Transformation

[fajrdrako]

"Transformation is at the core of the classical superhero comic: the
moment at which the ordinary person becomes the extraordinary. The bolt of magic lightning, the costume change." - Warren Ellis (Bad Signal, May 24 2005)

This got me thinking - that's one of the joys about Warren Ellis, he often makes me think about comics in a way I haven't thought about them before. Calling mainstream American comics "fight comics", for example.

I would have said that my interest in comics didn't involve either fights or transformations, though I enjoy and accept both as part of the story. In some cases, I actually dislike the aspect of 'transformation' when it involves extreme uses of secret identities and schizophrenic character changes, as from the traditional Clark Kent to Superman. This is one reason I like the TV show, which doesn't feature that dichotomy - they wrote it out entirely.

At the same time, I like the contrast of public and private personas that go with this, in the case of some characters - this seems to be consistently and well handled with certain characters in particular - Batman, Nightwing, Spider-Man. Where does paranoid secrecy end, and a justifiable need for privacy begin? Do superheroes - or any characters - have the right to be living a lie, taking multiple identities to elude detection? How is truth best served? Or should truth be served? What's it worth, anyway? And all this leads to the most interesting question of all: what separates the heroes from the villains? Motives? Accomplishments? Ethics?

There are some interesting characters where the moment of transformation is not just a matter of putting on a costume or taking another name, but of real physical transformation - Thor and the Hulk come to mind here.

With notable exceptions, I tend to prefer the characters who don't undergo transformation from civilian to superpowered identities: the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Dr. Strange, John Constantine....

I wonder why.