100+ Definitions 18

Invincible #18

Low-Frequency Listener (L-FL): Welcome to the tale that sets readers upon red sands sifted from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Ray Bradbury.

Invincible #18 (I#18): Before Invincible sets foot upon Mars, there is some fun where Amber, Mark Grayson’s girlfriend, deduces that Mark’s consistent tardiness and abrupt departures are due to him selling drugs.  It’s after one such sudden departure that Cecil requests Mark to secretly accompany a shuttle to Mars to protect the astronauts from the hostile shape-shifting Martians, which he does after a brief encounter with the Monarch Prime.  The issue ends with one of the astronauts unknowingly left behind and controlled by the starfish slaves of the Martians. 

L-FL: So from this rocket-summer story, what definition of superhero emerges?

I#18: At the beginning of the issue, a splash page shows Invincible holding up the ceiling of a house to prevent a mother and daughter from being crushed.  Invincible states, “Don’t be scared—I’m good, I’m not tired or anything.  You’ve got some time, gather up your things, toys, family photos—whatever.”  This consideration and comment carry on throughout the story and makes “superhero” a being with extraordinary powers that maintains humanity and empathy, knowing the cares and worries, of normal human beings.

L-FL: That fits with anthropologist Stanford Carpenter definition of “superhero” as “defined, limited, and restrained by their struggle to be responsible, to exercise their abilities and power with restraint.”  This information can be found in Carpenter’s essay “Superheroes Need Superior Villains.”

I#18: …