>> What really matters is diversity. If you have enough characters, and you make a point of spreading out the traits, then you can avoid the repetition problem. <<
Or, deliberately, closely mirror both advantages and disadvantages. For example, if I had someone with your Danso's ability to manipulate powers, I'd make them near the same age (15-18), but of a slightly different background, or maybe with a single supportive adult when everything else went to blazes, and then /deliberately tell/ the story of how they react differently to the same kinds of powers. Erik and Charles in Marvel, IF instead of being a WW2 camp survivor, oppressed Jewish person et cetera, et cetera, Erik had also been a wealthy boy who attended all the best schools and graduated Oxford the way others expect to go to the movies: as a matter of course so obvious it's barely worth mentioning.
Then, the writer can play off personality versus experience, social rejection versus personal integrity. I think it highlights those kinds of stories in more powerful, more intimate ways... but Marvel can't even get She-Hulk's movie a decent freaking writer, so don't expect those stories from mainstream comics for a long, long time.
Re: Disability and superheroes
Date: 2014-05-30 07:02 pm (UTC)Or, deliberately, closely mirror both advantages and disadvantages. For example, if I had someone with your Danso's ability to manipulate powers, I'd make them near the same age (15-18), but of a slightly different background, or maybe with a single supportive adult when everything else went to blazes, and then /deliberately tell/ the story of how they react differently to the same kinds of powers. Erik and Charles in Marvel, IF instead of being a WW2 camp survivor, oppressed Jewish person et cetera, et cetera, Erik had also been a wealthy boy who attended all the best schools and graduated Oxford the way others expect to go to the movies: as a matter of course so obvious it's barely worth mentioning.
Then, the writer can play off personality versus experience, social rejection versus personal integrity. I think it highlights those kinds of stories in more powerful, more intimate ways... but Marvel can't even get She-Hulk's movie a decent freaking writer, so don't expect those stories from mainstream comics for a long, long time.