Mount Royal Professors on Sex, Death and Superheroes

What’s the deal with Batman and Robin? Is something more going on with their rich man-youthful ward relationship? (Come on, you know what we’re getting at.) And what’s the deal with Superman’s secret identity? He’s not even wearing a mask. How could it be a secret? Are we really supposed to believe all he needs to do to become unrecognizable is put on Clark Kent’s glasses? Mount Royal University professors Lee Easton and Richard Harrison delve into these questions in Secret Identity Reader: Essays on Sex, Death and the Superhero (Wolsak and Wynn, 2010), a book that has something for all types of superhero fans.

Why should people read your book?

RH: “There’s 80 years of untapped discussion about superheroes, and this book will open that vault.”
LE: “People should read this book because they’ll come away looking at superheroes they thought they knew really well and see aspects to them they never thought of before. It’ll make them go, hmmmm.”

Do you have a favourite superhero?

RH: “If you ask me who is the most fascinating in terms of what it means to be a superhero, I’d have to go with Superman. He’s just so interesting as a concept. He thinks he’s a human being, then finds out he’s an alien; he’s got all the power in the universe, yet still is alone; and he represents an earthly saviour in a world that will never actually be saved.”
LH: “I still find myself intrigued by Batman and Robin, and trying to work out the nature of their relationship. That relationship has become more complicated and nuanced over the years. That kind of male-male relationship — even without being a sexualized one — remains a source of fascination for me.”