Len Hazell offered an excellent description of the superhero genre, with a nice encapsulation of the history and some of the common character archetypes. However, as a life-long reader (and, more recently, writer) of superhero fiction, I wanted to offer up a slight ,but important distinction concerning the superhero and his or her adventures.

Namely, think of it not so much as a genre but as a set of extremely versatile character tools. There are certain conventions that can apply across the different types, but approaching superheroes as a genre can be unnecessarily limiting. It’s a blurry line I’m drawing, but important.

Simply put, superheroes can be anything you want or need them to be. The archetype is so strong, with roots so deep in human history, that it can be inserted into any other genre that the writer’s heart desires. As long as they are extraordinary beings with a deep (but perhaps ill-fated) concern for their fellow citizenry, they can be used anywhere. A glance across the racks at any comic shop will reveal everything from crime, war, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, horror, romance, or any sub-genre. Flexibility makes the superhero an endearing figure in pop culture (and lack of flexibility can put the kibosh on them just as surely – just ask the poor, forgotten heroes of the Zeppelin Pulps, who died out quite suddenly).

Take, for example, one of the most popular superhero characters to be invented in decades, Wolverine. Throughout the history of his publication, Logan has been the rich son of a plantation owner, a feral boy raised by wolves, miner, ninja, samurai, soldier, elite special forces commando, space pirate, crime fighter, detective, time traveler, civil rights crusader, pilot, father, zombie, and other stuff even I can’t keep up with. He’s been cloned, killed, ripped in half, devolved, resurrected, married, and adapted into horrible movies. Wolverine is a somewhat unique case of a single figure encompassing much of what can be done on a larger scale with the archetypes (as writers, I think any of us would be lucky to create a character like this – see also Robert E. Howard’s Conan, who could be adapted to fit whatever theme the fantasy magazines were running that month – but that’s a whole other article). No matter what his role at any given time, the heroic core of his personality remains.

In some ways, superheroes are perfect for flash fiction – the word immediately sums up some simple universal images and ideas, and if properly used can save a writer quite a bit of exposition. Just don’t let those preconceived notions become an anchor rather than a buoy.

So when sitting down to write a superhero epic, don’t automatically restrict yourself to the traditional masked crime-fighter avenging the death of a loved one, or a lantern-jawed boy scout. A superhero can just as easily be a master of the mystical arts, the king of a fantastic domain, a starship captain, demon, disgraced football player, journalist, priest, child prodigy, musician, or anything else you need. There are archetypes and conventions certainly, but ultimately superheroes are all about breaking the rules, and living in a world where the writer is limited only by their own imagination.

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Alexander Burns will track you down and murder you if you ever write an article with one of those “Pow! Zing!” titles.  He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and writes because he doesn’t have a basement in which to build robots or time machines, and because he is terrible at math. His work has appeared at Every Day Fiction, A Thousand Faces, 10Flash, The Future Fire, and Big Pulp.