| Introduction |
Robert Mayer is best known as the author of Superfolks, the 1977
novel that has been read as the first deconstructionist super-hero work.The following works are available. Following these is a list of other sites of interest.
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Robert Mayer is best known as the author of Superfolks, the 1977
novel that has been read as the first deconstructionist super-hero work.The following works are available. Following these is a list of other sites of interest. |
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Robert Mayer's first novel, Superfolks, was published in 1977
under a garrish cover. It went largely ignored until Kurt Busiek made reference to it in his
introduction to the first
Astro City trade paperback. Busiek had
long been a fan of the novel, first picking it up in 1977, and claimed that the novel was of
vital importance for the super-hero genre. But the novel itself, long out of print, was
unavailable except to those lucky enough to find it in used bookstores.In December 2003, the tiny publisher About Comics released a 2100-volume
run of the novel (with only 2000 released to the public) in comic book proportions. At last,
comics historians could easily read the novel and test Busiek's claims. I myself bought the
book for this reason, not knowing quite what to expect.The book, flatly, lives up to Busiek's hype -- and then some. It is
truly a revolutionary work. Its take on super-heroes is not strictly deconstructionist: it
takes the tone of magical realism, letting super-heroes have sex, but is simultaneously filled
with satirical, even ridiculous elements. While brilliant deconstructionist takes on
super-heroes are offered, they exist simultaneously with a mishmash of popular cultural
figures, from Marilyn Monroe to Spirow Agnew. Perhaps, more than anything, the novel is simply
fun and enjoyable to read; again and again, as with the best of literature, I found myself
feeling the neurons firing in new ways, saying to myself almost chapter by chapter some
variation of "holy shit, this is good!"The novel clearly exerted a tremendous influence. Though it is difficult
to ascertain what simularities between Superfolks and later deconstructionist works can
accurately be attributed to outright influence and what simularities can be attributed to great
minds thinking in the same direction, making explicit what lay implicit in the super-hero
genre, many such simularities exist.
Alan Moore's seminal
Miracleman has tremendous resonance
with Superfolks, prominently including the aging of Miracleman's human identity, the use
of Kid Miracleman as a villain who uses his powers to cross the boundaries of human morality --
not to mention opening with the same Nietzsche quote. Moore's
"last Superman story"
similarly featured Mr. Mxyzptlk as the secret villain, using his powers in new and destructive
ways, and similarly concluded with
Superman choosing a domestic life as a mortal.
Watchmen and Superfolks both make
reference to the historical Kitty Genovese murder as a turning point in a super-hero's
consciousness, both use documents from the super-hero world within the narrative, and both
feature a sprawling corporate conspiracy connected with Cold War nuclear tensions. Rick
Veitch's seminal Bratpack similarly explored super-human sexuality, though it focused on
characters other than the Superman analogue as Superfolks did.The similarities do not stop with the deconstructionist revolution of the
super-hero genre in the mid-1980s. Even
Kieth Giffen's Justice League had a
Captain Marvel analogue who had aged and had forgotten his secret word. The unapologetic blend
of realism with ridiculous elements in Superfolks would manifest in the
reconstructionist works inaugurated by Kurt Busiek's
Marvels. Samaritan in Busiek's Astro
City not only had blue hair, like the protagonist of Superfolks, but also had awards
for his super-heroic feats (an idea introduced in Superfolks). Perhaps the work that
best duplicates this unapologetic combination of realism and the ridiculous, however, would be
Alan Moore's seminal work on
Supreme.Other elements of Superfolks have been even more forward-looking,
most notably the sex. What Mayer did -- as, perhaps, with all deconstructionist moves -- was
simply to put into print the kind of things kids talked about on paygrounds: what was
super-sex like? Yet, due to corporate censorship and the fact that novels can get away with
things that place comics under the counter in plastic baggies all but labelled "for disgusting
perverts only," almost all comics have thus far been unable to deal with sex in such a graphic
yet humorous manner as Superfolks.Pretty damned impressive? Yes, it is. Really. And, like the above
works it influenced, one needs to know Superfolks to be fluent in the masterpieces of
the super-heroic genre.
| Superfolks | a novel by Robert Mayer; Kurt Busiek introduction; the same proportions as comic books; 160 pages; published by About Comics in December 2003 |
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