Exactly: that Superman had no flaws, no hooks, no tension. I believe Mike Carey had a similar problem with creating the Lucifer series for Vertigo: what the heck do you do with an almost unimaginably powerful being that makes for an interesting story?
The religious studies comparison (btw, the course was tag-team taught by one prof from history and one from the religion dept) is one of several comparisons to make, albeit one I find useful. What was interesting for me in the bio/hagio/sacred sequence was the craft of writing along the timeline, what aspects of a person are told and what is left out. How to make a saint, selectively. How to make that transition happen by altering your view. Unsurprisingly I found comics parallels useful in framing those discussions.
As a tangent I'd also suggest that the internal self-image most people have of themselves is a simplified one that bears more similarity to the mythic level than the "warts and all" comprehensive view at the human level, albeit for lack of detail and a distaste for acknowledging one's internal flaws.
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Date: 2007-08-02 04:15 am (UTC)The religious studies comparison (btw, the course was tag-team taught by one prof from history and one from the religion dept) is one of several comparisons to make, albeit one I find useful. What was interesting for me in the bio/hagio/sacred sequence was the craft of writing along the timeline, what aspects of a person are told and what is left out. How to make a saint, selectively. How to make that transition happen by altering your view. Unsurprisingly I found comics parallels useful in framing those discussions.
As a tangent I'd also suggest that the internal self-image most people have of themselves is a simplified one that bears more similarity to the mythic level than the "warts and all" comprehensive view at the human level, albeit for lack of detail and a distaste for acknowledging one's internal flaws.