flaw -- that's what makes the character interesting. Superman suffered for the longest time from the lack of a tragic flaw (kryptonite is a weekness, but not a character flaw.)
The tragedy out of which the original Mr. Terrific was born wasn't much of a tragedy. Seems the guy was an extraordinarily successful athelete and business man, but who felt unfulfilled - so unfulfilled he contemplated suicide. In the course of attempting his own suicide, he ran into another individual so attempting, rescued her and discovered his fulfillment - A hero was born.
Not exactly a tragedy you can sink your teeth not there, is it? None of the pathos of Bruce Wayne seeing his parents gunned down or Peter Parker losing Uncle Ben to a killer he could have stopped.What I have come to appreciate from the story though is how fulfillment is found by putting the needs of others in front of your own. That's a rare thing in people, and in this day and age, a rare thing in heroes. Modern heroes seek to avenge, or to act out some obsessive drive created by a huge tragedy or the accident that gave them power. Rare is the hero that does good for good's sake and finds fulfillment precisely from that sacrifice.
The modern Mr. T has left the story somewhat intact, but with a few critical changes. Firstly, the modern Mr. Terrific has a much, much better look. He too discovers his heroism in a suicide attempt. He likewise was a star athelete and in this case technology developer. The difference is that his suicide attempt was rooted in the loss of his beloved wife, and his return from the brink was motivated by the Spectre telling him the story of the original Mr. T.While a little more "realistic" this character and his legend is lacking in the utter altruism of the original. He is still "purer" than the average hero these days, but his edges are rougher. He's selling a lot more comics than the original ever could, but somehow I miss that corny, utterly altruistic guy. Our world could use more of them - in reality and in legend.
Related Tags: comics, comic books, superheroes, Mister Terrific, Justrice Socity of America, JSA, art
