momsville

  The Justice League

Superheroes (super-heroes?, super heroes?) have been on my mind and right in my face a lot lately. I live with two boys ages 7 and just-about-11. The path to superhero worship happened so subtly and gradually that I had to really go back to map it’s arrival.

First came mythology. My kids clicked really early on (like preschool) with Greek and Roman mythology. We would play a game in the car, “Greek or Roman”. An adult would call out the name of a God and the kids would guess “Greek” or “Roman”. (This game was based on our original, rather limited car game “Toilet Paper or Breakfast Cereal” which evolved into the much more successful “Pharmaceutical or Greek God”)

While interest in mythology remained strong, along came Pokemon. The boys traded with friends and complete strangers alike and carefully built their collections. They arranged and rearranged their cards according to everything from cuteness to illustrator (Yes, the artists are credited right on the card). But it was not lost on me that the basis of the game was power. Power and attack. Although cute.

A couple of viewings of Justice League and glimpses of superhero comics mixed well with mythology and Pokemon and the die was cast. Superheros took over our lives. We have argued about movies being appropriate or not. We have been begged for everything from T-shirts to information. How many times did I have to tell a 5 year old that I wasn’t holding back information on Batman, I just didn’t know!

Then came a magic moment. Our babysitter – a guy in his early 20′s who was already a main source for superhero info – gave them The Gift. “The Marvel Encyclopedia” entered our lives and was immediately joined by “The DC Encyclopedia”. These tomes were studied, deconstructed, questioned and sometimes ridiculed. Both boys have mocking impatience with “stupid powers”. Well…more on that later.

Now we have complete superhero saturation – everything from magnets to costumes:

to action figures. One favorite book series, Sidekicks, is still on our shelves. Unfortunately I think they are out of print. These books are hilarious if you have even a working knowledge of the superhero genre – a Tick for my children’s generation.

Sidekicks