As Brian Cronin said in a post some years ago, there’s a tendency for comic-book writers to make their protagonist, or whoever the current “hot” character is, the best at what they do. They have to be the deadliest assassin, the strongest martial artist, the best thief, the most advanced scientific genius, whatever, and it has to be canon.
After reading that, it occurred to me I see a lot of that in fantasy fiction too. Lots of books on Kindle where the protagonist has a magic talent so great she has to be destroyed/controlled/mated. The kid who trains with a sword and becomes “the best I’ve ever seen.” The sex demon in one of Patrick Rothfuss’s books who informs the virgin protagonist he’s the best she ever had.
For some characters this is baked into the concept. The Hulk is the strongest one of all. Karate Kid in the Legion of Super-Heroes is a master of every known form of hand-to-hand combat. Sherlock Holmes is the world’s greatest detective.
However as Brian points out, this isn’t a requirement for a great character. Lots of brilliant detectives followed on Holmes’ wake; Dr. Thorndyke (by R. Austin Freeman) and Professor Van Dusen (by Jacques Futrelle) are both genius detectives. Despite having entertaining adventures and solving ingenious puzzles, hey’re largely forgotten not because Holmes was a superior detective but because neither had his quirky, eccentric, forceful personality. And Doyle, as I’ve pointed out before, had no problems with Holmes being fallible. He misses the answer in some cases completely; in others he cracks the case but can’t save his client.
Karate Kid, sure, I’m happy to assume he’s the best fighter ever. However Denny O’Neil never felt the need to make his martial artist Richard Dragon the best there ever was; in his Bronze Age comics run, Dragon routinely runs into people as tough as he is, though he finds a way to beat them but he’s not invincible (neither is Karate Kid but that’s because he’s up against supervillains, not rogue martial artists). In the early Dr. Strange stories, he’s very clearly not the top dog: Baron Mordo is his equal, and possibly his superior while Dormammu is way, way beyond Strange’s magic. He wins because he outthinks his foes, not because his magic is vastly superior.
Brian’s post convinced me to go back and rewrite some of Let No Man Put Asunder. In an encounter with the mercenary Peacock (he dresses flashy — or as he puts it, some people dress in style, he dresses with style), Mandy learns how her new combat skills work, and he tells her the fact she landed a blow on him proves she’s one of the best. There’s really no reason she has to be that good; if people read the book it’s going to be because they like her and Paul as characters, not their raw display of power.
I rewrote the scene to establish Mandy’s good, not world-class. She points out she did manage to land a blow; Peacock replies that in battle, nobody’s invincible. Anyone can get tagged if they get distracted or the other party gets lucky.
I think that works better.
Cover by Curt Swan, Dr. Strange panels by Steve Ditko. All rights to images remain with current holders.
