I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It seems that in most comics these days, the issue of protecting a secret identity, or a characters parallel life, are almost entirely null and void. With Batman recently revealing to the world his big secret, Superman walking across the country (yeah, I know it's a crappy storyline) and not even bothering to bring Clark Kent along, Hal Jordan saves the universe on a regular basis in space where no one cares who he is on Earth... And the list goes on.
I mostly read DC, so I don't have a lot of examples from Marvel, but they are out there. Iron Man ran the world's security force as Tony Stark. Steve Rogers isn't even Cap anymore, and Bucky is on trial for stuff he did before. Fantastic Four have always been out in the open. And so on.
In the Image-verse, Invincible(the only Image hero book I read)'s identity is technically a secret, but he only seems to interact with people who know all about it. Which leads me to ...
The point is, it always felt like a major thread in comic plots, and large portions of the characters depth, were tied up in the hero maintaining his/her big secret from the world. But now nobody seems to care anymore. We all want to know about Batman, not Bruce Wayne. A hero has a life all their own, separate from whoever is under the mask, and that part of their life has always proved to be significantly more interesting. So interesting, it seems, that we've left the life under the mask behind almost entirely.
My question is: What does this trend in comics say about our culture today?
In the book Men of Tomorrow an interesting theory about early superhero comics is presented. It claims that since the early creators of the industry, back in the 30s and 40s, were nearly all Jewish, that the secret identity as a concept was a manifestation of their cultural strife, brought on by World War 2 and the generally anti-semitic American/world populace. The book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay talked about this idea a lot too. It was common practice for Jews seeking a reputation in the public eye to change their names, playing off as if they weren't really who they were at all. That somehow everyone could be fooled, and they could go on being their true selves in secret. Bob Kane's real name was Bob Kahn. Stan Lee's real name is Stanley Lieber. And this practice was not exclusive to the comic industry. One could make the argument that a lot of people in previous generations sympathized with this mindset, wanting to hide their backgrounds (racial, religious, cultural, personal) from the world at large. Something about this concept rang true with America. The success of the industry speaks to that plainly enough.
So what makes this generation different? Have things like YouTube and Facebook completely desensitized us to the concept of privacy and secrecy? Are we expected to be great all the time, not just in times of stress and strife? Or do we simply expect greatness from our heroes all the time?
The resurrection of comics and their characters in popular culture is obvious enough. Superhero movies seem to have replaced action movies all together. With the world falling apart all around us, environmentally, politically, economically, Americans clearly want heroes. But who do we think they are and what do we want from them? And what's different from their origins in the 30s?
I don't want to start a political discussion here, nor am I looking to do some Jew bashing, but I really am curious to hear other thoughtful opinions on this issue.
Whoever we are as Americans influences who our comic heroes become on the page. What has changed and why are stories like Civil War so successful and ring so strongly?
Discuss.... Please.
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