Supers are everywhere these days, on the telly, in the cinema, in bookstores and of course, in RPGs.

Now, having grown up with them, and liking the genre in general, i just can't see it as a British genre. It's American through and through isn't it?

It's the American dream given a fantasy makeover.

We British don't have a dream, we've been places, got the t-shirt and retreated into cynicism and world-wearyness -as most empires past their sell-by date seem to do.

What would the supers genre look like through a British lens?

Alternatively, you can tell me why i'm talking bollocks.

Quote from: One Horse Town;470487Supers are everywhere these days, on the telly, in the cinema, in bookstores and of course, in RPGs.

Now, having grown up with them, and liking the genre in general, i just can't see it as a British genre. It's American through and through isn't it?

It's the American dream given a fantasy makeover.

We British don't have a dream, we've been places, got the t-shirt and retreated into cynicism and world-wearyness -as most empires past their sell-by date seem to do.

What would the supers genre look like through a British lens?

Alternatively, you can tell me why i'm talking bollocks.

If you consider Being Human versus Twilight, you can imagine British superheroes being slower-moving, more morally conflicted/ambiguous / angst-ridden and definitely less sparkly. Not so much superman minus the laser beams from the eyes as Batman driving a Subaru Imprezza, or possibly even a Skoda Octavia.

I guess the archetypal British superhero would kind of be a James Bond, or for an alternative, Red-Dwarf-style take, an Austin Powers. If they did have actual superpowers, they would probably be very subdued.

Having said all which, I know almost nothing about the superheroes genre; there may be British superheroes out there, they just don't come to mind.

Quote from: One Horse Town;470487What would the supers genre look like through a British lens?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misfits_(TV_series)

The Watchmen.

Also, Animal Man.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;470490The Watchmen.

Also, Animal Man.

American-esque heroes, British invasion.

Quote from: One Horse Town;470487Supers are everywhere these days, on the telly, in the cinema, in bookstores and of course, in RPGs.

Now, having grown up with them, and liking the genre in general, i just can't see it as a British genre. It's American through and through isn't it?

It's the American dream given a fantasy makeover.

We British don't have a dream, we've been places, got the t-shirt and retreated into cynicism and world-wearyness -as most empires past their sell-by date seem to do.

What would the supers genre look like through a British lens?

Alternatively, you can tell me why i'm talking bollocks.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Who

No Heroics is the perfect example of British Super Heroes.

They mostly hang around at a pub. I thought it was fucking brilliant and I really wish a second season was commissioned for it.

Quote from: One Horse Town;470487What would the supers genre look like through a British lens?

Alternatively, you can tell me why i'm talking bollocks.

Why not look at native British superhero comics?  For a brief overview, there's

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/e/erauk.htm

It's a fair tell that 2000 A.D. (including Judge Dredd) and The Adventures of Luther Arkwright eclipsed most traditional superheroes including Captain Britain.  Still, there were a fair number of superheroes in tights as well.  It depends how you look at things what are superheroes.

From 2000 AD, I always enjoyed Zenith as another good British take on super heroes. I still have those comics hanging around here somewhere.

It's been a while since I read my copies of Planetary, but I seem to remember an issue where they go to a funeral in London. I think Warren Ellis uses that issue to discuss the differences between the way the U.K. sees superheroes and how the U.S. sees them. I'll need to go back and read the comic again to be sure about this.

I've heard good things about the current run of Knight and Squire.

Never really read any Brit supers myself, and not really many Brit comics in general.

Doctor Who is enough of a superhero.
Also Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood and James Bond as others have said.

Living in England I've seen a good few attempts at setting superhero games in Britain. In general I'd say just transplanting the classic American superheroes styles feels a bit artificial. It's not a deal breaker though.

I think to feel genuine, a British or just European superhero is something that would have to be more closely regulated if not directly controlled by the government. In popular culture America is seen as the land of individual freedoms. American gun laws, for instance, are something Europeans just do not understand, in Britain not even our police are normally armed. Likewise they still bounty hunters in the US,  where as in the UK you get in trouble for defending your home from a burglar too vigorously.

As it were in a recent Icons one-shot, during character generation when we were deciding on the specifics of the setting we did decide to go for a British secret government unit of paranormals and that worked very well.

I think we have to look back to before American comics started. To 18th- 19th Century satirical cartoons. Particularly Punch. After all Punch's representation of Britain wasn't the slim sexy goddess the Romans gave us (though she does pop up occasionally) he was a fat alcholic, chain smoker in a top hat called John Bull.

Whereas Captain America is what America aspires to John Bull is a cynical swipe at what the British are.

Quote from: Ian Warner;470538I think we have to look back to before American comics started. To 18th- 19th Century satirical cartoons. Particularly Punch. After all Punch's representation of Britain wasn't the slim sexy goddess the Romans gave us (though she does pop up occasionally) he was a fat alcholic, chain smoker in a top hat called John Bull.

Whereas Captain America is what America aspires to John Bull is a cynical swipe at what the British are.

Yeah, but we are also the country of Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Emma Peel and John Steed, which aren't technically superheroes, but they are still near superhuman crime-fighters.