A few paintings of superheroes and works from my imagination, they also served as preparatory sketches for the bigger painting "super sum zero"
Something I wrote about superman :
Heros and superheroes have existed since the beginning of time, in the Greek mythology the heroes had to battle the strongest beings known to man, Hercules battled a lion and many other creatures, so did Samson from the Judaic Bible, in ancient times that was one of the yardsticks that measured the strength of heroes, their capability to kill dangerous massive animals that would normally eat or kill a regular human.
Nowadays things have changed the obstacles in our lives are different and the limits of our bodies are compared to machines, the famous quote of people witnessing superman is, "it's a plane"
"Faster than a speeding built"
Or "Man of steel" etc, I think the narrative of the hero is the same as ancient times but because we no longer have the connection with nature there is a need for a supernatural hero hence the superhero.
There are many superheroes and we can debate philosophically who is stronger, but for me, the strongest will always be superman "ubermensch" (in German).
For the most part of my childhood I grew up believing my destiny in life is to be a hero,
I served in an elite unit in the army (the equivalent of the US green berets) and was injured during training with wounds that I carry until today.
Internally I had to give up on superman as an archetype or source of inspiration, first because he is not real, and second at the external level because I can't fly and stuff.
But let's say for a moment that superman could exist, let's say there is an all-mighty man, in reality, he will become like all the most horrible tyrants of human history, since his psychology is still just human, or if we follow the narrative of the DC comics & let's say he also has a super ethical and moral conscience and he becomes the superman that is always in service to humanity. then In a sense, isn't he the human's slave!?
or to be more vulgar our little bi**h.
Not only is it bad for the environment to have more humans on this planet as a result of him saving us, but if he is not free to live his life as himself and do what pleases him, his own life has no value.
And besides that ethically on the human side, it is perverted to be dependent on one man to save us every time we make a mess, screw up or have accidents.
It is as if the inventors of( Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and DC mainly) superman
Had tried to create a world without gravity to our actions, expressed also in supermans iconic
Flying capability.
It is as if the solution to humanity's problems is to live in a world with no death or danger symbolized in a man that is capable of all doing,
Paradoxically that man could do nothing for his own life for he would have such a responsibility towards all living beings that live on this planet.
It is an attempt to sugar coat life, but the brutal truth about life is that life without death has no meaning, nor does death have meaning without life itself.
And therefore there is no need for a superman, nature does its course with or without us.