Introduction

 

Superhero stories are the mythology of our modern culture. If anything, this statement is truer now than it was in 2011 when I put together the first edition of this anthology. From their humble beginnings as the staples of an entertainment medium geared toward a very specific demographic (namely, comic books), superheroes have become a phenomenon available to—and enjoyed by—an ever-growing segment of media consumers. If that sounds like unfounded hyperbole to you, spend a couple hours in a crowded public place looking for someone who’s never heard of Wolverine or the Hulk. Before 2000, it wouldn’t have been a difficult proposition.

Despite the prevalence of superheroes in comics and movies, however, and as much as I’ve loved comic books for over two decades, there’s one area in which I’ll always feel prose is the ideal format for superheroes specifically or at least has the most potential to be: artistic integrity and authenticity. Comic book fans have remarked upon for decades the regularity with which heroes and villains come back from the dead or with which status quos shift and reset. Since the initial publication of Corrupts Absolutely?, for instance, there’s been an Hispanic version of a traditionally white hero, a villain’s mind housed in the body of a hero, another (white) hero retiring and his mantle being assumed by one of his (black) associates and yet another’s very godhood being assumed by a woman.

The only one of those that’s had staying power to date is the first, and even that happened to the main character of a long-running alternate universe series. And there are good, viable reasons for this. A lot of money, time, and creativity is invested in giving life to a Spider-Man, a Batman, or a Joker or Magneto. If they die “for reals,” the company who owns those characters can’t use them anymore. In time, they’d fall from their honored places in the culture. When you’re talking about characters created in and enjoyed since the ‘40s and ‘60s, clearing the slate and starting fresh is a difficult proposition.

In addition, companies and creators would run the risk of not being able to make lightning strike not twice but repeatedly, consistently creating new, compelling characters to be placed in authentic, real-world scenarios with authentic, real-world consequences. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s why Magneto comes back when Wolverine kills him even though if I stab you with a handful of knives, you ain’t comin’ back. That’s why Batman doesn’t kill the Joker though the Joker’s killed hundreds if not thousands of innocent Gothamites. A good prose author can create interesting characters and tell a gripping story every time. There’s no corporate bottom-line, action-figure deal, or thirty years of back history to consider.

So, on a very personal level, as a creator and consumer, the opportunity to bring you this definitive version of what I feel is a masterwork collection of superhero prose couldn’t have come at a better time. Every one of the stories on these pages is a labor of love for the superhero genre from award-winners and new authors alike. This new edition features not only brand-new cover art but the text of my 2012 online editor’s retrospective, the author’s preferred version of “Fixed,” and two new stories from Peter Clines and Warren Stockholm—pieces that, by a sheer twist of fate, were solicited for the original edition of Corrupts Absolutely? but weren’t available at the time.

From all of us to all of you, thanks for picking up Corrupts Absolutely?, and we hope you enjoy the hell out of it.

 

Lincoln Crisler

Augusta, Georgia

August 2014