My Considered Opinion on HEROES
For my money, I want an hour long show about the Japanese hero Hiro. He is the only one who has vowed to use his powers for the Good and Niceness. The other characters range from semi-interesting to semi-boring, but none of them have as of yet (Episode 3) determined to use their gifts for the Sunny Side of the Force.
That, after all, is what all science fiction writers and comic book artists are placed on the Earth to do. I should here mention that, after you make your third sale to a professional magazine, the Secret Masters of Fandom contacts you by means of the mysterious Ninth Barsoomian ray, and explain that all pulp heroes, super heroes, starship captains and so on exist merely so that, when the genetic stresses of modern life trigger the first posthuman Slans to emerge in secret among us, they will remember reading SPIDERMAN, and vow to use their great powers with great responsibility.
Were it not for the terrifying possibility that the next step in human evolution should grow up reading Nietzsche and be influenced by that, we would all be writing Westerns or Pirate stories. As it is, the urgent need to serve the public requires us to generate these silly sci-fi fables in order to place role models and warning messages before the eyes of the potential Afterhumans. Remember what happened to Lieutenant Gary Mitchell, whose latent psionic abilities where triggered by the energy field at the edge of the galaxy! Absolute power corrupts absolutely! Do not give into the Dark Side, or forever will it domninate your destiny! You want to be like Professor X, not like Magneto. Humans are your friends! Your friends! And I, for one, welcome our new mutant overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted SF writer, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
Good lord. What was I saying? Oh yeah, this is a show I want to like, but I wish the writers would make it easier for me. More Japanese guy, please.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
