Part one 'Posthuman Bodies and Genders' provides an overview of posthuman theory which include evolution of the human through mutation; and the idea of embodiment which theorises that the mind, body, and environment are a continuous entity. It then identifies a number of superheroes as having posthuman bodies and genders.
Part two ‘Performing Gender’ theorises Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs as a negative ideal of a posthuman subject and analyses Martian Manhunter performing gender in two issues of Justice League Task Force.
Part three ‘Shapeshifters, Cyborgs, and Embodied Superheroes’ theorises the superhero characters, Mystique, Jean Grey, Apollo, Midnighter, The Engineer, Jack Hawksmoor, as posthuman subjects.
Paula Rabinowitz asks the question ‘can the posthuman speak?’ (2000:42). In the space of one paragraph she cites the posthuman body as ‘living outside national, sexual, economic borders’, then exceeding and overriding borders, before finally speaking through a language that straddles the borders between ‘health/sickness, male/female, real/imaginary (2000:43). Rabinowitz’s point is made through oppositions and borders, and the idea of being “outside.” Using the work of Pepperell I would rather position the posthuman body as one reaching for a limit that can never be reached. There are no borders for the posthuman to straddle, no oppositions of which to be outside. As an embodied presence, they have no borders because they cannot live outside consciousness. Body and environment are continuous. They can only live within, embodied. She then decides that the posthuman, like the alien, the marginal, and the subaltern ‘probably cannot speak because it is always spoken through the stories that someone else has already told’ (2000:43). I would say that this is the point exactly. The posthuman, in true postmodern sense, only speaks through stories that have already been told. This is the whole point of what Klock calls the re-visionary comic narrative. Rabinowitz states further: ‘the posthuman body is still saturated with the stories of humanity’ (2000:43). Yes, and in being saturated with stories, actually take them to another level. The human is a genre, but the posthuman rewrites, is rewritten. In the realm of the superhero narrative posthuman superheroes characters speak through a troping of genre and character. The posthuman superhero body is saturated with narratives. Their stories, their origins, have already been told but in true posthuman/postmodern style these stories, characters, or tropes of characters will continue to be rewritten. They evolve. Batman is embodied in Watchmen’s Rorschach, Astro City’s The Confessor, and The Authority’s, Midnighter. Superman is embodied in Astro City’s the Samaritan, and Powers’ Supershock. Wonder Woman is embodied in Astro City’s Winged Victory. The list goes on.
Born of Metamorpho’s body, Shift is literally Metamorpho embodied. In a storyline where Shift reincorporates himself into his ‘father’ Metamorpho, he literally becomes embodied in Metamorpho. As Metamorpho explains: ‘I feel him in here. I have all his memories. His anger. His guilt. His love. I swear to you… it’s like I lived it’ (Winnick, McDaniel, and Owens, 2007:157, emphasis in original). Metamorpho has been rewritten by Shift’s reincorporation.
As comics companies have come to realise, the idea of continuity is one which cannot be rectified simply by killing characters and making multiple Earths. No sooner has continuity been fixed, new continuities arise which conflict with the old. With countless writers and artists working across titles over decades, discontinuities and the multiplicity of mistakes that disrupt continuity are the only certainties of the superhero narrative. In a sense superhero narratives simply rewrite themselves. Multiple writers and artists, with their varied interpretations, refocusing, re-producing, re-writing characters and origins, have produced almost unknowingly, posthuman characters. In their natural evolution, their reflexivity, their reinvention of narrative and character, and indeed genre, superhero narratives have, and could only have, produced the posthuman characters for our time. Truly these characters represent Halberstam’s idea of someness. How many posthuman superheroes are there? Some. How many super powers can there be? Some. What does this mean? The continual reinvention of the superhero narrative and thus superhero characters, has produced the posthuman superhero. They are self-reflexive characters imbued with the weight of comic history who interrogate the limits (if any) of their powers and abilities. These characters are above the human, embedded in their environment, and have consciousnesses that extend beyond their physical bodies.
In 1971 a now famous experiment led by Philip Zimbardo, known as the Stanford Prison Experiment, was conducted to ‘study the psychology of imprisonment – to see what happens when you put good people in a dehumanizing place’ (Franco and Zimbardo, 2006-07:30). Scheduled for a period of two weeks, the experiment had to be stopped after six days when the participants conducting the role of guards began using increasingly degrading forms of punishment. The findings of this experiment were replicated in real life thirty-five years later in the actions of the guards at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq
a connection with the hero in ourselves. It is this vital internal conduit between the modern work-a-day ethic and the mythic world that can prepare an ordinary person to be an everyday hero (Franco and Zimbardo, 2006-07:35).
Where do we find such examples of heroes now? Franco and Zimbardo cite heroism portrayed in such films as The Lord of the Rings trilogy which are based on the epic tradition, or even certain video games, as examples which could help children develop an internal compass in morally ambiguous situations or help them think about their ability to act heroically (Franco and Zimbardo, 2006-07:35). I would argue that superheroes occupy this position par excellénce providing concrete examples of, as Robert Reynolds calls it, a modern mythology.
When writing New X-Men, Grant Morrison wrote the characters as if they were role models:
And when supermen do come along, what are they gonna want to find? A role model. Like everyone else on the planet. We all want to find people who’ve trod our path before, who can suggest some ways to help us feel significant. So the idea behind a lot of what I was doing in X-Men and really all of my comics is to give these future supermen a template, to say “Okay you’re a superhuman, and maybe it feels a little like this” (Babcock, 2007).
While superhero comics as a form of heroic etiquette manual may at first seem absurd, consider that in 2004 The New England Journal of Medicine reported the first documented human case of a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth (Schuelke et al, 2004). The study focused on an abnormally strong four-year old German boy whose DNA was found to block production of the protein, myostatin, which limits muscle growth.[i] Thus he had the potential for unlimited muscle growth. In 2007 nineteen-month old, Liam Hoekstra, was found to have a similar condition, though a blood test determined that, unlike the German infant, he did not have the genetic mutation that blocks all production of myostatin. Rather, he has a myostatin blockade which leaves him with forty percent more muscle mass than normal, a speedy metabolism, and almost no body fat. The article reports that his mother has taken to calling him ‘The Hulk, Hercules, the Terminator’ (‘Rare condition gives toddler super strength’, 2007). He is one of roughly one hundred known cases in the world.
With the internet’s ability to connect special interest groups, could the internet be a facilitator of this expanding posthuman consciousness and condition? Individuals with similar experiences and conditions such as those exhibited by Liam Hoekstra, now have the possibility of meeting each other beyond the possibilities of chance. There is nothing to say that two of these abnormally strong individuals may produce offspring that are “super-powered.” The posthumans of the future may need to be schooled in the etiquette of heroism, especially if they have abilities above that of the common human and society expects them to be heroic. Why couldn’t comic book superheroes be inspirational for the coming posthuman era? Morrison’s characters then begin escaping from their flat two dimensional existence, as he iterates:
I said, way back, almost jokingly, that I thought super-people were really trying very hard to make their way off the skin of the second dimension to get in here. They want to get in here with us… the next stage is to clamber off the screen into the street. I think what you’re seeing with things like… the cyborg experiments and genetic manipulation that is now possible, is that pretty soon there’s gonna be super-people. You’ll be able to select for super-people: “I want my kid to have electric powers.” That kind of thing (in Babcock, 2007).
The idea that superhero comics could become text books or etiquette manuals for future posthumans is far-fetched, perhaps slightly absurd, but not entirely unrealistic. People of mutation could think differently about their body, their existence, and their consciousness, in an outward spiralling net that builds upon each new discovery and revelation. Indeed it may be the natural mutation of the human body that furthers the human race and our way of life. The posthuman populated world of tomorrow will be unrecognisable compared to ours. I feel it is only fitting to finish with the last words spoken by Batman, from Justice #12 (Aug. 2007):
Imagine if you will, Alfred, a world to come, a world transformed, a humanity beyond even our wildest imaginations. If our lives and the struggles we face were able to purchase that future, how could we not be grateful for the opportunity to fight for that possibility? That tomorrow? Perhaps, Alfred, one day, humanity… or what humanity will become… will look back at this time, and see the beginning of change. Of transforming into something greater
(Krueger & Ross et al, 2007:43-4, emphasis in original).
Read Part one 'Posthuman Bodies and Genders'
Read Part two ‘Performing Gender’
Read Part three ‘Shapeshifters, Cyborgs, and Embodied Superheroes
Reference
Babcock, J. (02/01/2007 ) ‘An Interview with Grant Morrison, from the pages of Arthur Magazine’, www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=1644 (Accessed 11 Oct 2007).
Franco, Z. and Zimbardo, P. (2006-07) ‘The Banality of Heroism’ in Greater Good Vol. 3, 2, Berkeley: University of California
Krueger, J. & Ross, A. (story), Krueger, J. (script), and Braithwaite, D. & Ross, A. (art) (2007) Justice, v1 #12 [of 12] (Aug 2007), New York: DC Comics.
Rabinowitz, P. ‘Soft Fictions and Intimate Documents: Can Feminism Be Posthuman?’ in Badmington, N. (2000) (ed.) Posthumanism, Palgrave, pp. 42-55.
‘Rare condition gives toddler super strength’ (30 May 2007) http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070530/strong_toddler_070530/20070530 (Accessed 16 Oct 2007).
Schuelke, M., Wagner, K. R., Stolz, L. E., Hubner, C. et al (2004) ‘The Myostatin Mutation Associated with Gross Muscle Hypertrophy in a Child’, New England Journal of Medicine 350, 26, pp. 2682-9.
Winick, J. (w), McDaniel, S. (p) and Owens, A. (i) ‘Pay As You Go, Part Four: The Wrong to do the Right’ Outsiders #46, in Winick, J. (w), Mhan, P. et al (p), and Thibert, A., Bird, S. & Owens, A. (i) (2007) Outsiders: Pay As You Go, [Collecting 2007 Outsiders #42-6, Outsiders Annua’ #1], New York: DC Comics pp. 120-59.
