Non-standard "Super Heroes" [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Yora

2012-12-01, 05:23 PM

In the discussion of what would make a good superhero movie some people mentioned comming up with original characters instead of just combing through 50 year old american comics. While I am intrigued by the concept, I am not a fan of the comics myself and just can't find any merit in the tropes and cliches of the genre.

But what alternatives do we have that could also be called superheroes and supervillains that are not connected to the two big american comic universes?

The first thing that came to my mind is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has super strength and super endurance and beats up superhuman monsters with martial arts. Most other characters with supernatural powers are wizards or demons, but I think Buffy herself pretty much applies. Without costume or secret identity.

Another thing would be all the villains and most heroes from the Metal Gear Solid series. In fact both groups are pretty much interchangeable as lots of characters are on different sides at different times and for some times there are even multiple factions that are not that clear cut. While one power of one character is explicitly revealed to be technological, there are still psychics, one guy who can turn invisible, one who can photosynthezise sunlight through moss growing in his skin, one who can deflect bullets and defuse grenades with her mind, two guys who can shot lightning, a ghost, and a guy who can control a swarm of bees, without the help of gadgets.
Those would clearly apply as well, but these powers are not the real subject of the games, which are in fact all about a completly un-supernatural political conspiracy.

There's probably also a lot of Anime that would also apply. Akira perhaps?

Traab

2012-12-01, 05:31 PM

Luke Cage would probably count. I mean yeah, briefly he went as Power Man, and wore an outfit, but from what I remember he is just himself, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. Yeah, he runs it as a business. I admit I dont read his comics so I dunno if or how its changed, or even if he still exists as an active hero. But from the sound of it, he isnt exactly your standard hero type.

Somewhere

2012-12-01, 05:47 PM

Aotrs Commander

2012-12-01, 05:57 PM

Speaking of live-action film based on Akira, there was such a Hollywood project, but that got shut down at the beginning of this year.

Not that I would have high hopes for a Hollywood adaptation of Akira, anyway...

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-actual-live-action-akira-script-worse-than-you-think/

That's... if that was the actual script it, was more ridiculously Americanised1 than Happy Harry' skit when he did that; and the latter was intentionally silly!

1Where Americanised in this context means "what some complete idiot in marketing who has probably never met a real person in the street thinks Americanised is, because he thinks the punters have the IQ of a watermelon."

J-H

2012-12-01, 06:36 PM

Worm, an ongoing web serial, has a variety of non-standard supers. The title character can control bugs, and (sort of) sense what they sense.
http://parahumans.wordpress.com/

So does Legion of Nothing, also ongoing.
http://inmydaydreams.com/

tensai_oni

2012-12-01, 06:50 PM

Nextwave.

Neeeextwaaaave. More info here (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/Nextwave?from=Main.Nextwave).

Man on Fire

2012-12-01, 07:53 PM

But what alternatives do we have that could also be called superheroes and supervillains that are not connected to the two big american comic universes?

gee I wonder... (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eecR9Ph-mwI/TZ-QwHXMmqI/AAAAAAAAA-I/0Bk_O_P52XE/s1600/Invincible-60.jpg)

In Image Universe we have:
* Invincible
* the Astounding Wolf-Man
* Tech-Jacket
* Brit
* Noble Causes
* Dynamo 5
* Supreme (Alan Moore's run was pretty good)
* Youngblood (again, mostly Alan Moore)
* Cyberforce
* Hunter/Killer
8 Science Dog
* Many Rob Liefeld's creation reinvented by various indie creators like Glory or Prophet or Bloodstrike (which I think was a genius from from Rob to give them to other people)
* Avengeline
* Angelus
* Magdalena
* Haunt (don't know if he's part of image universe, with image it's hard to tell)
* Witchblade, who, in fact, had her own TV series and a movie
* Darkness, who, in fact, has two video games
* Savage Dragon, who had animated tv series
* Spawn, who has animated tv series, a movie and a video game

Aside entire Image Universe, there also are many others, standalone superhero series:
* Hero-Squared: After the destruction of his Universe last two survivors, superhero and supervilianess, flee to another, where there are no capes and their counterparts are normal people. Hialaruity ensures. (Boom! Studios)
* I Hate Gallant Girl (http://comicsworthreading.com/2008/10/26/i-hate-gallant-girl-1/) - 3 issues miniseries about young superheroine that stuggles agains society that cares more about how superheoines look than what they can do. (Image Comics)
* Strange Talent of Luther Strode - very dark and very brutal story of a man who finds a way to grant himself amazing strength, only to become a target of mysterious man called Libralian, story combining elements of standard superhero and slasher horror, sequel is in works (Image Comics)
* Irredeemable - Superman-esque superhro turns evil, now everybody struggle to save the world from his wrath (Boom! Studios)
** Incorruptible - In a wake of his fromer arch-nemesis rampage world's most dangerous supervilian has an epithany and decides to change his way.
* Black Summer - brutal story from one and only Warren Ellis: How far are superheroes allowed to go in fighting evil? What happens if one of them kills president of USA? (Avatar Press)
* No hero - another brutal story from Warren Ellis, this time exploring how much people could give to become superheroes, even their own humanity.
* Supergod - last of Warren Ellis' thematic trilogy, this time showing us what would be the consequences of superheroes being completely inhuman.

tl;dr: there a loads of supeheroes outside Marvel and DC. A lot of them could make good movie.

Raimun

2012-12-01, 08:53 PM

Cole McGrath from InFamous (PS3)

He has super powers (strength, endurance and electricity manipulation) but doesn't wear tights. He is called by some guy in television "The Lightning Bolt Man" but that doesn't stick. Everyone knows his identity and they just call him Cole.

He's living in "New York" (Empire City) but it's quarintined, gangs have taken the streets and no one gets out. At first he's just trying to escape the city but ends up working with a secret agent. She will get him out if he finds what she is looking for.

After that, there are two paths: Either conquer the city in a reign of terror or help the citizens to get things back to normal. Either way, they are fighting for the fate of city...

And...
the device that gave Cole his powers...
And...
The fate of the future itself.

Edit: Brick from Borderlands and Nathan Drake from Uncharted might also count. Brick has super rage and Nate has super luck. Both have also the power of super violence.

Kitten Champion

2012-12-01, 10:24 PM

While inside of the DC universe technically, the Sandman comics have little to do with superhero tropes.

Gerard Way's Umbrella Academy comics would make an interesting movie.

endoperez

2012-12-02, 03:05 AM

I think that since Yora mentioned she doesn't like normal superhero tropes, independent comic books that draw on those too heavily (like Invincible, Irredeemable, Incorruptible) aren't going to work for her either.

Neither will the otherwise excellent book "Soon I Will Be Invincible".

Perhaps French and Belgian comic books such as Blacksad (anthropomorphic noir) which I've personally read and which is awesome.

Lanfeust might have gotten English publications from DC, and it seems to be an ongoing adventure in a fantasy world where everyone has a single supernatural power.

There's Metabarons, scifi supersoldier epic spanning generations, there's Thorgal, Conan-esque low-fantasy adventures, there's Valérian and Laureline, which might have inspired Star Wars back then, Rork is about the crime-fighting adventures of a wizard, and so on.

There are lots of comics, the problem is in finding versions you understand. Well, at least for me. :D

turkishproverb

2012-12-02, 03:48 AM

Also, off the top of my head: Empowered, the shadow(radio, books, film and comic), the spider(radio, books, film and comics), Zot, Superfolks (book), Cyborg 009 (shows and comic), Kamen Rider Spirits, Kamen Rider (Show and Comic), Skull Man (Comic, show isn't at all superhero), Powers, Judgement Day, Hero (novel), Wild Cards (novel series), some seasons of Sentai (show only), Kikaider (Shows and comic), The Phantom (comics and movies and books). The Rocketeer (comics and film).

Most of these break from the traditional superhero in at least a couple ways. Some only because they predate it.

I'll have more for you when I get a chance to think.

Serpentine

2012-12-02, 04:08 AM

Animorphs :I

Jayngfet

2012-12-02, 04:24 AM

Kamen Rider Spirits, Kamen Rider (Show and Comic)

I'm wondering why you think Kamen Rider's don't count as standard super heroes.

They're dudes with either super science or magic in spandex suits fighting outlandishly colourful villains every saturday morning, with all their advertising billing them as Super Heroes in plain english, which is quite a feat considering that everything else has to be in japanese.

turkishproverb

2012-12-02, 04:39 AM

By western standards, the fact they kill 90% of their opponents makes them non-standard on it's own. Hence why the Shadow and The Spider were on the list.

Pronounceable

2012-12-02, 04:42 AM

Lucky Luke is a superhero. So is Asterix. Going back, most mythologic/legendary characters were superheroic (from Gilgamesh all the way to Robin Hood). Also Sherlock Holmes, Conan and Zorro were literally the first "modern" superheroes (who incidentally solidified the smart, strong and skilled heroic archetypes we all know).

The fact that they're not portrayed with traditional superhero trappings doesn't make them any less super-heroic. Also every action hero ever (and FPS protagonists too) are superhuman to the point you can argue them being superheroes (or supervillains) in civilian clothing.

The fact that "superhero movies" seem to only comb through DC and Marvel archives only proves that Hollywood is utterly unimaginative. Add in that such movies require bajillions of monies for special effects and you get films that only play it safe and use only the most famous of "superheroes". Unless the recent success of Marvel movies changes that (it just might), we'll continue to only see more reboots of Batman and Spiderman.

Hopeless

2012-12-02, 05:40 AM

Wasn't there even a Captain India?

And a few asian movies that are all but superhuman in their casts capabilities?

There was even a couple of movies about a family of superhumans though i don't remember the name but I believe that was also indian in origin?

Yora

2012-12-02, 07:17 AM

That Indian movie in which a super-robot is fighting an army of his copies might also qualify as a superhero movie. If Iron Man and Batman can be superheroes, than a super-robot could qualify as well.

Jayngfet

2012-12-02, 07:23 AM

By western standards, the fact they kill 90% of their opponents makes them non-standard on it's own. Hence why the Shadow and The Spider were on the list.

Their enemies are outright monsters, so it doesn't count. I mean, even Batman makes exception to his rule when he has to fight things that are completley mindless killing machines.

Even then, Riders do tend to help any monsters they can, even if most are beyond help. I mean, if I remember right the original rider managed to bring back a bunch of transformed victims early on. Drake and Sasword both tried to save enemy Worm who looked like they might be turned, but that always went sideways. Double's enemies always survived, or at least didn't die from injuries he inflicted in every occasion I remember, and Fourze/Meteor didn't kill anybody either. OOO's enemies were never anything but mindless disposable drones and science experiments gone wrong except the last boss.

I mean, Kabuto stopped a bank robbery without killing anyone once, so it's not like they kill out of choice so much as necessity.

You MIGHT make a case for riders I haven't seen, but the way you're phrasing it comes off as very different from the reality. Rider villains tend to be worse off mentally than even the Joker, since the Joker at least spent most of his life as a regular joe and presumably might be cured one day with the right help.

Man on Fire

2012-12-02, 07:32 AM

I think that since Yora mentioned she doesn't like normal superhero tropes, independent comic books that draw on those too heavily (like Invincible, Irredeemable, Incorruptible) aren't going to work for her either.

All things mentioned in this thread draw heavily on superhero tropes. it cannot be a superhero, even in a board sense, without drawing on those tropes. What the story does with them is where the "non-standard" part coms in. Invincible loves turning standard superhero tropes around and both Irredeemable and Incorruptible love making especially cruel twists. Both Noble Causes and Dynamo 5 are about exploring all problems of superhero family. Luther Strode is mixing superhero tropes with slasher horror tropes. I Hate Galant Girl is dealing with hypocrisy prevalent in genre's treatment of women. Warren Ellis' comics are deconstructing relationship between superheroes and their humanity - all tropes present in standard superhero are still there, just the heroes are too human, not enough human or completely inhuman, leading to terrible consequences.

By western standards, the fact they kill 90% of their opponents makes them non-standard on it's own.

Because Superheroes never kill... (http://www.comicsbulletin.com/main/sites/default/files/soapbox/100601621162395.htm)

Some more nonstandard superhero comics:

* Hack/Slash - another superhero/slasher horror mix. Cassie Hack and strong, deformed guy called Vlad travel the world and hunt Slashers - people who returned to life as, well, slasher horror vilians.
* Gladstone's School For World's Conquerors - It's about secret school for supervilian's children. I seen only panels fro mthat but it looks like pretty adorable (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5mfbatUrc1rwax2fo1_1280.jpg) comics. I mean, seriously (http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gladstone4.jpg). Seriously (https://dcomixologyssl.sslcs.cdngc.net/i/5923/15160/c8361d9ac8cbca70aac0a4cafd847d92.jpg?h=764d464f149 bc9210a367594b858c513)
* Planetary - It's a book from Wildstorm Universe, by Warren Ellis. Planetary, the archeologists of unknown, explore the world's secret history, that is in many ways refferencing thing that were infulential for creating superhero genre. Planetary are nto superheros in standard way they have superpowers, but they don't deal that much with superhero battles, rather trying to discover lost knowledge and use it to improve the world. Probably one of my favorite comics.

endoperez

2012-12-02, 10:14 AM

All things mentioned in this thread draw heavily on superhero tropes. it cannot be a superhero, even in a board sense, without drawing on those tropes. What the story does with them is where the "non-standard" part coms in. Invincible loves turning standard superhero tropes around and both Irredeemable and Incorruptible love making especially cruel twists.

Yora mentions she doesn't like standard superhero tropes.

Her own examples were Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Metal Gear Solid. She explicitly mentions things like: no secret identity, no costumes, powers might exist but they shouldn't be what it is about.

Irredeemable and Incorruptible take the standard superhero tropes and do different stuff with it.
Buffy does standard superhero stuff without the tropes.

Serpentine

2012-12-02, 10:20 AM

I'm pretty sure the main superhero tropes Animorphs has are the extraordinary powers, and the secret identities (which are eventually stripped anyway). They kill people all the time, they don't wear costumes... I don't know, what are the other standard superhero tropes?

Man on Fire

2012-12-02, 11:01 AM

Yora mentions she doesn't like standard superhero tropes.

Her own examples were Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Metal Gear Solid. She explicitly mentions things like: no secret identity, no costumes, powers might exist but they shouldn't be what it is about.

Irredeemable and Incorruptible take the standard superhero tropes and do different stuff with it.
Buffy does standard superhero stuff without the tropes.

Except that Buffy does superhero tropes.There are many traditional superheroes without secred idientities (Luke Cage) or very poorly guarded ones (Jay Garrick). She has rogues gallery, she goes to acadey of adventure just like Spider-Man and many teenage superheroes. There is a crosover cosmology related to legendary creatures, just like in many superhero stories. There are alternate universes...Yeah, buffy uses handful of superhero tropes.

Serpentine

2012-12-02, 11:10 AM

willpell

2012-12-02, 11:11 AM

There's an entire genre of television shows, a few comic books from publishers other than the Big Two, a book here and there, and probably even video games and such, that are cropping up these days which revolve around nonstandard sorts of superheroes. In particular I've noticed a genre of "eruption" stories - ones which revolve around a single incident which creates a small number of empowered individuals, often with a tie among them such as a place they were all at or a power that they all have. Some examples of what I'm talking about:

* Heroes, obviously, and to a lesser extent several other series such as The 4400 which were obviously meant to be riffs on the popularity of Heroes when it was big. Bunches of people all get powers (in the case of 4400 they all obtain them from the same source), but they remain the people they always were, and are no more inclined to go out and do superhero stuff than their personality indicates (obviously Hiro on "Heroes" would be one case in which it very much does so, but even he doesn't put on a costume).

* J. Michael Stracinski's "Rising Stars". He's done more explicitly superhero stuff, but this is a story very much in the vein of 4400, where a singular incident touches a small group of people and turns them into powered individuals.

* Several Anime feature the idea that each person has their own unique special abilities; examples include MyHIME and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In many cases this is presented as if it was just ordinary life in that particular universe, or something that a certain subset of the population has always been capable of.

* Piers Anthony's "Xanth" series is similar, in that everyone is capable of casting a single magic spell, never the same one for any two people.

* More obscurely, many television shows feature a protagonist with a single unusual ability of the sort that a superhero might have, but this ability (possessed by that one person and perhaps a few others) is usually the only one referenced. Examples include Tru Calling and The Ghost Whisperer, in which the protagonist can speak to the dead and try to right injustices relating to their death (Tru travels back in time to try and prevent the death; I'm less clear on the premise of TGW but I'd presume it's a more straightforward case of talking to ghosts).

I'm sure there's lots more; it's really a matter of how inclusive you want to be with your definitions.

Serpentine

2012-12-02, 11:15 AM

Oh, shoot! What's the name of that movie? Came out recently... A superhero movie shot Cloverfield style...

pffh

2012-12-02, 11:24 AM

Oh, shoot! What's the name of that movie? Came out recently... A superhero movie shot Cloverfield style...

Chronicles.

It's fairly good despite the shakey cam.

endoperez

2012-12-02, 12:13 PM

Except that Buffy does superhero tropes.There are many traditional superheroes without secred idientities (Luke Cage) or very poorly guarded ones (Jay Garrick). She has rogues gallery, she goes to acadey of adventure just like Spider-Man and many teenage superheroes.

Wait, Spiderman goes to school? I thought he had had a full-time job since the 1980s or something.

Any way, I'm not that knowledgeable about superheroes, but if there are other superhero books that do it without capes and secret identities, perhaps you should post them?

Man on Fire

2012-12-02, 12:18 PM

No particularly strong opinions on the matter, but I'd like to point out that just because there are exceptions doesn't mean they're not standard tropes or anything. Luke Cage and Jay Garrick not having secret identities doesn't change the fact that a secret identity is a superhero trope that Buffy doesn't have, and the mere fact that those superheroes don't have that specific trope doesn't mean they're not still standard superheroes.

(...who's Jay Garrick?)

My point wasn't that Jy Garrick or Luke Cage aren't standard superheroes. My point was that just because Buffy doesn't have a secet idientity, doesn't mean she's nonstandard superhero - several standard superheroes don't have one. Hell, Iron Man don't have one, everybody knows he's Tony Stark and it was so for many years. Lack of secret idientity isn't enough to say she doesn't use superhero tropes, because it's basically a superhero trope on itself. There is even a trope for not having a costume - Not Wearing Tights (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotWearingTights).

And Jay Garrick was first flash - easy to spot, he was always running around in WWI helmet with mercury's wings and with no mask.

factotum

2012-12-02, 12:36 PM

I'd just look at all the British comics from 50 years ago instead--they're definitely not quite like American superheroes. My favourite is Dolmann, who was basically a guy who built a load of miniature robots to fight crime for him...however, he did insist on using his powers of ventriloquism to give them voices, and since this meant he was mostly talking to *himself*, you have to realise the guy probably had more loose screws than even Batman!

More info on him:

http://internationalhero.co.uk/d/dolmann.htm

Traab

2012-12-02, 12:59 PM

Man on Fire

2012-12-02, 01:24 PM

Wait, Spiderman goes to school? I thought he had had a full-time job since the 1980s or something.

Any way, I'm not that knowledgeable about superheroes, but if there are other superhero books that do it without capes and secret identities, perhaps you should post them?

There was a time he was a high school teacher (the best Peter Parker if you ask me) and all king of strange things were happening at the school, so still - Academy of Adventure trope right here.

90s cartoon Spider-Man was going to the college, so he still counts.
Every time he is potrayed as teen superhero he goes to high school - Ultimate Spider-man comics, that awful cartoon by the same name, Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man comics. He's a cop in Spider-Girl but she goes to high school.

Now tell me, in one episode of Buffy that I actually seen she deals with invisible schoolmate. Tell me, how was that really so "no-standard" compared to Spider-Girl fighting her schoolmate turned into a Carnage host?

As for lack of costumes and secred idienties - see trope I linked in my previous post, not wearing tights.

Raimun

2012-12-02, 03:38 PM

endoperez

2012-12-02, 05:03 PM

Now tell me, in one episode of Buffy that I actually seen she deals with invisible schoolmate. Tell me, how was that really so "no-standard" compared to Spider-Girl fighting her schoolmate turned into a Carnage host?

As for lack of costumes and secred idienties - see trope I linked in my previous post, not wearing tights.

Who are you arguing with?

Jayngfet

2012-12-02, 05:27 PM

No particularly strong opinions on the matter, but I'd like to point out that just because there are exceptions doesn't mean they're not standard tropes or anything. Luke Cage and Jay Garrick not having secret identities doesn't change the fact that a secret identity is a superhero trope that Buffy doesn't have, and the mere fact that those superheroes don't have that specific trope doesn't mean they're not still standard superheroes.

Of the ...8 or so green lanterns of earth, I think only about three ever bothered with secret identities. The space lanterns barely bother with secret identities at all.

I'm pretty sure Tony Starks identity has been public for a while.

Cape comics don't have a specific checklist they need. A list characters have public identities all the time.

That Indian movie in which a super-robot is fighting an army of his copies might also qualify as a superhero movie. If Iron Man and Batman can be superheroes, than a super-robot could qualify as well.

Super Robot is it's own genre with it's own history.

turkishproverb

2012-12-02, 07:39 PM

Their enemies are outright monsters, so it doesn't count. I mean, even Batman makes exception to his rule when he has to fight things that are completley mindless killing machines.

Even then, Riders do tend to help any monsters they can, even if most are beyond help. I mean, if I remember right the original rider managed to bring back a bunch of transformed victims early on. Drake and Sasword both tried to save enemy Worm who looked like they might be turned, but that always went sideways. Double's enemies always survived, or at least didn't die from injuries he inflicted in every occasion I remember, and Fourze/Meteor didn't kill anybody either. OOO's enemies were never anything but mindless disposable drones and science experiments gone wrong except the last boss.

I mean, Kabuto stopped a bank robbery without killing anyone once, so it's not like they kill out of choice so much as necessity.

You MIGHT make a case for riders I haven't seen, but the way you're phrasing it comes off as very different from the reality. Rider villains tend to be worse off mentally than even the Joker, since the Joker at least spent most of his life as a regular joe and presumably might be cured one day with the right help.

The point is it's a non-standard superhero narrative if almost all of the villains are killed off with no real remorse or hesitation. I freely admit rider series vary on it. For example W has only 3 or 4 actual fatalities caused by the hero, while most older series use the "enemy combatant" excuse to kill hordes of Shocker Mooks and Kaijin. Honestly, in some ways the most over the top would be Kamen Rider Kiva, a series that features the hero mass executing a species and having their souls eaten and/or destroyed throughout the show.

And villains have rarely been mindless killing machines in Kamen Rider. Even in the original villainous kaijin showed sapience, as did mooks.

OOO villains were capable of change, becoming sapient and even being redeemable, as illustrated by Mr. Named-for-a-live/death-sigil. And it, like W, kind've belongs to the newer school of "low kill" riders that started with W, rather than the previous decades of riders with huge bodycounts of unquestionably sentient enemies.

Look, I like KR. But it's certainly not "traditional" by western standards. Heck, the "kill your enemies" thing caused controversy when it was left intact in the translation/readaptation of Power rangers in the 1990's, and they were more justifiable than in KR, where most of the enemies are one step away from the hero in half the different iterations.

Because Superheroes never kill... (http://www.comicsbulletin.com/main/sites/default/files/soapbox/100601621162395.htm)

I didn't say never, just that 90% kill rate was well more than a "standard" superhero.

dps

2012-12-02, 10:17 PM

A lot depends on exactly how we define "non-standard" here, and look the standard stuff is dealt with within a work. For example, in the OP, it's mentioned that Buffy doesn't have a secret identity. That's not exactly true. Sure, she doesn't wear a cape or a mask, but people aren't really supposed to know that she's the Slayer. It's that it's not a secret identity, it's just that it's a poorly-kept one. That lets them play with the trope a bit; there are several times when someone says, in essense, "I know that nobody is supposed to know that you're the Slayer, but I (or we) do".

A few others that might be considered superheroes:

Nick Knight from Forever Night. He's a vampire, and has basically the standard, traditional vampiric powers and vulnerablities, but sometimes (though not always) the villians he's matched against are mundane criminals, and are often caught through standard police work rather than by superpowers.

Walter Sherman from The Finder. It's not exactly clear whether or not his ability to find missing things is a superpower or not. If it is, then I think he'd count as a superhero. If he's a superhero, he's definately a non-standard one.

Jim Ellison from The Sentinel. A similar backstory to Walter Sherman, but Ellison's heightened senses are definately shown to be a superpower.

Highlander?

Man on Fire

2012-12-03, 05:59 AM

I think that we should wait for Yora, the OP, to narrow down what "standard" superhero means to her. because what I got from first post was "not connected to Marvel or DC Uinverses" and everybody have either very wide or very narrow definition of superhero - for me for example there isn't anything non-standard about not having secret idientity or killing the enemies. Technically Guyver would be non-standard superhero - at one point vilians win, take over the world and heroe go underground and for the ressistance. Hell, in very narrow definition of Superhero Tiger & Bunny is non-stadard, because it potrays both superhuman registration and commecrially-sponsored supers as something normal and okay while most superhero comics show both things as evil incarnate.

So, Yora, what do you understand as "standard superhero"?

Yora

2012-12-03, 06:57 AM

The Marvel and the DC Universe. Everything else is fair game I would say.

Man on Fire

2012-12-03, 01:48 PM

If so, then all of my suggestions are fair game. And I would also like to add Incognito - it's a series by Ed Brubaker that's published by Marvel but outside Marvel Universe, about reformed supervilian who bailed out his boss and is a part of withness protection. Now he tries to live normal life and when that doesn't work for him to become low-profile superhero, but it drags attentions his former buddies, now wanting revenge. Comics is strongly set in pulp climate and every issue features essay by literature expert about pulp stories.

zoetewey

2012-12-03, 09:11 PM

As the guy who writes The Legion of Nothing (http://inmydaydreams.com), I'm all for JH recommending my story.

Not wanting to be entirely self-serving, I'll also recommend another superhero serial--Curveball (https://www.eviscerati.org/fiction/curveball/novel).

Additionally, if you're looking for someone who's essentially a superhero (at least to the degree Buffy is), you might look into Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files."

He doesn't have a secret identity, but he does protect people against beings that normal humans can't hope to fight. As a wizard/private investigator, he finds himself coming up against just about anything supernatural--vampires, the fae, werewolves, and so on.