Cat Man vs Modern Literature

Mike Hoffman (who is just gonna love being quoted out of context here...) once told me that one of the big problems with what the Literati and Academic world considers GOOD fiction is that always has to have a bad ending. At the time, I thought this was ludicrous, but he cited a laundry list of novels that Academia considers great fiction to make his point. He said that if a book ends on an upbeat or *happy* ending, then no one will take it serious.

Now, I'm still not convinced this is truly the case, but I will say that it does seem to be a prevalent trend in such books. (think Faulkner, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Carson McCullers, Dorothy Allison, ect...)

I sometimes think this notion infects American Comic books as well. For instance, of late, I've been thinking about Cat Man, the Holyoke Publishing character I've feature here once or twice before...

I've been thinking about doing something with the character, but not in the typical fashion. Somehow utilizing Pierre's very stark and interesting Bob Morane Style. I would like to tell a story with this character that shows a little of what his life is after his glory years, but avoid most of the hoary cliches that JMS seems to be mining in The Twelve ( "Remember this great Golden Age character? Well, here's how effed up he really was!")

I think there are ways to tell modern stories with Golden Age characters that don't necessarily have to be subversive pop psychological parables.

There just may not be a market for such stories unfortunately...

Anyway, enjoy some classic Cat Man!



[ Cat Man 03 ]



[ Cat Man 20 ]