My most popular post over the past month, in terms of page views during that time, was this one. It keeps getting a steady trickle of attention.
Nothing wrong with that. The post is about a fictional clash between the Incredible Hulk and Zeus, the king of the Greek gods. Hey, cool! I'm fascinated by the way mythic figures are presented in modern narratives, whether it's novels, movies, comics ... you name it. I'm pleasantly surprised that this particular post, which touches on the nature of heroism in fictional narrative, is proving to be so popular (though it's not getting more comments coming in, so maybe everyone who reads it actually hates it).
About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
4 comments:
That was a good post: sorry I missed it first time around.
For what it's worth, I'm not bothered by Zeus beating Hulk (although I was a subscriber and fan when we got the smart green hulk).
I'm not bothered because I agree with you that unbeatable heroes are no fun, and too hard to relate to. Even the christian saints were vulnerable, and were in a constant state of turmoil over temptation, bouts with Satan, etc. When I was considering conversion to Catholicism for awhile, I began to consider Padre Pio as a bit of a superhero.
And all of this leads me to google to see if there was an issue where Hulk fought Thor.
And now of course it's going to get even more attention, cementing it's status as post `o the month.
I enjoyed the post the first time it came around, but as someone that has read very few comics I didn't feel I had a whole lot to contribute. At the urging of a former coworker I went through maybe half of Marvel's Civil War stuff which was fine, but it didn't make a big comics fan of me.
The fact that I went through half of the Civil War comics might hint at that :P
Ah well, still have some comic/graphic novel stuff(Watchmen, Sandman, etc) sitting in my list of books to read but I'm in no particular hurry to get to them. There are plenty of other worthy works in that list.
I don't suppose you happen to have an Essentials of Comics/Graphic Novels As Proclaimed By Me post? Haven't seen one since I started following your blog, and an admittedly quick search didn't turn one up...
I don't really have that "best of" list. I'd name safe things, like Watchmen, God Loves, Man Kills, a lot of Neil Gaiman's work...
I've gotta say, though, that Mike Carey's current Age of X story, which uses well-established Marvel characters, is pretty frakking good so far. If it keeps up this level, it'll well worth buying the trade paperback version when it's finished and collected in a couple of months' time.
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