Honey and Clover


The author: Chika Umino

Data: April 2000~ July 2006

Publishing company: Shueisha












Response to Priya’s Shakti








Requirements of being a Superhero!

Our class discussion this past Tuesday intrigued me. It was about what physical traits and moral values and ideas superheroes. For most people, a superhero is a strong, physically well built man in a tight iconic costume who fights off crime and the bad guys and only does what is right to protect the people. For the most part we think of superheroes as male but there are female superheroes too. They too like their male counterparts are almost always physically attractive with great sex appeal. Batman and Superman are irresistible to women. The female heroes have tight fit bodies with low-cut revealing clothing. Take Wonder Woman for example, she is sexy. For the most part I have not seen an ugly superhero so I guess being physically attractive is mandatory for being a superhero even though looks have nothing to do with fighting crime and saving people’s lives. The sex appeal too has nothing to do with protecting the human race.

Superheroes are designed this way to make them the utmost idea of perfection for they are not average like the rest of us common folk. With their good looks they also contain super powers and/or amazing abilities. Superman with his great strength and super-human powers makes him a great threat for the bad guys. Batman being highly intelligent like that of a detective with all his awesome gadgets and being incredibly  wealthy to afford the best technology, lab, car and weapons, he doesn’t need super powers. Spiderman gets his strength and powers when he is bitten by a radioactive common house spider and Iron-man, like Batman, does not have super powers but has the means to afford him awesome equipment and a suit that can defeat anything and transforms him into this unstoppable machine.

Other common traits in superheroes is that they usually tend to have love interests. Batman and Iron-man always have some girl waiting and drooling for them. Batman also can get caught up with the wrong girl like Catwoman or Poison Ivy, women that can be dangerous and have sided with the villains. Superman has a thing for Lois Lane and Wonder Woman at times. Spiderman loves Mary Jane. Superheores need love too because why if they didn’t, why would they fight crime if they had no love in their hearts?

Some heroes and anti-heroes can come from troubled or hard pasts and their way of coping is to fight crime. Batman’s family was murdered by the insanely demented Joker and the Hulk, whether he is considered a hero or an anti-hero, had his mother murdered by his own father who horribly abused him throughout his childhood. I think their pasts are something that makes the hero a bit more human. They have gone through sadness and grieve. They know what loss is like and I believe that is what makes them better heroes because they turn that pain into compassion for the other civilians who are in danger. Superman’s Kryptonite is his weakness and like I said, having a weakness or a hard past make the heroes more likeable and people can relate more to them.

Lastly, I believe every superhero needs an equally impressive villain that can match up to their superhero rival or the stories would be seriously boring. Batman’s villains are iconic and memorable; Penguin, Joker, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze, Two-Face and The Riddler are all extremely easy to identify and remember. Superman with Lex Luther, they are always fighting it out. And Spiderman has an enormous group of villains. Too many to count. Alistair Smythe, Big Man, Big Wheel and Beetle to name a few.

For so many reasons, the list is endless of what makes superheroes superheroes. What traits do they have, what their stories are, who they are with, who are their enemies and so on. For one thing I am sure about is that they will continue to entertain us and keep us wanting more of them.


Superheroes as the New Mythology

First of all, I’d like to lay out that this is not an original thought of mine. I had read an article some time ago (the author and article title escape me) that pitched this idea, and it’s one that I find myself thinking about quite a bit and want to elaborate on.

The idea in question is that the adventures of comic book superheroes are more or less a modern version of the hero myths from ancient societies. It makes sense in a lot of ways. Many cultural myths followed the exploits of many larger than life characters like Gilgamesh or Hercules just to name a few. In that same vein, superhero comics tell us the tales of characters who could be considered gods as well. People love to read about the adventures of superheroes like Superman, The Flash, and Captain America in probably the same way that ancient Greeks loved listening to The Odyssey.

It’s also worth noting that the comic book industry is certainly aware of the superheroic aspect of mythology and using that as a resource. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby took the initiative to directly adapt existing mythology with their use of Thor as a superhero. Lee and Kirby were definitely onto something with their idea of adapting Thor, because Norse mythology was already a superhero comic. There were ready-made heroes and villains to use and a whole host of worlds to explore. By looking at the minimal changes that had to be made to turn Thor from Scandinavian myth to comic book superhero, we can see how similar superheroes already are to mythological figures.

I think that the popularity of superheroes is due to the same phenomenon that has kept people interested in the mythology of bygone eras. There’s some innate cultural desire to see someone greater than ourselves; someone who can serve as an example of what people should strive to be. It’s because of this that I believe that many of the superheroes we know today will continue on for generations to come

Student Exercises







New Kind of Comic

Today, when Dr. Dru was going over the different genres of manga, I couldn’t help but think about the differences in genre in comparison to American comic genres. In Japan, they have shonen manga, which was popular amongst boys, of which most people know about (such as Naruto or One Piece). However, they also had shojo manga, which was popular amongst girls. This, however, isn’t nearly as popular in America. Now, personally, I love action as much as the next guy, but I still wonder why shojo was never really popular in America. Sailor Moon is probably the most popular shojo manga, but that’s about it.

This difference between Japanese and American comics interests me because in order to provide the public with a female-oriented genre of comics, the comic artists are required to accept the fact that they have a female clientele. This caught me off guard. But what surprised me the most is the fact that shojo manga rose in the mainstream manga culture in the 1960s, and there aren’t really any mainstream comics in America that are created for girls by girls. There are some underground comics, but it still seems that American comics are refusing the fact that girly-girls would like to read comics about girly stuff.

At most, we have gender-neutral comics in America. But I don’t think that’s enough. I want sparkles without any light source. I want illogical floating roses in the background. I want shiny eyes that express emotion and mystery. I want strong female protagonists that fight the patriarchy and establish peace and freedom and equality with everyone of every sexual identity.