Sup,
I was never a big superhero fanatic growing up, but alas, X-Men and Spider-Man were among the select few that still managed to captivate me regardless.
X-Men because of how excellent their interpersonal relationships and inner conflicts were written and illustrated, and Spider-man because of how human he was:
No matter how powerful Spider-Man is, no matter how witty or how fast or how smart he might be when fighting that good fight, Spider-Man is still Peter Parker under that red mask, and Peter is still human -- a super enhanced human, but a human nonetheless.
He is prone to jealousy, to irrationality, to selfishness, to mistakes.
He knows his immense responsibility to society, and feels as if he carries the weight of the world upon his shoulders, and yet there are days where he can't be the hero he knows he needs to be and drops the ball.
When he does, things go wrong -- people die.
There were times where the failure and the pressure proved to be too much and he dumped the costume in an alleyway.
But he's still the best of us because he found a reason to dig deeper, to choose the hard choice and understand that the world is so much bigger than himself, and he put the mask back on.
Peter resonated with me when I was younger because life can beat you down and take so much away. It can leave you writhing on the cold asphalt and make it seem as if you deserved to be there, but then you'd read the page and see that Spider-Man wanted nothing more than to give up as well, but he didn't because he knew that he would never be able to live with it -- so he didn't.
I always felt the same.
And at the end of his stories, life may not turn out perfect, but it always ended up better.
For a visual essay of how I feel relayed by someone who knows how to articulate the point better than I ever could, watch KaptainKristian:
And I only have two tentative "rules" when combining my goals with the audience.
- At the end of the day, I believe that everyone who reads just wants to experience a good story.
- So I make sure to tell one that just might live up to that expectation.
I know it might sound conceited, but the only time the audience comes into mind is when I'm about to publish.
I ask myself, "Is there anything else I can do to make this story better?"
If it's "yes", I return to editing.
It it's "no" or "It doesn't matter, the deadline's in an hour", I press send.
— Hario