I say this light-heartedly, but the better half of this blog post talks about My Hero Academia, which is something that I have mentioned once in a blog post before. Understandably so, I can get repetitive with mentioning this series as it has taken up my all-time favorite stories slot—plus, it is a topic I am always wanting to talk about—so if that is a section that you may not want to read, then please feel free to skip over the rest of the post, starting with the paragraph that starts with, “In lieu of…”
“Watchmen”, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbson, was a graphic novel that helped pave the way for future comics and their storytelling in a way that wouldn’t be appreciated by mainstream before.
In its own uniqueness, “Watchmen” changed how comic books were formatted for future comic book creating. “Watchmen” uses a color palette that brings together an entirely different vibe to the comic that can be sensed without even having to read what happens within it. Compared to other comics, “Watchmen”’ uses secondary colors as its primary palette, which gives the sense that something within the comic is off-putting—that something feels wrong about it (“wrong”, meaning that this is not going to be your typical superhero society setting). That is one of the many intricacies found within the comic that makes Watchmen so different from the others. Watchmen also pioneered the usage of Comic Sans—the font that everyone seems to hate, yet remains a staple in comic book formatting.
The storytelling that takes place in “Watchmen” is very captivating in its own right, using an unusual setting for a superhero society, as well as writing angsty and gut-wrenching scenes and themes that could be triggering to some people if not warned about beforehand; which, despite the mindset that it lives in, is an excellent way of getting people to become immersed in such a story despite its grueling themes. This is a brilliant way of not only captivating an audience, but it also shows that new ideas and inventions can inspire others to explore such topics in the safety of a story, and create something akin to it—this story has either sparked ideas, or influenced others, into creating stories that step outside the boundaries of what is socially acceptable in mainstream media.
I am someone who does not consume much media that makes it hard to do a little bit of escapism, but reading “Watchmen” has been a wonderful experience, and I am glad that I was given this opportunity to read such a novel in a medium that makes it enjoyable to read in.
In lieu of graphic novels and comic books, and inspiration, one series that inspires me—and, if you know me, has continued to inspire me for many years and ongoing (and seems to be the only thing I want to talk about…I apologize)—is My Hero Academia, a manga written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. Coincidentally, this is also a story that rests within superhuman society. However, compared to “Watchmen”, My Hero contains a different premise and theme throughout the story that differs from it. In a superhuman society, where comic book and graphic novel heroes are a reality, as well as their rivaling supervillains, almost everyone is born with a superpower ability—only 20% of the population are quirkless, as opposed to those who have a quirk.
The protagonist of the story, Izuku Midoriya, is a boy born quirkless. Despite being outcasted for being quirkless, he proves to his number 1 hero, All Might, that he, too, can become a hero, despite being born without a quirk; after being the only one out of a crowd of civilians and heroes to rush out and save his childhood friend from being attacked by a villain, he is gifted a quirk, and promised to be trained under the number 1 hero to become the world’s greatest hero—to become a hero and save the world with a smile on his face, just as his idol has for many years.
The themes of hope, and humanizing those who have been wronged, are prevalent in this story, as well as learning to lean on others for support, even if that means that they could struggle in the process. Amongst that, we also see themes of learning to understand, lessons of atonement versus forgiveness, lessons of not giving up during a disturbing and hopeless time—a core theme of reaching out to others, which is the core theme that surrounds Izuku, and his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugou.
I’ve become attached to this story not only because of the characters and the story building that comes with it, but because of everything else that I’ve talked about in this series. It’s a phenomenal story, and it has this depth that often gets overlooked by those who don’t read it, or have only heard hearsay about it. This is something I wish to recommend to those who might even be a little bit interested in superhero type stories, though I don’t believe that one shouldn’t go into this thinking that it’s going to be a typical action superhero series. It’s worth taking one’s time to read it, and to digest everything, and to remember little tidbits that might be mentioned in passing, and to not judge the characters upon first introduction (and, possibly, find posts that help break down translations and hidden meanings within the Japanese text that get localized…things can get lost in translations).