Twilight of the Superhero

The worst-case scenario, the destruction of entire cities or even planets, had long been a staple in the fantasy world of U.S. comic books. But when the fantasy became apocalyptic reality on Sept. 11, 2001, it unnerved even the comic book authors. Until then, their superheroes had always been ahead of real life. Since 9/11, however, they’ve been limping along behind it.

The real superheroes of 9/11 weren’t really super at all. They have mortal strengths, they wear uniforms, and they live in the real world. They work as firemen, policemen and other first responders. In New York on Sept. 11, they simply did their jobs.

They stand proudly before their flag in the front row just as they stand in the forefront of their heroic counterparts in popular culture. The last page of the comic “Amazing Spiderman #36,” the cover of which is depicted draped completely in funereal black crepe, pays popular culture’s tribute to these men and women.

Between the covers of the comic book, author J. Michael Straczynski recounts the helplessness of the superheroes who, despite their super powers, were unable to stop the hijacked airplanes from reaching their targets, a feat Superman had already pulled off countless times on paper. Humbly, they line up behind the first responders, who, in comics such as “The Call of Duty,” had been endowed with the superhero aesthetic.

The period after 9/11 has been characterized by a permanent change in the relationship between pop culture and reality. For more than 60 years, American superheroes were at the forefront of the nation’s imagination. They represented positive values, fought social inequities and willingly went into combat against every enemy in wartime.

They were more often than not a step ahead of reality. As early as eight months before America entered World War II, comic book hero Captain America decked Adolf Hitler with a hook to the chin. During the Cold War, the heroes fought against Soviet communism. But that’s all in the past. Since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, those broad heroic chests have become noticeably scrawnier.

Where the focus had previously been on catastrophes like the destruction of cities or even entire planets, the superheroes themselves now stood on center stage. Just one day after the 9/11 attacks, a Superman episode appeared in which twin towers strikingly similar to the World Trade Center were damaged. Anything that dealt even remotely with mindless destruction was framed in terms of the 9/11 attacks.

It was only temporal distance that allowed a critical comparison with the actual event. The patriot Captain America was the first one to ask the self-critical question, “Why did these terrorists attack us in the first place?”

Captain America in Guantanamo

But readers didn’t want their heroes to think such thoughts, and John Ney Rieber quit his position as Captain America’s creator. Rieber’s successor, however, remained critical, sending the super soldier to the infamous prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

In 2006, the Marvel Comics series went so far as to indirectly level criticism at some decisions made by the U.S. government. Author Mark Millar imagined a world in which all superheroes had to register with the authorities — ostensibly for the security of the population. The parallels to the Patriot Act and U.S. government anti-terror legislation that came about in the wake of the 9/11 attacks were impossible to overlook.

But despite the fact that 9/11 drastically changed the comics, they reflected only that which had always been their focus. As in previous decades, pop culture gradually adjusted to the spirit of the times.

Holy Terror, Batman!

The spirit of the times changed more as the distance to 9/11 became greater. The superheroes slowly emerged from the rear ranks and again took on their role of the defenders of justice.

This newly regained sense of self-esteem was infiltrated in some cases by a tougher outlook. In new films like “Kick Ass” and “Super,” the role of the selfless superhero was replaced by the exaggerated brutality of the common man’s personal justice. The suggestion was that Americans could again solve all their problems themselves.

“Resistance is brutal”

The current high point in this development is the comic “Holy Terror,” drawn and written by artist Frank Miller. His work is scheduled to appear on Sept. 14, published by Legendary Comics. Publisher Bob Schreck promises “a fast-paced, biting commentary on our uncertain and volatile times, told with some of the most gut-wrenching, iconic images he’s ever produced.”

That’s a tall order, but considering the author’s career thus far and in view of the strong shift his outlook on life has taken, plus the painful birth of his new creation, those may be commentary enough.

Growing up as a child of the 1960s, Miller admits he knew more about John Lennon than he did about American presidents. The American flag, he confessed in a 2006 interview, represented little more to him than an old piece of cloth, and patriotism had long since ceased to mean much as an ideal.

His view took an abrupt turn with the attacks on the World Trade Center. With terrorists engaged in acts right at his front door, Miller’s system of values became radicalized. He traded John Lennon in for America’s Founding Fathers and discovered his patriotism.

In the world of American comic artists, Miller is considered an extremist. This also applies to his highly stylized black-and-white drawings, as exemplified by his comic “Sin City” and his film of the same name, as well as his radical-conservative black-and-white philosophy that allows for no shades of gray.

His comics may seem radical, but they’re always characterized by their realism.

The publication of “Holy Terror” will attract attention also because of the fact that Miller has been working on it for 10 years — since September 2001. At the outset, the graphic novel bore the working title, “Holy Terror, Batman!” After Miller’s success with “Batman: the Dark Knight Returns” in 1986, however, Miller decided he and the bat would part ways. In a 2010 interview, the artist explained his decision saying, “I pushed Batman as far as he can go, and after a while he stops being Batman.”

So “Holy Terror, Batman!” became simply “Holy Terror.” Instead of the Dark Knight, Miller’s new costumed crusader “The Fixer” will put everything right. Where Batman categorically refused to kill his opponents, “The Fixer” shoots back. His violence confronts the reader right from the cover and continues on through the entire work. “Resistance is brutal,” is the slogan of this graphic novel, and it wastes no time on asking why. But it reflects a feeling of strength where there had previously only been helplessness.

Miller was celebrating the aesthetics of violence already with the filming of his novel “300.” Whether he will continue on this path in the future remains to be seen. In any case, American pop culture will not shy away from reality, interpreting it and commenting on it as well. That was clearly ensured by the turning point we call 9/11.