Hello to all the Geeks and the Geek-esque out there. Some of us have no problems self-identifying, but other may be a little more guarded about our geek status or simply be what I’d like to call “Geek-Curious.” As I’m writing this, we are just a few day past Valentine’s Day and the concept of romance might still be somewhere near the fronts of our brains, right around our love for ice cream sandwiches and our World of Warcraft quest lineups for the day.
I happen to own a comic book store, and not a day goes by where I don’t consider how much I love what I do for a living and that kind of makes this installment of my column (my first) special. Many people think of the medium of comic book storytelling as a thing that’s all about teenage power fantasies of over-muscled guys punching each other out while wearing bright colored underwear. This isn’t entirely true. It’s just … true … ish.
Something that is often lost on comics’ readers are the romantic twists a character may go through while exploring his various motivations.
Let’s take the three biggest superheroes in comics:
Superman: Man of Steel, Heart of Mush
Superman is a powerful alien, sent to Earth as a baby to escape an exploding planet. Marlon Brando had this whole speech worked up in which he explained to baby Christopher Reeve all about what we humans were actually like. I’m not sure how he knew, since he lived on another world and didn’t seem to be able to build a big enough spaceship to come and visit Earth which might have saved Superman’s entire family, but that’s all water under the bridge now, isn’t it?
So baby Superman comes to Earth and makes some friends, gets some powers, hides those powers and looks for some direction in life when BOOM he meets Lois Lane. Many people see Superman’s relationships as being obstructions that cause him to always have to save folks, but I see it more like Lois Lane is there to show Superman that it’s our love of life that keeps getting humans into trouble.
When you’re Superman, what do you really have to be challenged by in life? Nothing much except figuring out what the hell is going on in the mind of Lois Lane. Lois is his best connection to our humanity. Sure he has parents, but they only taught him right from wrong like parents do. He has Jimmy Olsen but you don’t get inner workings of humanity from newspaper interns. They become your little brothers. Lois Lane provides humanity and intimacy, both of which Superman really needs.
Batman: Married to the Job, Bad Judge of the Ladies
On the other hand, there’s Batman. Bruce Wayne has had many female companions, but, for the most part, they are used to show the world that Bruce Wayne is normal. He wears women like suits. In his Batman persona, he has had two critical romantic relationships.
The first is Selina Kyle, a.k.a Catwoman, a jewel thief who cannot truly reform and therefore removes herself from contention as a long-term partner to a man who can’t stop hanging upside down at night and punching evil clown-faced serial killers in the face. Batman would need Kyle to a) go straight and b) go into the family clown punching business. He would never meet her half way and have the both of them settle down.
The second is Talia al Ghul, daughter of Batman’s arch nemesis, Ras al Ghul, leader of assassins and uber terrorist. Batman not only fell in love with the heiress to a global cabal of evil but they’ve also had a child together (Damian). Bruce Wayne is still in love with Talia but she’s a) not ready to not be a terrorist and b) he’s not taking up her father’s offer to make an honest woman of Talia and take over the League of Assassins. It’s made Batman a pretty decent deadbeat dad.
Spiderman: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
Peter Parker, The Amazing Spiderman, is a guy who is essentially designed to be just like you. He’s an everyman hero. He began as a high school kid with family drama, (dead parents and survivor guilt) school drama (bullies and crushes on hot girls), and a job that didn’t really earn him any respect. By the time he gets to college he’s found the love of his life in Gwen Stacy. Readers saw nearly 100 issues of Peter Parker working on being a happy little camper until the Green Goblin tosses Gwen off the George Washington Bridge. Spiderman attempts to save her but accidentally contributes to her death. This leads to even more survivor guilt! There’s nothing sexier on a man than eternal mopey-ness.
This does however, eventually lead Peter to begin dating Mary Jane Watson (best friend of Gwen Stacy) and they eventually get married. In real time, they stay married longer than Peter chased Gwen, but seeing as how Spiderman is never meant to be happy, he and Mary Jane have recently been made to forget that they were ever married to each other.
Honorable Mentions:
Now many other characters have had memorable romantic lives. The Flash once had his wife die, but found a way to spend one more month with her by using time travel (and not the way you’d think).
The series Strangers in Paradise by Abstract Press is the story of three women and one man, Francine has a platonic relationship with Katchoo; her best friend but Katchoo is in love with Francine. David is in love with Katchoo and Casey just happens to be in love with David.
There are also assassins and crazy leaps through time to deliver story elements and the story now comes in a neat pocket-sized version for anyone who wants their multi-level romantic drama on the go.
Whatever the reason you read comics, the romantic angle can easily be added and should be able to be found in the best characters and stories.
Terry Gant is the owner of Third Coast Comics, located at 6234 N. Broadway Ave.
Finding romance in comics
Is Batman a good boyfriend? And why is Spiderman so unlucky in love?
Published: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Updated: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
 "Photo: Neal Adams")
Neal Adams
1 comments