For the last two years plus, I’ve been making paintings, most of which have been based on characters from movies and TV shows in a style that has become somewhat of a trademark. If you’ve been a follower of mine here or on social media, you know what I’m taking about. One thing you may have noticed is that there is an entire Pop Culture genre that is arguably the most…hmmm, how should I put this? The most powerful genre of all? Yeah, that’ll do. I’m talking about Superheroes. Those damned Superheroes. They’re everywhere! And I haven’t painted them in this style. Until now.
I could tell you that I have had a life-long love affair with Superheroes, but if I did that, I would be lying. The truth is, I’ve never really been a Superhero guy. I actually remember being made fun of by other kids for buying comic books that were void of superheroes. I have one specific memory of something that occurred when I was around six. I had purchased a comic and some kids made fun of me and told me about how I should be reading Superhero comics. Like a real man–er–boy, I guess. The comic I had purchased was a Disney comic called Scamp. I bought it because I liked the style of the drawing. I remember telling people: “I like funny ones.” Ironic, because I strongly suspect that comic was not funny at all! I also grew up to not be much of a fan of Disney, but that’s a story for another time.
The other thing is, when I was a kid I rarely bought or even read comic books. True to my six year-old form, the only comics I was into were the funnies. The newspaper comics. Again, very much because I’ve always been attracted by art that is created for laughs.
So why are Superheroes so popular? I mean, I guess maybe it’s obvious? Who wouldn’t want to have the power to catch all the bad guys and jump over buildings? Or fly, or have laser eyes, or what have you? So maybe it’s just great fantasy escapism. I know there are whole “universes” of characters with complex mythologies, so there’s that too. But I have to admit, for the longest time I rarely saw the Superhero movies that have largely taken over Hollywood. My wife always likes to see them, so she would often go out and see them with her friend Jim, while I would stay home and make art. But I have seen a number of them in the last several years. And they really are quite good. There is some great writing going on in this genre. I’m looking at you Into the Spiderverse…
Recently a friend of mine suggested I watch the Boys and I have to say I wasn’t sure I was into the idea. What could be so interesting about another damned Superhero Universe? I remember reading somewhere that some comic book companies would not accept any submissions featuring funny Superheroes, and that always made sense to me. I mean, give yourself ten seconds and you can probably come up with one. I’ll start. Poopman. He takes giant poops that incapacitate all who encounter them. Okay, it’s not that funny (and sorry for putting that image in your head), but just give me a few more seconds and I could do it! Of course the Boys isn’t a comedy, so I decided to watch it. And I have to say, they were pretty clever with it! The individual heroes in the show (and the graphic novels, I presume) would be easy to come up with, but the story is great!
So maybe that’s the answer to my question? Maybe Superhero stories have been great all along and I’ve been missing out! I’ll just add one last thing: there was one Superhero I did like when I was a kid. I probably only bought a few of his comics over the course of my childhood, but I did buy some. That Superhero was a fine feller from a place called Krypton by the name of Clark Kent, aka Superman. Here is my painting of him. Can you tell which versions of this iconic character I’ve mashed up to create this?