Let me tell you about Superman

For we to understand the Super Hero genre, we must look at the archetypes created by it, or better yet, used by it. Let me tell you about Superman already!

Many people see Superman for what he is, or better yet, what's so apparent about him.
He is a character created in the 40's, purchased by a big publishing company (DC Comics) that then got snatched up by another big company, Warner Inc.

That would make him as ordinary as you can get right? Just another legacy character from a big company that doesn't even have a fix writer. His on going stories are hot potato'd from a writer/artist combo to the next. There are Superman lunch boxes, movies, cartoons, video games...You Name it.

And sure enough several Superman stories are cookie cutter as you can get, as plain as you can get. But let me tell you about the "real" Superman - Or better yet the Superman you can find if you search hard enough. An experience, a character in the middle of the rubble of faceless companies and the impersonality attributed with the fact his creators are long dead and so many visions and writers have re-defined the character along the years.

Superman is hope.
The metaphorical concept of hope that is. He is an immigrant, adopted and shaped by a traditional American family. He has a boss. His work barely pays his bills. He is down to Earth (Yes!) has the exact problems we do in our adult lives. Yet he does that with a smile. His routine, his daily life is his solace. It's what makes it worth to battle Braniac and save the multiverse. The first Superman stories were all about arresting evil CEO, politicians and other crooks that make the life of your every day worker a living hell after all.

Isn't he one of the strongest Super Heroes of all time? Of course he is. But this does not deny his humanity. In fact, Superman belief on the human spirit is what keeps him fighting for us all. His desire to see mankind uplift, healthy, secure, hopeful is what defines him. Even if some writers didn't get the memo, suffice to say the success of stories like "All-Star Superman" prove there ia an audience for that interpretation of the character.

Since he was the first character that defined the Super Hero mythos perhaps it wouldn't be a stretch to say that hope is a background theme for the entire genre.

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Superman Artwork by Chema Mansilia