Remembering Why I Love Superheroes!

    This age of deconstruction saps the will to create. Everywhere I look? They all want to be the Next Watchmen. Well if that's the case? No one is Watchmen. If that is all that's on the wheelhouse table? No wonder it feels like pushing a rock up a nihilistic mountain to get heard over the din. I get that many will chase the gold rushes.

• They want to earn money. 
• They want to access an audience that is already built up.
• Shortcuts to Cultural relevance. Even if its just for a fleeting second or two.

    So any newbie on the block will be confronted with the constant barrage of old IPs that have been built up over decades. Some might be nearly as old as my grandma by now. (She just hit 92.) Certain pulps have been buried on purpose. (Click Here) Those stories influenced all the cape and spandex comics here in America. From the plains of Barsoom to the jungles of Tarzan.

    The reality of taking shortcuts? You get skinsuits. Characters no one really wants. I've been so flooded by people taking the crumbs of the mainstream that I lost sight of why I loved superheroes in the first place.

    For the zany cosmic aspects! Here

    

    The what-if setups! I know what my nostalgia blinders are. I want a setting where Clark Kent is the standard level of human. Is it "Pie in the Sky?" Sure. But I don't care. I want a place where I can escape to where virtues are valued more than flaws. A setting where putting your best foot forward isn't seen as a "weakness" to exploit. 

    It does come down to what a reader will endure as their personal preferences dictate. Me? I value consistency so I don't mind a setting where pink Kaiju invade the USA. Where superheroes fight magical beings, demons, and other empowered characters that knowingly do evil. I don't mind explosions in space.

• 20 suns inside a Dyson sphere. 
• Planets the size of Jupiter that are submerged in magical divine waters that pause time. 
• Yellow Sharks that swim within the depths of space. Dragons too.
• Talking swords!
• Cosmic mysteries that can devour planets. (IE: In Eden's Zero? Wraith-like dragons eat the planet's time.) That way you can have different characters exist in the same timeline if you want. Or it completely resets a planet to its pristine age. 

Give me the power of WHIMSY! The Fantastical! Things that wouldn't exist in our Universe! Or at least what we don't know about yet. The power of "What IF!" It's what keeps me writing. Besides giving myself what I want.

• Space Dogs
• Fishbowl Helmets 
• Pew Pew (Retro 50s style even!)
• Heroes who Know Who they Are. The Flat Arc inspires others to do better!
• Forget Realism for a few hours in the day. Superhero settings are perfect for that.

    I needed to remind myself why I was inspired by superheroes. Specifically? The ASPIRATIONAL ones. We need them. Even more so than the Cathartic Street Level heroes that most prefer. Its why Ill keep writing. I will build my library of Static/Flat Arc Heroes and Heroines. I don't want a world that's just like my own. I don't need to see myself 1 for 1 in any characters.

    I want heroic men rescuing people they care about.

    I want men and women as a team.

    I want to escape to another world for a few minutes a day. 

    With the fantastical nature of pulpy offerings? I am more than willing to suspend disbelief. My verisimilitude factor? Consistency. It's all I really need to dive into a new setting. If I wanted realism I'd read a biography or historical offering.

    A few fantastical settings that I recommend:

• Pinkertons Ghosts: Here
• Star Warden: Here
• The Camelot Cycle:Here