COMIC BOOK CHARACTER: UNLEASHING THE HERO IN US ALL
BOOK REVIEW
The slogan of the book, which reads, “Power and responsibility. Truth and justice. Never-ending vigilance against the doers of evil,” aptly fits this book. At first glance the book seems just out of the ordinary, and might even be commonly mistaken for yet another tacky comic book. However, through reading and analyzing some of the chapters, it can be neatly shown that Zimmerman translates the problems in today’s world and artistically weaves it into the fantasy world of comics. He immerses himself in subtlety and symbolization of the widely known comic characters and brings out many of the underlying significances of certain human characteristics in nature.
The book itself teaches many valuable lessons that comic book heroes and their villains are not just mere entertainment, but they reflect our own individual struggles with significance, justice and identity, which ultimately define us as human beings The book is divided into ten chapters which are split up just like one might have seen in an actual comic book. The book maintains it philosophical aura by explaining certain situations, but does not get too philosophical that its’ comic book character gets dragged down in dust. Overall, the book maintains a fresh, feel good theme, which provides a pleasant combination of philosophy and entertainment in whole.
Wonder Woman: The Potatoes
The main aspects which are relevant to this website are discussed in the first few chapters of the book. The book starts off generally, by giving brief descriptions of widely known comic book characters and more importantly, explains why a certain type of population religiously indulge themselves in comic books. Slowly as the book gets more specific, Zimmerman tackles issues such as insecurity, stability and courageousness by alluding to various comic book scenarios to explain some of the comic book characters we hold within ourselves.
The book starts off with a dramatic first chapter where Zimmerman discusses the concept of superheroes and introduces the certain percentage of population of fairly addicted “nerds” who sort out and read every possibly comic book out in the stands. He also explains the basis of some common misplaced judgments of the comic book nation; i.e. a stereotypical fan boy of the comic book world is doomed to be like, look like and talk like. A suitable example in the book would be, “The TV show ‘The Simpson’s’, has a recurring example, an overweight, smug, pseudo intelligent resembling not all the hero’s he promotes.(20)” The generality of the character in “The Simpson’s”, vaguely explains little more about real life situations where this type of stereotypes are commonly observed.
Therefore, getting to the main point, chapter one primarily discusses why comic books seemingly contribute to the weak and the fallen. It brings light on what the society is like, for example a comic book geek is sure not commonly spotted in the popular kids crowd and a popular kid is bound not get caught engaging in a geeky comic book. The author looks back upon himself as a young boy as a great comic book enthusiast who appreciated the strength and willpower of his favorite superhero, yet in real life he considered himself as one of those “wimpy nerds” who obsessed over his comic books.
Chapter one also asses insecurity issues, and helps to explain the reason behind the weak insecure youngsters obsessing over comic books. Many who get tortured or bullied in school run off to their special fantasy comic book world where they engross themselves and fight off their weakness in real life by fighting them off in their fantasy land. For example, Zimmerman gives another example of himself in the book where the bully becomes Dr. Evil in the author’s fantasy land whereas the Zimmerman himself becomes the superhero and delivers justice to Dr. Evil. Therefore by withdrawing himself from reality, the so called comic book nerds deal with their feebleness through the indulging themselves in fantasies of comic books. After all, imagination and departing from reality is what keeps most of us sane in this insane world.
Spider-Man: The Meat
Chapter two and three become pertinent when discussing the different personalities of the superheroes. That is, the different distinctions between Super-man and Batman, or the different attributes Spiderman holds in common with the other superheroes. There is also an aspect of disguise that is very intriguing topic talked about in the book. The author explicates how disguises fit in with the superheroes wanting to be part of the normal society which he further alludes to the disguises we put on to fit in a particular situation in real life and so on. Superman, for example is Clark Kent, Spiderman in normal life is Peter Parker.
The author mentions Spiderman in several occasions on a fond note probably because Peter Parker becomes one of the most realistic superhero that one can relate to in real life. Peter Parker had always been a weak youngster, and was bullied around constantly. After he was blessed with spider powers, he started to show off. He started getting in school fights with the bullies and acted belligerent toward elders. However, all those fine days came to a screeching halt, where he misused his powers and let a robber escape his sight while stealing money and as co-incidence would occur, the same robber murders Peter Parker’s uncle. Spiderman’s powers are used for the good from here on out, and so all the comic book “geeks” who are bullied in school learn the valuable lesson from this story; do not misuse your gifts, whatever and however small they might be.
Reading the Spiderman comic makes you understand the number one rule of super heroism; never misuse your powers because you never know when they will turn back at you. Peter Parker might be the ideal model that weak measly kids look up to, but these superheroes and comic books also bring out morals in young kids; by teaching them from wrong and right.
Conclusion
Deep analysis of all the chapters goes beyond the scope of relevancy of this website. The rest of the chapters here on out, explain more about the superheroes, their histories and particularly their personalities and how they were shaped from their environment. Although they are very important topics to explore, they are quite irrelevant to symbolization toward our human experiences. Like every book, this book has its flaws and praises. It is good to note however, that the good drastically outweighs the bad.
The only negative aspects of the book is that the authors does not explore different other superheroes. He bases his judgments mostly on Superman, Spiderman or Batman. It would have given a much broader perspective on the book, if Zimmerman had used various different superheroes, rather use and reuse the most common examples.
Overall, this book is interesting and unique, and it is not like any other books that one might have read before. This book makes us feel good about ourselves, even if we were the bully or the nerd. It also gives a novel perspective to the world of costumed heroes and villains. It is good book to read even if you are not a comic book enthusiast, as it teaches certain valuable lessons of life.
References
Zimmerman, A. David. Comic Book Character: Unleashing the hero in us all. Intervarsity press. Dover, Illinois. 2004.
Fingeroth, Danny. Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society. Continuum International, 2004.