Mythology and Superheroes

I’ve been geeking out about mythology quite a bit lately, partly because I’m teaching a class on the subject and partly just because it’s just so cool.

Over the past decade, many of mythology’s ancient gods and heroes have cropped up in the most popular video games (e.g. God of War), movies (e.g. Thor and Clash of the Titans), and novels (e.g. Riordan’s The Lightning Thief and P. J. Hoover’s Solstice). What is more, the spirits of these characters—what Joseph Campbell called “archetypes”—now influence modern story tellers as much as they did thousands of years ago, and every Hollywood screenwriter since George Lucas has studied the stages of the classical heroic journey.

The Trickster

One eternally popular element of mythology is the trickster. Almost every culture in human history has myths of an individual who relies on his or her wits to outsmart stronger, meaner foes. Examples range from Coyote (of the central and south-western America), or Anansi (of West Africa), or Loki (of Scandinavia) and Hermes (of Greece).

Tricksters are always clever, and are usually driven by a large appetite (sometimes for food, sometimes for sex, and sometimes simply for mischief). Additionally, the trickster is an explorer and an inventor who brings new things into the world.

Despite these similarities, opinions about tricksters vary widely from culture to culture, and how they are portrayed tells a tremendous amount about the people telling the stories. They can also tell us a lot about ourselves.

Hermes vs. Loki

The ancient Greeks, inventors of philosophy and democracy, revered knowledge and cleverness, and their treatment of tricksters shows this. Hermes, the quick-witted guy with the wings on his sandals, was one of the most popular gods in the ancient tales. The story goes that he became one of big shots of Olympus because his mischief amused Zeus, and he is also credited with inventing music and bringing countless gifts from to the mortal world. And they loved him for it.

Loki is also an inventor and a prankster, but was not beloved. Even though he provided Odin and Thor with their greatest weapons and treasures, and (so the story goes) he invented the fishing net that was the livelihood of the ancient northerners who told these tales, he is still scorned and mistrusted right from the start. I have to believe that this reflects the attitudes of a people from a harsh, icy world, which held no tolerance for mischief or unpredictable things.

Batman and Iron Man

Take Iron Man and Batman, two of the most popular super heroes today, also fit the trickster archetype. Both of these characters are inventors, both rely on their intelligence to defeat stronger opponents, and both have a knack for unpredictability.

And both have sold more comics and movie tickets in the last few years than many of their more powerful peers.

It seems that the “nerdy” heroes like these two are becoming the leaders, while the “jocks” like Captain America, Thor, and Superman are starting to take the second-string roles. Our modern mythology is beginning to reflect that brains, not brawn, is what makes money, determines laws, and wins wars.

Soap Lazarchak

I’d like to think I was ahead of the curve when I wrote Mad Science Institute. This novel follows two protagonists: Dean, a two-fisted tough-guy, and his cousin “Soap,” a girl genius whose inventions cause accidental property damage wherever she goes.

Dean was fun to write because he had all the daring-do of any good action hero. But it was Soap who kept me guessing: I found I could toss her into any scrape and she would come up with some surprising solution, even if I didn’t know what that would be when I started writing. I could surround her with murderous bikers, handcuff her to a chair, or chase her with mutant lizard-monsters, and somehow she would always manage to MacGyver her way out of it… and probably blow something up along the way.

Dean is the Thor/Hercules/Superman of my pantheon, a classic alpha-hero. But Soap, like Hermes, Coyote, Batman, Odysseus, and so many tricksters before her, invariably proves herself mightier than the mighty, even though she is the most vulnerable character in the book.

A Question

The classical “trickster god” archetype is well known to scholars, but I don’t know of anyone else who has used it as a lens for viewing superheroes or modern culture. What do you think? Am I out to lunch? If you think so, please tell me. On the other hand, if you can see other examples of modern tricksters in action, I’d love for you to share them.

Be good, and dream crazy dreams

Sechin Tower is a teacher, a table-top game designer, and the author of Mad Science Institute. You can read more about him and his books on SechinTower.com and his games on SiegeTowerGames.com

Avoid Shiny Things

Hi, P. J. Hoover here, and today I’m talking about shiny things.


Right, shiny things.

Why, you might ask? Well, because, when writing, shiny things should be avoided at all costs.

Here’s what happens to me EVERY SINGLE TIME I am writing a book. I an head over heels in love with my book. It’s going to be the best, most amazing book in the entire world. It’s going to win tons of award and get all the praise, and I can’t wait to hit the words and write it. And so I start writing it and I’m excited and things are going great…until they aren’t.

Because something normally happens around page fifty. Maybe page one hundred. The writing gets hard. The story feels stale. I’m sure it’s all futile.

Enter the shiny new idea, because I’m sure to get one. And my shiny new idea is going to be the most amazing book in the world and is going to get all the fame and glory and I’m sure I should stop what I’m working on and work on my shiny new story idea.

Have you been there, too? Well, here’s my advice. Run away from the shiny. Stick with the story that’s gotten a little hard to write. Because if you don’t, you know what you’ll end up with? A bunch of fifty page stories on your computer and no finished novel. Jot down a couple quick notes and then get back to the word. You’ll find that love you once had for your original story. Push through that horrible middle, and when you come out on the other end, the sun will once again be shining.

*****




P. J. Hoover is the author of the upcoming dystopia/mythology YA book, SOLSTICE (Tor Teen, June 2013), the upcoming Egyptian mythology MG book, TUT (Tor Children’s, Winter 2014), and the middle-grade SFF series, THE FORGOTTEN WORLDS BOOKS (CBAY, 2008-2010). You can read more about her and her books on P. J.’s website or blog.

Stories and Treks

By Dan Haring

My older brother and I shared a room growing up, and for many years we had this poster of the USS Enterprise hanging on our wall.

Neither of us were huge Trekkies, (or Trekkers) although I seem to remember my brother watching a fair share of TNG as he got older. But before that, we were little boys and it was a cool spaceship with a ton of really neat detail. That's all that really mattered. After watching a few of the Star Trek films and finding out who Kirk and Spock and the rest of the crew were, I found even more enjoyment staring at the poster. Not only that, I was inspired by it.

And that's what great stories and characters can do. That's why there are millions of Trekkies and Star Wars and Batman fans. Millions of Dr. Who and Firefly and Sherlock fans. It's because these mythologies have characters that we love and hate, characters we're able to lose ourselves and our normal lives in, characters that change our lives. 

And that's why we see these characters popping up again and again. That's why there have been 500 James Bond films. It's why we're getting a new Superman movie next month. These characters resonate.

So think about it as you're crafting your story and characters. Are your characters worth caring about? Would anyone cry if they died? Does it break your heart when something horrible happens to them? Are you elated and inspired when they overcome their hardships and obstacles?

If you answered "no" to any of the above questions, chances are your characters aren't quite where they need to be. I don't have a silver bullet answer for what to do or how to fix them if they're falling short. But the best characters not only have pieces of us in them, they allow us to project our hopes and dreams and fears onto them. It's not easy to create a Katniss Everdeen or James Tiberius Kirk or Luke Skywalker, but it's possible. 

This past weekend I saw Star Trek Into Darkness, (which was fantastic) and got this cool Star Trek poster by Mark Englert. (it even glows in the dark)

As soon as I saw it, I knew what I was going to do with it. My two boys share a bedroom, and I hung it where they both can see if from their beds, next to the Batman and Star Wars pictures. They're a little young for Star Trek, but they're not too young to be inspired. And as they read Harry Potter and watch The Avengers I want them to have favorite characters and go through the love and hurt and joy and pain those characters go through.

If you ask me, that's why we read and watch stories.

And why we tell them too.

Lectures, Laughter And A Love Of Writing

 Lexi Brady

 @LexiLoopsy

Hey everyone! 

My name is Lexi, and this is my first blog post on ADR3NALIN3! To help introduce who I am, I’m going to tell you all the story of when I realized I wanted to write. When I first wanted to write and never stop. 

I was six years old sitting on my couch as my mother was giving me a lecture. I don’t remember much of what she said, it was kind of like in the movies where the rest of the sound drowns out and the only thing I was aware of was my own internal dialogue. 

Earlier that day I had gone to a birthday party, and as the end of the party drew nearer I began to spin an elaborate tale to the father of the child’s birthday I was attending. I told him that my mother has a twin sister (which she doesn’t) and that they were so identical the only way you could tell them apart was by their hair. I told him that my aunt would wake up before even the sun would rise so that she could blow dry her hair straight, (this was before straighteners) and that my mommy wore hers naturally curly. 

Little did I now that while I was at the party, my mother had gone to a hairdresser WHERESHE GOT HER HAIR STAIGHTENED. So whenever she comes to pick me up from the party, Jack (the father) goes to shake her hand as if he had never met her before. My mother’s face held a fantastic cocktail of emotions, befuddlement to why he was introducing himself when she had dropped me off only two hours prior, curiosity as to why I refused to meet her eye. And finally embarrassment as she realized what I had done. 

After explaining that I had an over active imagination and some awkward apologies my mom ushered me home, which brings us to the couch. 

I only had the ability to listen to the first few things my mother said because I picked up on just a few key words. ‘If you wanna lie Lexi, just become an actress, a politician or a writer.’ 

People got to tell stories for a living! It was the most incredible thing I had ever heard of. I knew instantly that one of these things was going to be my calling. 

I participated in theater for the next few years, under the tutelage of an incredible woman that continues to inspire me to this day. And one day after I asked her for the twenty-somethienth (yes I know that isn’t a word) time ‘Toby, wouldn’t the script sound better if…?’ Toby looked at me with a big knowing smile on her face, a smile that I didn’t realize at the time but now I recognize it to be the smile of possibilities. Toby told me, ‘Why don’t you write a script? Let’s perform YOUR story.’

Now don’t get me wrong, I had written short stories before. Little rhymes that didn’t make sense and storylines involving a princess named Lexi who has a pet lion. Because really, how awesome would that be?? But until then it had never really occurred to me that I could write something important. And yet here was this wonderful woman that I looked up too, telling me she not only wanted me to write a play, she wanted to read it and then eventually perform it!

And it seems that is all it took, someone believing that the tales I spun from inside of my head were important to make me feel like they did, in a way it even made me feel important. (Still does to be honest.)

Writing is such a huge part of who I am, and that is why I am honored to be writing for this blog!

I hope everyone has a good Saturday! See you in two weeks!

Write On, ;) (Did you see what I did there?)

Lexi