Monumental
Superman is known widely as the first superhero and because of his abilities, near-invincibility, and moral stances, many see the character as boring, stale, and not fit for a modern cynical world. In attempting to make the character fit in with today’s climate of cynicism, we have lost the heart of an icon who’s most important power is influencing social change. Instead of presenting him as he was meant to be; a standard to strive toward, we are presented cynical and deconstructive takes on the character. Superman is not just a super strong man that can hit any problem presented to him and he is often at his best when tackling issues that can’t be punched or blasted with heat vision.
The goal of Monumental was to reconstruct Superman, to pay homage and respect the origins of the Man of Steel. The key themes explored are immigration and exploitation at the hands of billionaires. Where Superman is an alien that crash lands and passes for human, Caspar Kazmi is an immigrant from Iran as his parents fled for America. This is a character that saves people with a smile, he’s a friend, and he stands for the people. In the first issue that I have been developing to accompany my thesis, he finds himself at odds with a billionaire family because of a reporter named Lara Lopez. I am intentionally on the nose with the comparisons and take joy in initially being cheeky but, while he is directly inspired by Superman, he needs to be able to stand on his own and be his own character. Superman serves as a template but Monumental is not Superman. The challenges he will face are specific to who he is as an immigrant but, even with that the most important part of his character is the ability to inspire social change and that is the goal, especially when directly commenting on and critiquing the systems that affect us in our everyday lives.
“Truth, justice, and the American way” are the pillars that Superman stands on. The interesting part of truth and justice is how they are intrinsically linked to journalism and the journalistic integrity of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Caspar doesn’t work as a journalist but Lara Lopez, a Dominican woman and daughter of immigrants, does. As misinformation and disinformation have dominated media, it is important to have someone with integrity willing to stand on the side of truth. Lara, in the first issue of Monumental finds herself in trouble because of her dedication to the truth because doing the right thing, standing up to the bad guy, isn’t easy. She did this before having met Monumental, knowing the risks of the truth and her profession, because justice looks like equity, and we get there through advocacy and standing with the people that need it.
The choice to have Monumental and his parents come from Iran is because of the direct ties and perceived contrast to “the American way”. Islamophobia has run rampant in America and where we have made it a point to other and demonize people from the Middle East and impose travel bans for that entire region, it was important to have this character be in direct opposition to that and the stereotypes that come with his identity. In Monumental being an immigrant, there is a light shone on the concept of “the American way” and who it is in the interest of. It is hard to remove the ideas of imperialism and oppression from the American way because that is how the country came to be and so, instead of Monumental representing America, he just represents people and wants to do what is right because that is how he was raised. As our society has become more cynical it is important to have beacons of hope that cut through the darkness, to show us that people under the worst conditions can still be good, can still strive to help each other, and can stand on the side of truth and justice.
