“They can’t stick to walls.
They can’t summon thunder.
They can’t fly.
They’re just HEROES”
--from Marvel Comics’ HEROES
HEROES, as some of you already know, is Marvel’s tribute to the fire fighters, policemen, and emergency medical personnel who died during the September 11 attack of the World Trade Center. Proceeds from the sales of this “poster book” will go to the families of those who died.
The book contains 64-pages of art from Marvel artists of every generation. Veterans like Joe Kubert, John Romita Sr., and Neal Adams were joined by the likes of Frank Miller, George Perez, J.Scott Campbell and Humberto Ramos. Writers like Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Kevin Smith contributed essays, poems, simple words to accompany some of the visuals. It was also nice to see people who’ve left Marvel, like Todd McFarlane and Jim Shooter, come back to contribute something to the book.
As I flipped through the book, looked at the art, read the words, I started to cry and didn’t stop crying ‘til I finished looking at each and every piece of art. Despite the fact that I’ve been seeing those tragic scenes on TV over and over again, there was something about the scenes depicted in HEROES that made me suddenly grieve for those who died.
Suddenly, I was a witness to that moment of bravery or to that time of grief. There were art pieces/pin-ups that showed firefighters carrying people out the blaze, but there are also ones that showed ordinary people doing those heroic deeds. Instead of seeing Captain America or Spider-Man carrying out a helpless damsel, you see a guy in a business suit carrying out the injured. One pin-up showed a woman helping out an injured man.
One of my favorite pin-ups was by Igor Kordey. It showed a scene from the airliner that didn’t crash into the city. It showed those brave passengers that dared to rush the terrorists in the cockpit. Kordey depicted them the men with frightened looks on their faces, and yet they were determined to fight. They were ready to die for the sake of others.
Suddenly all these people had faces, not just blurred images on my TV screen. They were people who were frightened, scared, and yet, they were doing the job that they’ve been trained to do-- save lives. They were not muscle-bound men in brightly colored costumes who smiled as they saved the day.
I liked the artworks that just showed more of the ordinary people, rather than the one’s that showed the superheroes. But it was also interesting to see how these characters have become symbols that stood for America and the battle for truth, justice, and freedom.
Which just made me think wonder about our heroes? Who are the heroes of the Filipino people? Who are the symbols of truth, justice, and freedom for Filipino children?
Comic book characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain American were all created during wartime and were meant to be symbols for Americans, to be icons of hope and freedom. They wear the colors of the American flag. Who is the Pinoy version of that? Is it Darna? Is it Panday? They may not wear the colors of our flag but do they symbolize the struggle of the “poor Filipino” against the “powerful corrupt”.
Or maybe the “hero” for the Pinoy are the movie stars like: FPJ, Erap, and Robin Padilla. They’re showbiz personalities and real lives have become a blur for the Pinoy-- an amalgamated vision of what should be a hero. Thus, for some people, Erap can do no wrong.
One could also say that the Virgin Mary on EDSA is a “hero” for Filipinos. We converged at her feet we needed to stage our battle against the “powerful corrupt”.
Are they our modern-day heroes?
In one of the essays in HEROES, the writer pointed out that Americans have rediscovered their respect and admiration for their firefighters and policemen. Over here, we still perceive our policemen as corrupt, our firemen as people who need to be bribed to save one house other the other, and our ambulance drivers as guys who are just rushing to get home, so we don’t really need to make way for them when they’re blasting their sirens.
Maybe one of the reasons I cried was that deep inside me, I was missing my “heroes”. During this time when the world is at war and your country is too busy mudslinging and investigating each other, you just wish you had a hero to turn to, look up to, aspire to, whether they are fact or fiction.
A Hero’s Thoughts
No toll,
No price,
No loss greater than This:
One of Our Own.
No smoke,
No flames,
No challenge greater than this:
To maintain hope.
No oath,
No pledge,
No Vow greater than this:
To never give up.
--Kevin Smith