Expert: Justin Case - 12/10/2008

Question
Is Superman your favorite non-Star Trek character?

Superman vs. Mighty Mouse

Superman vs. Companion

Based on your "Batman answer" from yesterday, I assume you didn't like the 60s Batman show with Adam West. Is this correct? What did you dislike about it? Was it the POWS and BAMS on the screen when someone got nailed?

Answer
Hi John -

No, not at all, he's not even my favorite Superhero.  

I love the characters in the television show Babylon 5 in a near identical way to the ones in Star Trek.  I also think Battlestar Galactica (the new one) has some of the most interesting characters I've seen in sci-fi in decades, some even more interesting than those in Star Trek.  

Stargate SG-1 also has brilliant characters that, I think, are as contemporary and important today as the Trek characters were in the 1980's and early 1990's.  (I'm also an expert on those shows if you have questions about them.)

My favorite comic book characters are Batman, Green Lantern, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man and Cyclops from the X-Men.  Superman is probably way, way down on the list if I had to make one.

Supes vs. Might Mouse - Well I don't know very much at all about Mighty Mouse but unless he had some Kryptonite or magically powered weaponry I think it would be hard for him to take down the Man-of-Steel.

Superman vs. Companion - That would be quite a contest but in the end I'd say Superman would win.  He has just taken on so many differing creatures and triumphed, whereas the Companion seemed more peaceful and less tactically smart to me.

I loved the Batman show with Adam West when I was a child, but now not so much.

As I've gotten into comics throughout my life I discovered more about the history of the character and how he was originally created to be scary, frightening criminals who didn't know exactly what he was.  Was he a man?  A demon?  A superhero or a vigilante?

With many characters that have been around for so many decades Batman has been re-invented so many times that he really has been a different incarnation each time.  My personal favorite is the Dark Knight, kind of a loose cannon that is a loner fighting against his own personal demons, not the 'Hey chum' Batman of the Superfriends cartoons.

As a kid I loved the POW/BAMS of the Adam West series, but as an 'adult' I like the more serious, scary Batman who wrestles with the demons he carries from the loss of his parents and is able to take on entities like Darkseid, Ra's Al Ghul and the Joker and triumph because he is smart and pays attention rather than with powers like Superman where he can lift up a building without breaking a sweat.

The 60's Batman was great for its time and as a reflection of the desires and thinking of the viewers of the time.  Today's Batman is a darker, edgier character, again reflective of the post 9-11 era that many American citizens now live within.

In another sixty years who knows?  It will be interesting to see how readers of that era react to Batman, and how he changes with the times as he always has.

Thanks!

Deran