marycatelli (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marycatelli) wrote2015-03-31 11:34 pm
marycatelli) wrote2015-03-31 11:34 pm
meta origins and constraints
An observation about superhero novels: all that I've read (admittedly perhaps an atypical selection) have a Meta Origin. Behind all those variegated superheroes is a common cause.
Of course, once you've done that, you do have to vary them somehow. If you have vampires and/or werewolves among us, it's urban fantasy, even though you can easily put both in a superhero universe. If you have genetically engineered supersoldiers in power armor or even a flotilla of infant alien refugees who look human but have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, you are writing science fiction.
How random varies a lot. One novel has everything triggered by some kind of unexplained artifact which granted varied powers. On the other hand, one had an Event, after which about one in a thousand people in traumatic circumstances develops a spontaneous and useful power, based on the trauma and the personality -- that can work from everything from "vampire" to "mad scientist whose gadgets don't work when anyone else build 'em" to even weirder things.
But in both cases, the meta-origin influences a lot. For instance, since traumatic circumstances are much more likely in public, that was a universe where secret identities were rare indeed. A world in which superheroes found artifacts in odd corners would make it much more likely.
Of course, once you've done that, you do have to vary them somehow. If you have vampires and/or werewolves among us, it's urban fantasy, even though you can easily put both in a superhero universe. If you have genetically engineered supersoldiers in power armor or even a flotilla of infant alien refugees who look human but have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, you are writing science fiction.
How random varies a lot. One novel has everything triggered by some kind of unexplained artifact which granted varied powers. On the other hand, one had an Event, after which about one in a thousand people in traumatic circumstances develops a spontaneous and useful power, based on the trauma and the personality -- that can work from everything from "vampire" to "mad scientist whose gadgets don't work when anyone else build 'em" to even weirder things.
But in both cases, the meta-origin influences a lot. For instance, since traumatic circumstances are much more likely in public, that was a universe where secret identities were rare indeed. A world in which superheroes found artifacts in odd corners would make it much more likely.