Thoughts on super heroes …

• Posted in About Books, On Writing

Today, I reviewed Nothing to Lose by Lee Child (see the previous post). I didn’t like the book, but it made me think about what makes a good hero — and what doesn’t.

For the most part, I think Child’s character, Jack Reacher, is a great hero. He’s big and tough and knows how to take care of himself, and he has a few interesting quirks, like only traveling with the clothes on his back, a toothbrush, and his expired passport in his pocket. Simply put, Reacher has, well, character.

So why didn’t I like Nothing to Lose? Because Reacher comes off as a super hero in the book — nothing can touch him. Not the bad guys, not the law, not even the pretty woman that he hooks up with. He blows into town, eliminates the bad guys, and hits the road. Normally, I like Child’s action-adventure formula just fine, but in Nothing to Lose, Reacher didn’t struggle at all. Nobody challenged him — not the bad guys and not the law. He pretty much ran around and did whatever he wanted to with zero consequences.

You’re hero can be whip-smart and tough as nails, but the bad guys need to be just as cunning and strong. Otherwise, your hero is just going to walk all over everyone, like Reacher does in Nothing to Lose. I don’t think that kind of hero — a super hero who can do absolutely no wrong and is always smarter than everyone else — makes for a good read. There’s just no suspense with a super hero like that.

If you’re reading genre fiction, you know that the hero is probably going to win in the end, and that the journey is what’s really important — the twists, the turns, and how your hero figures out how to defeat the bad guy. But make your hero too strong or your bad guys too weak, and you’re likely to bore your reader, rather than keep them turning the pages. That’s how I felt with Nothing to Lose. The book would have worked a whole lot better for me if Reacher had been just a little less clever or the bad guys just a little bit tougher.

Lots of great heroes are super heroes, especially when it comes to movies — James Bond, Bruce Willis in the Die Hard series, Clint Eastwood in practically every movie that he’s ever made. But they all face challenges in their movies. With Bond, a woman that he’s close to usually dies or betrays him or both. Willis runs around barefoot in the first Die Hard movie. Clint gets the stuffing beat out of him in tons of films. These guys might be super heroes, but usually, they face some pretty big obstacles along the way.

I know what you’re thinking — that my heroine, Gin Blanco, is pretty much a super hero too. Well, maybe she is. She has powerful magic, she”s an assassin, and she’s doesn’t hesitate to put people down any more than Reacher or the other heroes that I’ve mentioned do. In fact, I’d say that Gin is even more bloodthirsty than Reacher and the rest of these guys are. (Well, except maybe for Clint — nobody’s tougher than Clint.) But hey, I am writing urban fantasy here. Violent and bloodthirtsy are usually part of the deal. 😉

One of my friends who read Venom several months back told me that she liked the book because Gin struggles so much in it. Not to give away too many details, but Gin basically gets her ass kicked three times in the book — and only once is by design. Sure, she’s a semi-retired assassin, but that doesn’t mean that she’s invincible — or that she doesn’t miscalculate or screw up from time to time.

For me, one of the best parts of writing the Elemental Assassin series is coming up with the villains — and making each one just a little tougher than the last. Gin’s powers are growing, so I think the bad guys should get meaner, nastier, and more powerful as well.

I think Gin is a pretty cool hero, and I want to match her up against villains who really challenge her — bad guys who kick her in the teeth and make her dig down deep to find a way to defeat them. The journey and the struggle — that’s what it’s all about in genre fiction. Those are the kind of books that I like to read, and hopefully, those are the kind of books that I’m delivering to my readers.

What about you guys? Do you like super heroes or not? Who are some of your favorite heroes/heroines?

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4 Responses to “Thoughts on super heroes …”

  1. Carla Polly says:

    I agree with you. I would be bored out of my mind, if nothing ever effected a hero or heroine. Whether it’s emotionally, physically, or supernaturally, they have to have a setback or challenge. Reading a Hero/Heroine that couldn’t be touch, would be pointless because a reader likes to relate on some level with the character. Same goes with movies. I want to be effected by their struggles, challenges, and heart breaks. That’s why I love Gin so much. You have done a brilliant job hitting all aspects with Gin. She is cocky in her craft but never underestimates who she’s up against. She knows that she isn’t unstoppable, elemental powers or not, she could be the one that dies. She doubts herself when it comes to her powers, self confidence with her powers is low. She has struggled with it. She is smart and makes her brilliant plans previous to doing a job, which she does flawlessly. Though when she is facing a challenge it’s always a snap decision. She puts out there that she has a heart that is made of stone and ice, which in most cases she is and has to be, but she haunted and tormented by losing the people she loved. Even though, there is very few she does love, she would lay her own life down to save them. She can also fall in love and be hurt. Just because she has stone and ice running through her veins, doesn’t make her so. I’ve cried with Gin’s loss and heartache. I feel the rush of adrenaline when she is fighting. And I’ve worried about her when she has struggled. I’m a fan of the hero/heroine that is least likely to be one. Gin is one, even if, she’s an assassin. She saves lives of the innocent, pro-fucking-bono or not.

    One Superhero that comes to mind, that has interesting story, was Hancock (movie).

    Spoiler:

    He was irritable, spiteful, done things his way, and unstoppable. The people didn’t like him at all, because he damaged everything and thought of him as a asshole. Which was undisputed, but he has a reason. He has amnesia, woke up from a hospital, not know anything about himself or what had happened to him. Just that he was alone and confused on how he has powers. He saves a guy from death and in return the guy becomes a friend and wants to help Hancock become a lovable Superhero, which he does. Hancock meets the guy’s family. Kid thinks he’s cool, but the wife gives him the cold shoulder. The wife tells Hancock to leave her family alone. Hancock is drawn to the wife and they end up fighting. She also has powers and tells Hancock that she was the one that dropped him off at the hospital when he was hurt. She tells him that they are last Gods, that they are suppose to be mates. Every God has a mate. HERE is the draw back. Them being mates, no matter how much they love each other, they couldn’t be together. If they’re together for a short time, they began to lose their powers. Become mortals. In the end it happens, Hancock is fighting the bad guys and gets shot numerous times. Once bulletproof, now bullets slam into him, not only dropping him, it drops her as well. She flat lines. Hancock knows now that the only way to save her was to get away from her. He starts bounding away, faster and faster. Each bound makes her heart start beating again. He saves her life as well as his own.

    It’s an interesting twist to Superheroes. Normally, it’s the Superhero, themselves that have the draw back.

    Hope all is well!
    Carla

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      Exactly. Being able to relate with the hero/heroine in some way is what can take a book from average to something special. It’s that connection to the hero/heroine that really makes some books works, at least to me as a reader. You want to feel like you’re a part of the hero/heroine’s journey.

      I’m glad you are liking Gin so far, and I hope you enjoy VENOM even more. 😉

      Plus, to me, writing someone who was unstoppable and invincible would get boring after a while. I like writing a good fight scene, but I’m going to make Gin work for her victory — even if she’s barely breathing at the end. LOL.

      I haven’t seen Hancock, but your description makes me curious. That does sound like an interesting twist on superheroes. I may have to catch it on cable sometime.

  2. Tia Nevitt says:

    For me, if I don’t see character growth, it kills the book for me. I can understand the author getting in a bit of a funk, but the readers shouldn’t suffer for it.

    For this reason, I think an author can only take a series so far. For example, the Stephanie Plum series is getting stale for me, because Stephanie doesn’t seem to be growing. And if she grows too much, then the joke of the inept bounty hunter will be over. So I left the series behind at book twelve or so.

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      I like to see some character growth too and amen about the Plum series. I quit reading that series around book 9 or so. I wanted her to get just a LITTLE bit smarter and pick either Joe or Ranger. How many times can you screw up before you wise up just the tiniest bit? But it seems like Stephanie never does.

      I plan to do another post later on about heroes who never grow/change/learn … and Stephanie Plum is a prime example.

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