Posted: 14 July 2017 at 3:56am | IP Logged | 7
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Mr. Byrne - you broke my heart in Action Comics with what you did to Krypto. After that, I never forgave you... :)
The idea of a "family" is an intriguing one, from a point of not-fighting-crime-every-minute aspect. But there are certain points that I consider...
Biggest item is that we have to define "family." I have siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews... but NONE of them are a significant part of my life. My "family" are friends and fellow actors...
A) Is a duo a family? Batman and Robin? Cap and Bucky? Hawk and Dove? I think some characters work great in a partnership. And some, perhaps not so much.
B) Do non-powered supporting cast count as "family"? Is Commissioner Gordon in the Batman family? Jimmy Olsen in the Superman Family? J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man family? I don't think that anyone would argue the above, and they surely appeared regularly enough that everyone who read the book knew who they are.
C) Must family be literal? Or similarly, must family be NON-literal? Superman and Supergirl are cousins, as are the Hulk and She-Hulk. Hawkman and Hawkgirl or Storm and the Black Panther are husband and wife. But Batman and Batgirl are no relation to each other. Neither are Thor and Beta Ray Bill. And part of the Marvel family are siblings, but Captain Marvel Jr. is no relation. Are we establishing a distinction?
D) Is a super team a family? I don't think anyone would say the Justice League of America or the Avengers were a family, but the new Teen Titans and the Fantastic Four are definitely families. Or are families and teams distinct classifications?
I love the idea of Superman not being the last Kryptonian... although between the Phantom Zone and Kandor, he kinda got de-uniqued pretty big time. I loved the Marvel Family, but part of what I liked was that there were four of them... and they appeared together as well as separately, so there wasn't a lot of demand for interaction... it was there.
I think that "family" works best when the members are a little less duplicative. When we get to Supergirl, Superdog, Superhorse, or Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Batgirl, Batdog, it's getting kinda redundant. Same with Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, Spider-Kid (WHOOPS! :)
But the biggest issue I see is calling in family to help. The Supergirl TV show kinda demonstrates this... when a problem gets too big, are other members of the family called in? If so, does it weaken the main hero? If not, what's the excuse when the situation is a threat to a large group of people? There's a huge earthquake in Central City - does Barry call Wally and Jay to help him? Does he call Green Lantern?
I am a big fan of super hero ineraction, and if it's more regular, sometimes I really like it - and sometimes it's a little off-putting. Loner characters wouldn't work as well, you'd think, but as always, it is the quality of the writing and the story that makes it work. Maybe what works for Batman wouldn't work for Daredevil.
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