It's a Bird- A review

You can accuse me of going on a Nietzschean complex and you may have a fair point. For a guy who prefers not to read superhero comics, two articles about one superhero might be a little too much. But then again, I am talking not about the traditional narrative of this comics universe or that. I am however, interested in writers who take a different take on the story.

Now when you come across the title It's a Bird the first thing you are aware of is alarm bells going off at the back of your head. This may be something to so with Superman, you think to yourself. Who needs another take on the Man of Steel? Aren't there enough hack writers employed by DC to write one more set of predictable stories?

Well this one is different. Firstly, this is not about Superman but about the man behind the story. Published in 2004 by Vertigo, It's a Bird is written by Steven T Steagle as an autobiographical approach to telling the story behind the comic book. It is about a writer who is given the job of writing Superman. He has to come up with a whole new approach to it. For a comic book writer he does have a distinctive approach towards Superman but he doubts if anyone would be interested in it: he hates the character and the comics that comes with it.

Now you might say that it's a job, get on with it; plenty of people wake up every morning and go to a job they hate, why should you be any different? Most of the time you'd be right but we are talking about a writer who cares about his what he does. He wants to do a good job because in his soul he knows he is not a hack.

Why does he not like Superman? His main objection to him is the idea that Superman is a character whose contradictions are irreconcilable. He is a protector of the people but what Steagle sees in him is more of a symbol of fascism. Superman, while serving as a protector of the people also seeks to impose on them a lifestyle more suited to the powers that be. He seeks not to change the status quo because he is in fact part of it. With Superman at its beck and call, what State would not feel emboldened in extending its role in the lives of people at the expense of their liberties?

In fact to Steagle, Superman appears as symptom of infantalization of ordinary human institutions. In an ordinary world justice is to be achieved at the expense of power siince the exercise of the latter causes the formers demise. This is usually done through collective demands of the people. The Dieux Ex Machina approach to justice that Superman delivers is not some thing any one who had any sense of social responsibility would appreciate. You cannot render justice from up high while you hold all the power as well- a critical flaw in the character of Superman.

There are also personal considerations. Years ago, when he and his brother were little, their parents discovered that his grandmother had Huntington's Disease. This had haunted him all his life because he heard his parents say that had they known earlier, they would not have had children. He shares the sentiment and is unwilling to engage in a conversation with his girlfriend about it. They even go the point of breaking up but he is adamant about it.

He has a mortal dread about the effect Huntington's will have on him- he does not want to die like his grandmother or his aunt. His aunt has been moved permanently to a hospice, her brain reduced to pulp by the disease. One look and he knows what is in store for him in the future.

So how does he reconcile dealing with a potential debilitating disease and writing about a man who is the paragon of physical perfection?

How would he deal with the various crises in his life? His girlfriend has left him, his father is missing, his agent wants him to accept a job that he would very much like to pass on. And above all, he has not resolved the issue between him and Superman.

What makes the comic so moving and personal is the way Steagle's narrative flows between his inner monologue and the out side world. What makes it interesting is the evident paradox: when things are going well for him he is experiencing an emotional meltdown. And yet when his life starts snowballing into one disaster after another, he discovers his true relationship with Superman.