When I was a child I always enjoyed superheros. Most children do I suppose but for me it was a little different I think. Most people love the fighting, the superpowers(which I am not going to lie were right up there on my list), the ongoing battle between good and evil. For me it was about the people who became other people for the good of the world around them and how they balanced it all in fantastic ways and in the end it all seemed to come together. Why did that ring true with me? Because that's what I did every day, or so I thought. I thought that me being someone I wasn't was helping everyone around me. It made my parent's happy, it made God happy, one day it would make a wife and kids happy as I protected all of them from what was behind the mask and the dangers that could come from them knowing.
That's what I saw as a kid but then one day I took off my mask. Sharing with a select few at first...My Bruce the gargoyle(My person I can tell anything to without fear of judgement), then to a few teammates, and then finally I pulled a full Tony Stark and told the world that I am Iron Man. From that moment on my love for my childhood heroes evolved to what it has become today. It is a constant reminder to me of what is important in my life, a reminder I feel that we all need from time to time. I even decorated my apartment with minimalist superhero art that I commissioned my brother to paint for me on canvas so that I can't forget the lessons they were driving home throughout my entire childhood without me even knowing it. Here are those lessons along with photos of the paintings my brother did for me and the rooms I decorated around them with the help of my friend Meagan.
First is Wolverine. The X-men are my first superhero memory of note. In 1990 I was an 8 year old boy in Ferndale, Florida, which is a tiny town west of Orlando. The nearest convenience store was in Montverde, which was the next town over, and about once a week my dad and I would stop by there on his way to work at the restaurant he owned. One morning while we were paying for his gas and my chocolate milk I noticed a small pack of 10 marvel superhero trading cards next to the register. My dad bought me those cards and that quickly became our tradition. Every week when we stopped I would get one pack of marvel trading cards. I don't remember all 10 of the cards that were in that first pack but one of the two that stands out in my memory is wolverine.
I will humor the chance that someone who might stumble across this blog won't know who wolverine is and what he can do, though I find that very unlikely. Wolverine can handle anything, he is nearly indestructible and if someone does manage to wound him he heals almost instantly. That is what I take from him, I can handle anything. At 31 I have already stood with my family through my mother's battle with manic depressive bi-polar disorder with seasonal affective disorder and traits of schizophrenia when in her manic phase, had a major knee surgery resulting in 3 titanium pins holding my kneecap in place, removal of a cancerous cyst from my testicle and the subsequent treatment, coming out to my southern baptist family, falling in love, planning a proposal and then calling it off when I found out that that man was and had been cheating on me for years, moving out of state and away from my comfort zone for a job that turned out to be a joke, moving back into my parent's house to get back on my feet at 31...and I am still here...and I am fine. Many of those things did wound me but I am healing...and I always will. I may not heal as quickly as Wolverine, but I will always heal. In addition to that, a large portion of what the X-men is all about is human rights. I watched as these good people were persecuted in my favorite cartoons just for being born different. You can throw whatever interpretation of whatever book you want at me but I will proudly hold up an X-Men comic in one hand and the bible in the other because both say the same thing...love and accept one another regardless of how they might be different from you.
The second card I remember from that first pack was Spider-man who has always been my favorite superhero.
You can probably guess what good ol' Spidey reminds me of....responsibility. "With great power comes great responsibility." It is true, the more power you have the more responsible you have to be. The thing is power can be interpreted many different ways. In my eyes we are all infinitely powerful. What we do now matters, what we don't do matters. I have a younger brother, younger cousins, children who see me perform, children I have mentored in the past...all of them have looked to me as an example at one time or another and many of them will again in the future. My community, the theater community, looks to me to play roles because they know that I will do the job and I will put everything I have into doing so. I have a responsibility to the man I am going to be tomorrow to be the best man I can be today. I may not be able to stick to walls or have superhuman strength but I can mold the future.
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Next is The Green Lantern. I wasn't introduced to the The Green Lantern until a little later in my Superhero education but I think he came along when he needed to, as most superheros do. The Green Lantern is another duel meaning for me. First I will tell you what The Green Lantern can do and more importantly HOW he does what he does. The Green Lantern is a normal man that was chosen to be part of The Green Lantern Corps by a power ring when it's previous owner died. He uses this power ring to form constructs from pure will power. He can literally will anything he can think of into reality. I think we are all capable of this without the aid of a power ring, it just takes us a little more time and effort. That is one of the two things The Green Lantern taught me. The other is that, just like the ring chose Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner because it knew he could handle it, life chooses us for what we can handle.
Now for The Man of Steel, Superman. As we all know, Superman, or Kal El, is an alien and was sent to Earth by his parents to save him from the destruction of their planet. A young farming couple from Kansas found him and raised him up as their own. He grew up as Clark Kent and saved the world as Superman. He hid from the world behind a pair of glasses, an every man personality, and haircut to protect those he cared about and to try to have what everyone wants...a "normal" life. This one is a little more complex I guess cause this one is about how I don't have to hide ANYTHING about myself to have that life. I live in a time where we are finally starting to see people for people and not for who they fall in love with, what color their skin is, who they pray to or don't pray to, and what is or isn't in their pants. I know we have a LONG way to go..but we are closer than we have ever been and getting closer every day. So this painting reminds me to just be me cause I live in a world where I can.
Last but not least is Batman. Now I know there are a lot of things I could take from Batman. I know he fights along side super powered people having no powers of his own. Everything he can do he can do because he worked hard and trained and designed gadgets or paid to have them designed. I know...but what I take from Batman is not to let my life be fueled by revenge. I moved into this apartment and commissioned these paintings after I broke up with my first real love. For two years I gave him everything I was and found out that he was cheating on me the whole time. I could let revenge fuel my want to succeed. I could say, "I'm going to be amazing so that he can look back and see what he screwed up.". But that is not what I am going to do..because no matter what...revenge will only leave you empty in the end. I would much rather say, "I'm going to be amazing because I am capable of amazing." and hope that he goes on, finds what he needed in someone special, and does the same. This painting is the first thing I see when I come into my home every day because let's face it...there are things that make us angry every day...and when I get home I sometimes need a reminder to let go of whatever it is and be the hero that these guys taught me to be.
So there it is...why these specific heroes mean so much to me and how they save me every day. So yell at your kids for "wasting time on comic books" if you want...but there are important lessons buried in those pages. I, for one, will be encouraging my kids to meet as many heroes as they possibly can. I mean, if you have never met a hero, how will you ever recognize that you are one?
