Youth Opinion : Comic Super-Heroes: ‘It’s Like a Soap Opera’

In an age when real-life heroes seem in short supply, many kids are turning the pages of comic books to find role models. For some teen-agers, their favorite super-hero may possess characteristics that mirror their own traits or represent a persona that they hope to achieve. JACQUELINE MAJERS, an editor for the Los Angeles-based youth magazine Mouth2Mouth, asked some young people at comic book stores around Southern California about their favorit e characters .

LOUIS KOSNETT

13, Los Angeles

Super-hero: Prime

Size of collection: 300-plus

Prime is a 13 year old kid who becomes a big Superman-like guy, with all the muscles. I can identify with him because at first he’s this wimpy little guy, Kevin Green, then he transforms into Prime. He got his powers at birth because this weird doctor was doing experiments on his mom. He was captured by this government guy, who had him in manacles and shot electric shocks through him. Then this hero, Firearm, rescued him and transformed him into a new Prime, with chains and an earring.

A lot of my friends do comics. But I don’t know any girls who collect. Girls go, “Wow, what a nerd, he collects comics.”

BOAZ HEPNER

15, West Los Angeles

Super-hero: Batman

Size of collection: 250-plus

Batman’s a pretty normal guy who works his way up in life with no special talents. He reached the same status as super-heroes without being born with it. He has no powers, but has the potential of doing almost the same things as the other super-heroes with only the human body. Batman creates his own weapons and his own defense. The only person who he would have help him is Robin. And he trained Robin himself. Batman has to use his brain more. He is his own man.

I can’t look up to someone who has powers. Take Superman: His personality is admirable, but if he lost his powers he wouldn’t get very far.

ROBBIE HAMADA

13, Laguna Niguel

Super-hero: The Wildcats

Size of collection: 1000-plus

These two alien races were fighting in outer space, crashed into Earth and mixed in with the population. The bad aliens, called Daemonites, try to take over the Earth, so the good aliens, the Wildcats, have to stop them. There are six Wildcats and thousands of bad aliens. They are a very secret team. Nobody, including the other super-heroes, knows about them.

One of my favorite Wildcats is Vealot. She’s a Coda, a group of people who study martial arts. She is so disciplined, a perfectionist. I’m really sloppy and forget things. If I were a Vealot, I’d at least have homework done. Vealot would probably have A homework. I have B or C homework.

Comics have to be drawn good. It could be a pretty good character but not drawn good and I wouldn’t like it. For instance, Warblade’s got a ponytail, all these coils from his stomach, and his hands are blades. Ponytails on guys are better in comics; I would never have one.

ANGELO EAMES

13, Culver City

Super-hero: Spawn

Size of collection: 250-plus

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I like the art and it’s a good story line. Spawn is this demon superhero. He was a military assassin and was killed. He made a deal with the devil: The devil got his soul so he could come back to the world again, five years later, to see his wife. He has a whole lot of powers and he can pretty much do whatever he wants.

A lot of super-heroes, like Batman or Superman, are really rich and live in big mansions. Spawn, on the other hand, is a bum. He lives in an alley with a bunch of other bums. It’s different. In a lot of comic books, the characters are just running around, getting the bad guy, killing people, doing super-hero stuff like that. But I like Spawn because the character has more of a personality. There’s a little humor in it.

CRYSTAL BASALDUA

17, San Gabriel

Super-hero: Rogue

Size of collection: 2,200 for family Rogue is a friendly country girl from the South. She is a mutant with the ability to absorb the memories and powers of anyone she has flesh-to-flesh contact with. She can’t touch anyone for very long or she becomes a part of that other being. As a child, her father kicked her out. She wandered for a while until she met the doctor that takes care of the X-Men (super-heros).

I like her personality. She gets along with everyone. I feel sorry for her because she afraid if she gets close to anyone, she’ll drain everything from them. Guys can become unconscious, depending on how long she touches them. Her first kiss put the boy in a coma and he’s still unconscious. She can’t even hold hands and her suit must completely cover her body because of how strong her powers are.

I hang with a bunch of girls and we all talk about comic books. It’s like a soap opera.