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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 239
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 239 persecution heaped upon him by lesser peoples. Lacking in most cases the necessary mentality to overcome such antagonism, their lives are a continuous search for internal and external peace. Here, as in almost every instance of the singular superman, the plots encountered are little more than fictional biographies, with their subjects in the limelight at all times. The general pattern followed is that of normal birth, attempts to forget their abnormality through leading a routine, commonplace life, and finally death--met either at their own hands or at the collectives ones of normal people surrounding them--to escape from their troubled lives. Death is the ultimate solution, the answer to all problems. Typical of the pattern is Fred Orwell, fruiterer and grocer of The Fiery Gate. A part-time superman, his gargantuan strength exists only during extreme emotional stress. Under usual circumstances he is merely an average citizen in a war-torn country. As his abnormality is of a temporary nature, he escapes to a partial degree the persecution inflicted upon the others, succeeding far better in his attempts to lead an ordinary life. The novel's title is derived from its final chapter, wherein he meets his doom plunging through the brick wall of a burning and bomb-racked building in an effort to reach his wife. A similar instance is presented by the hackneyed "Short Wave Superman" of Robert Leslie Bellem. This time, however, the desired results are accomplished through saturation of an average human being with ultra-short waves. According to the author this process has an only temporary effect (lasting but twenty-four hours) so that the hero's status as a superman is questionable. The plot deals rather tritely with an alien saboteur in wartime, and is of no interest beyond the methods it uses for instillation of superhuman qualities. Superman himself has hardly any plot surrounding his varied activities after the origin of his abnormal powers has been related. In brief, he attempts to lead an outwardly normal life, while behind the scenes he reverts to the role of a futuristic Robin Hood, aiding those in distress and fighting against crime. After perusing a few episodes in his career the reader is likely to invoke Mark Twain's adage, "Where everything is possible, nothing is interesting." Superman has done far more harm than good to the field. The juvenile casting of such characters as he, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon has caused the general public to relegate all flights of fancy to the adolescent level--an opinion certainly not being contradicted by such current publications as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories or Fantastic Adventures. The present attention being given the field as a result of the atomic bomb is serving in numerous ways to rectify this fallacy. The chief character of Philip Wylie's Gladiator, born a physical superman, bears the brunt of hate and persecution from earliest infancy. Football star, circus strong man, world war hero, Hugo Danner finds that the world has no place for his extraordinary talents. Only seldom is his fruitless existence of turmoil and strife brightened by partial understanding from sensitive human beings. Finally, in mental chaos, he cries aloud from a mountain summit to whatever god there may be for a solution to his problems. This arrives in the guise of a bolt of lightening, and he is allowed to seek in death the internal peace that he has vainly striven for throughout life. As long as she remains on Venus, the planet of her upbringing, the Golden Amazon escapes most of the troubles that have befallen her fictional counterparts; having left it, however, events follow the expected course. The plots she enlivens are of the inconsequential "pulp" variety, dealing with frustration of an attempted conquest of Earth ("The Golden Amazon"); thwarting a planned destruction of the same world ("The Golden Amazon Returns"); some purposeless meanderings about the planet Mercury of her twin offspring ("Children of the Golden Amazon"); and so on, with minor variations. Two minor variations on the physical superman theme have appeared in
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 239 persecution heaped upon him by lesser peoples. Lacking in most cases the necessary mentality to overcome such antagonism, their lives are a continuous search for internal and external peace. Here, as in almost every instance of the singular superman, the plots encountered are little more than fictional biographies, with their subjects in the limelight at all times. The general pattern followed is that of normal birth, attempts to forget their abnormality through leading a routine, commonplace life, and finally death--met either at their own hands or at the collectives ones of normal people surrounding them--to escape from their troubled lives. Death is the ultimate solution, the answer to all problems. Typical of the pattern is Fred Orwell, fruiterer and grocer of The Fiery Gate. A part-time superman, his gargantuan strength exists only during extreme emotional stress. Under usual circumstances he is merely an average citizen in a war-torn country. As his abnormality is of a temporary nature, he escapes to a partial degree the persecution inflicted upon the others, succeeding far better in his attempts to lead an ordinary life. The novel's title is derived from its final chapter, wherein he meets his doom plunging through the brick wall of a burning and bomb-racked building in an effort to reach his wife. A similar instance is presented by the hackneyed "Short Wave Superman" of Robert Leslie Bellem. This time, however, the desired results are accomplished through saturation of an average human being with ultra-short waves. According to the author this process has an only temporary effect (lasting but twenty-four hours) so that the hero's status as a superman is questionable. The plot deals rather tritely with an alien saboteur in wartime, and is of no interest beyond the methods it uses for instillation of superhuman qualities. Superman himself has hardly any plot surrounding his varied activities after the origin of his abnormal powers has been related. In brief, he attempts to lead an outwardly normal life, while behind the scenes he reverts to the role of a futuristic Robin Hood, aiding those in distress and fighting against crime. After perusing a few episodes in his career the reader is likely to invoke Mark Twain's adage, "Where everything is possible, nothing is interesting." Superman has done far more harm than good to the field. The juvenile casting of such characters as he, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon has caused the general public to relegate all flights of fancy to the adolescent level--an opinion certainly not being contradicted by such current publications as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories or Fantastic Adventures. The present attention being given the field as a result of the atomic bomb is serving in numerous ways to rectify this fallacy. The chief character of Philip Wylie's Gladiator, born a physical superman, bears the brunt of hate and persecution from earliest infancy. Football star, circus strong man, world war hero, Hugo Danner finds that the world has no place for his extraordinary talents. Only seldom is his fruitless existence of turmoil and strife brightened by partial understanding from sensitive human beings. Finally, in mental chaos, he cries aloud from a mountain summit to whatever god there may be for a solution to his problems. This arrives in the guise of a bolt of lightening, and he is allowed to seek in death the internal peace that he has vainly striven for throughout life. As long as she remains on Venus, the planet of her upbringing, the Golden Amazon escapes most of the troubles that have befallen her fictional counterparts; having left it, however, events follow the expected course. The plots she enlivens are of the inconsequential "pulp" variety, dealing with frustration of an attempted conquest of Earth ("The Golden Amazon"); thwarting a planned destruction of the same world ("The Golden Amazon Returns"); some purposeless meanderings about the planet Mercury of her twin offspring ("Children of the Golden Amazon"); and so on, with minor variations. Two minor variations on the physical superman theme have appeared in
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