One wonders if the Spider-Man icon is particularly well-suited for export. One of Spider-Man's distinguishing features among the superhero pantheon is his relative poverty.

Or, at a more general level, that he's a hard-luck case, especially as Peter. Seems to me that hard-luck cases are pretty universal, and eminently capable of local adaptation.

Superman and Wonder Woman are the real problems for adaptation-by-export, because they're so tied up with a peculiarly American conflation of universalism and American particularity. A fighter for "the American Way" can get adapted to local needs. The conflation of "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is the sort of thing that's distinctive to French and American self-understandings-- and French self-understanding doesn't carry the unselfconsciousness and omnipotence of Superman.

All of the heroes who are defined by a power and a name, often even to the point where multiple people have performed the role, are perfect for adaptation and export: Green Lantern, Flash. But as far as heroes-complete-with-private-lives, I can't think of a better one than Spider-Man. Hard-luck case teenage boy is more easily adaptable than orphan-of-murdered-billionnaire-parents-raised-by-butler...

India already has another comic book export of sorts. Its called Dubyaman, a comic strip that presents Bush as Superman and mocks him rather extensively. It seemed to be fairly popular last time I was in India a year back.

But if you mean real comic books, the US has always exported comic book heroes in their original form. This sort of localized version of a hero is a little different. I also question the timing of this -- shouldn't this have been done to co-incide with Spider Man II ?

I predict that Captain America would have trouble being exported to most countries without considerably localization :-). As for Superman -- the core Superman story is simple but has some resonances in most cultures, so I think it could do well with some localization.

Batman would be an interesting case. The core story is not culture specific, and the idea of a corrupt city that needs to be cleaned up is hardly new too. But he may be less popular with teenagers simply because they can't empathize with him as easily as they do with Spiderman.

I think Shazam! would go over very well in many cultures, including India as well (once you change the gods, kings and the like that gave him his powers).

Superman and Wonder Woman are the real problems for adaptation-by-export, because they're so tied up with a peculiarly American conflation of universalism and American particularity. A fighter for "the American Way" can get adapted to local needs. The conflation of "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is the sort of thing that's distinctive to French and American self-understandings-- and French self-understanding doesn't carry the unselfconsciousness and omnipotence of Superman.

I disagree -- at least about Superman. In the first place, different versions of Superman have focused on different aspects of the character. A great example is Smallville, which is more focused on the "coming of age" story. Superman doesn't necessarily have to be associated with the "American Way" per se, but just with the ideals of a particular culture and society. Most societies (certainly Indian society) have their own mix of legends and myths and Superman, as near-mythical hero could fit in well as part of that.

Wonder Woman is another matter entirely. Other than the obvious prurient interest that teenage boys might have in ogling a half-naked woman, I doubt the character translates that well. There is the feminist angle -- I'm not sure how well that would play to either teenage boys or girls outside the US (not that Wonder Woman is that popular in the US either).

Characters who's main attraction is violence, like Wolverine and the Punisher would be popular everywhere. Thats a universal.

Hero: CAPTAIN AMERICA

LOCATION: Iraq, Iran, Korea, Syria, France . . .

SYNOPSIS: Living legend of World War II, awakens from post-Vietnam drug-induced slumber to discover . . . that Freedom is on the March and that once again France is under hostile occupation.

different versions of Superman have focused on different aspects of the character.

True, true. The Siegel and Shuster, Depression-era, pre-WWII original doesn't pose any real problem; he's just the archetypal shlub with a secret of great power, where the shlub is a deliberate cover (unlike Peter Parker), mixed with the archetypal adopted orphan with a secret bloodline, etc. I'm partial to Elliot S! Maggin Silver Age grandeur, the Superman Alan Moore eulogized, which for that matter is what animated Silver Age Superboy, the George Reeve TV show, and the Christopher Reeve movies. And I think *that's* the Superman who became a real icon (and I think that much current stuff like Smallville is just drawing down the accumulated emotional capital of the Silver Age, notwithstanding Mark Wai'd's Magginesque turns). And that Superman depended on a funny, illegitimate, mixture of Americanism and universalism-- he was the creation of a postwar America that could unselfconsciously imagine itself as particular and universal at the same time.

The Last Son of a Dead Planet is no more distinctively American than Harry Potter or Luke Skywalker is. But, to my mind, he's also not distinctive enough to be very interesting. The punk the WB portrays on Dawson's Krypton doesn't seem capable of growing up into the combination that I think makes Superman unique, and so doesn't seem *worth* exporting.

One thought about what makes Superman unique. Spider-Man's great lesson is: with great power comes great responsibility for what happens. One must always try one's utmost. Superman is about *not* trying one's utmost, about responsible action meaning *not* taking responsibility for everything that happens. It's about being so powerful that there are no external checks on oneself, and so hemming oneself in with both a moral code of tremendous self-restraint and self-denial, and a disguised life of utter ordinariness. I don't really see Smallville's Clark learning that kind of self-restraint.

Speaking of comics, here are some Middle Eastern superhero comics:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4312547.stm

HERO: DAREDEVIL

LOCATION: The EC

SYNOPSIS: Blinded as a child when a nuclear waste drum rolled off a U.S. army transport, a young dutch man develops extraordinary powers that, when coupled with a rigorous regimint of self-improvement, allow him to confront the excesses of global capitalism (crime, poverty, religious bigotry) that he can't yet stop during his day job as a leading EC bureaucrat.

The odd thing here is that comic books are not a particularly profitable line of business, nowadays. Indeed the actual selling-of-wood-pulp-and-ink part of the business is usually thought of as just the R&D branch of the movie-and-TV-adaptation part of the business, which can be quite profitable. One wonders whether the people undertaking this venture are figuring the India market will be more like the US market of today or the US market of the Golden or Silver ages.

(This is all half-remembered nonsense on my part, and should probably be treated as such.)

I'm not sure that there are really any super-heroes that can't translate over to other cultures, though I don't know any specific cultures well enough to be able to apply specific characters.

Think about them, though. The X-Men: being different. Feeling out of place with everyone else you know isn't an exclusively American theme, nor is discrimination. (note to marvel: exporting this concept to other cultures is REALLY EASY now that the X-Corporation is set up in the comic. Make them local).

Spider-man: overcoming adversity. Somehow, this 15 year old kid manages to juggle school, a job, family, a girlfriend, AND saving new york twice a week.

Batman: Determination. Pathological rage channeled into a positive direction.

Superman: sucking. Hard.

The Hulk: Internalized rage, coupled with a latent superiority complex unique to teenagers and egomaniacs.

Wonder Woman: She probably won't transfer over well to fundamentalist cultures in light of the underlying themes she deals with, but for cultures making the transition from fundie to free, she may become a cult hero.

Green Lantern: Blowing up aliens with a ring that will do or make anything you can imagine, as long as it's not yellow? What 13 year old kid ISN'T salivating over that?

In conclusion: I am a huge dork, who spends an inordinate time arguing whether Unicron could beat Galactus.

Fark.com had a photoshop contest - Photoshop another superhero for India.

Good stuff, I think.

Most of them are no longer available, but many are still there.

To most countries, no need to adapt before exporting. Here in Brazil, Marvel & DC are translated and published, as they are in most other countries. Captain America, which you would think a hard sell South of the border, had a magazine that lasted over fifteen years. I can't remember the last time there wasn't a Superman comic being published.

Two interesting things happen:

1) When a character visits Brazil, it's either a big deal that is hyped by the license-holder or it's a bit infuriating how he seems to speak Spanish and the scenario looks more like San Salvador than São Paulo.

2) When a character is Brazilian, for one reason or the other, or is penciled by Brazilian artists, he gets published more often and with more certainty. So maybe Marvel shouldn't create an Indian Spidey, but introduce an Indian X-Man or Avenger into the team's lineup.

HERO: THE HULK

LOCATION: Russia

SYNOPSIS: A Russian scientists bathed in radiation while attempting to stop the meltdown of Cherynobl, becomes the embodiement of "internalized rage" when frustrated. In early episodes, the Hulk's skin coloration is bright red, but inexplicably after a more succesful reboot, his skin emerges as luminous green. (ht: Jim Dandy)

PD, check out The Ultimates. It's a big steaming mess of fun.

HERO: Daredevil

LOCATION: Russia

SYNOPSIS: A fearless policeman blinded by a flash of radiation from Chernobly [Hulk crossover potential! yay!] now works as a case investigator for the public defender's office. But in his secret identity he uses his hightened senses to defend the innocent against the pervasive forces of organized crime, brutal terrorists, and dangerous criminals using stolen millitary technologies. His uneasy ally is President Putin's own creation, SHIELD, a shadowy high-tech secret police agency which may or may not truly operate on the side of justice.

Jim, I had mixed feelings about The Ultimates initially. Like a lot of modern comics they seem to have trouble balancing real superhero stuff with the author's meta-commentary about how lame all this superhero stuff actually is. But I must admit that the modernized Skrull storyline had some great scenes (a bloodied Captain America rallies and slices an nearly unkillable alien in two with his shield: "Surrender?! You think this letter on my head stands for France?").

The British sketch show "Goodness Gracious Me" has a running gag in which an Indian father explains to his anglicised son that something unexpected (eg. the Royal Family,the Beatles, President Clinton) is really Indian.
"Superman? He's Indian. Terrible suit? Indian. NHS glasses? Indian. Has to work at two jobs? Indian. And look at his name. Kalel - Indian!"

By the way, Bryan, I suspect Daredevil's defence lawyer persona might have a rather frustrating time of it in a country where criminal trials have a better than 90% chance of ending in a conviction. Batman would be better. In fact, have you seen the Moscow skyline? That place was built for Batman.

My own preference for crossover classics is almost certainly in such bad taste it should not even be described in detail, but it's set in modern-day Iraq and the title is "Right Ho, Jihad". (Note: the Empress of Blandings will have to become a goat for cultural reasons). The Sheikh of Emsworth is a decent enough old bird, but his house parties can be a little dull for the visiting members of the Mujahedin Club. An attempt to liven things up by running a book on the length of the Friday prayers at every mosque in Najaf is thrown into chaos by the unexpected arrival of Muqtada Spode. Meanwhile, Bertie is trying to avoid sparking a violent clan feud: after his friend Gussie is accidentally shot dead at a US army checkpoint, Bertie agrees to impersonate him...

Just curious, but what Brazilian superheroes are there ? I remember the Avengers had a Brazilian goddess of fire for a while. Also the Justice League had a woman called Fire who was supposed to be a Brazilian model, but she was never treated very seriously.

Incidentally, when I was a kid growing up in India, Lee Falk's Phantom and Mandrake were both quite popular in India. They were printed locally, even reprinted in Indian languages. Both are superheroes by just about any definition. Neither has any particular American context though -- Phantom is mostly set in Africa (a mythical Africa), while Mandrake is set in the US, but contains almost no US context. Tintin and Asterix were also popular with slightly older crowds, but their expense (they were not printed locally) made them not easily accessible.

Fire was a good character. It was Giffen's JLA, *nothing* was treated seriously, but *everything* was great. There was also Sunspot and a few other minor characters. There was, I remember, a "Captain Forsa" that showed up in Alpha Flight just to die. Note that has a mispelling. NOT unusual.

Brazilian goddess in the Avengers... beats me. I remember a kid from a made-up South American country, though. It never ceases to wonder me how Marvel can always squeeze a new country into the Caribbean or the Balkans.

But, again, it's not like nobody outside the US reads American comics. Their popularity has had its ups and downs out of North America much like (and almost at the same time) they have had in the US. "Spiderman India" is a much less important case of cultural export than it might seem.

YAAAAAAAAAAAY! MORE GEEKS!

Not to get all Kill Bill, but America's self-image is uniquely reflected in Superman. He's clean-cut, virtuous, self-effacing and immensely powerful, threatened only by treachery. Exactly how we like to see ourselves.

Not to get all Kill Bill, but America's self-image is uniquely reflected in Superman. He's clean-cut, virtuous, self-effacing and immensely powerful, threatened only by treachery. Exactly how we like to see ourselves.

Well, Superman has several weaknessess, not just treachery: magic, red sun rays, Green K, Gold K, Red K etc.

And you think that non-Americans don't have similar self-images ? Practically all cultures have historical/mythical heroes whether its William Tell, Coyote or Arjuna.

Thanks, ajay. I had doubts about the Russian defense lawyer thing but I couldn't think of an alternative offhand. BTW, there was a cool Russian Batman in "Red Son", an Elseworld story about a Superman who grew up in Stalinist Russia.

erq, It's more of a cameo appearance, but a trio of superheroines called the Birds of Paradise helped fend off an plantwide invasion in Kurt Busiek's Astro City comic (which is awesome, btw).

Yeah, I read 'Red Son' when it came out. I liked the way they reminded you occasionally that in Russian 'Man of Steel' translates as 'Stalin.'
There's a niche for DD/Matvei Murov as a Russian criminal investigator - think Arkady Renko in 'Gorky Park.' And SHIELD works very well in a Russian milieu - good call.
But I think the Frank Miller Batman works best as a Russian because he has a tremendous talent not to give up, however badly pounded he is getting, and that's a very big part of the Russian self-image. Lose the Batmobile hi-tech accessories, though. Russian Batman uses nothing more advanced than a big stick and maybe some iconic Sov firearms - a PPSh or a Moisin-Nagant. Lots of Great Patriotic War visual references.

Anyone who thinks you can't have graphic novels about a EU bureaucrat qua bureaucrat - no secret identity necessary - has obviously not read 'Irina Vega'.