We Could Be Heroes

They're making a new Superman movie. I confess that I found myself just a little excited by the notion. Superman isn't my favorite hero - I think Frank Miller had it right in "The Dark Knight Returns." In Miller's vision, Supes is a corporate shill, an echo of the Reagan years. Superman is a pawn in the ensuing Cold War. Superman's problem is that he's just too good to be interesting.
The guys who interested me were the conflicted ones, the ones who were twisted way down inside. As a kid, Batman didn't have a huge appeal to me, since most of what I saw was the Adam West version, the one who always had exactly what he needed in his utility belt. He seemed like he was fighting crime as a lark, something to do until his tee time.
The revisioning of the Batman legend that took place in the 1980's helped reclaim the Dark side of the Dark Knight. Batman's parents are gunned down right in front of him. He wanted to strike fear into the hearts of the criminals of Gotham City. He was a vigilante. That's what made him so scary - his secret identity was due in part from the fact that he was hiding from himself.
Over in the Marvel Universe, things were decidedly less tidy than Superman's word at DC Comics. Chief among the head cases at Marvel was Spiderman. Peter Parker was a kid who was trying to get by on the tiny freelance photographer's salary while juggling a teenager's love life and the guilt of the world embodied by his "poor Aunt May." Spiderman's parents are absent, then his Uncle Ben is killed by the very man he let get away. Try and live out from under that "With great power comes great responsibility" jazz. Year of therapy couldn't undo that one. In the meantime, Spiderman was definitely part of the real world. He had to sew up his own costumes - even Batman had Alfred to iron his cape. He was also regularly subject to the laws of nature, he got hurt, things fell apart, Spiderman ran out of web-fluid.
I will probably go and see the new Superman movie. It might turn out to be as gut-wrenching as "Superman II." But I think I'll keep buying Spiderman comics - they rule.