My Heroes... sigh

by Pam Ripling

When I hear the term “superhero”, my mind immediately conjures up the vivid color newsprint graphics of my childhood, found between the semi-glossy covers of Marvel Comics. Because of a popular TV version of Superman, the Man of Steel became my young heart’s hero and I went mad for collecting those comic books, along with my friend Paul. Paul and I spent hours every day after school pretending to be Clark Kent and Lois Lane. SOMETIMES I was Supergirl, and he was Superboy. We flew all over the neighborhood.

As a teen, all my superheroes were rock stars. Bigger than life, indestructible despite their precarious lifestyles, and of course many of them flew—right off the stage and into the adulating crowd! Okay, so maybe that doesn’t count.

Thinking about today’s superheroes, I have to agree with Jacquelyn about dear Harry P. He meets all the criteria. After all, what is a superhero? Someone with powers? Check. Someone fighting for the common good? Check. Someone with mysterious attraction? Double check.

My favorite female superhero would have to be Arwen Undomiel, the half elven daughter of Elmond in Lord of the Rings. She definitely has powers, she is calm under fire and she is beautiful. Played by Liv Tyler in the films, Arwen gets to save Frodo and kiss (and marry!) that hunkiest of all Middle Earth heroes, Aragorn, played by another personal favorite, Viggo Mortenson.

Last, can’t forget Wolverine. Despite those nasty popping knuckle-swords ("retracting bone claws", for you purists), the Canadian X-gene Mutant means well. He can’t help it if he’s a brooding alpha-type. He’s had a tough time of it. While it’s not on the list of “superhero attributes”, it sure doesn’t hurt that his big-screen incarnation is played to the hilt by People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive, Hugh Jackman! Now there’s hero material for you.

Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

This article contains artwork that is © 2006-2008 FunDraw.Com

Superhero or not?

When I first began thinking about this topic ("Who's your favorite superhero?") right away I thought of Claire, Hayden Panettiere's character in Heroes. It's hard to find a really good superhero who's female, and the unbreakable part--well, if you've ever met me, you know why I'd admire that.

But something about my choice didn't quite settle well with me, and suddenly I realized why. My favorite superhero is Harry Potter.

You might not think of Harry as a superhero--I didn't, at first, and I had quite an argument with myself over it--but the more I thought, the more I realized, well, yeah, he is. Let's break it down. He comes from humble means, but suddenly becomes aware he's special. He's a marked man from day one, and has to use his magical powers to get himself and others out of tight corners with vicious villains. He has two very cool, talented sidekicks. He can fly, and become invisible. And he uses his wits and other talents to save all wizardkind, and in the end, the world.

That description pretty much smacks of superhero to me, but what do you think? Is Harry Potter a superhero?