Comic Dreamin'...

I guess Rick Veitch is not alone in dreaming about comics. I've been doing it as well.

Last night I had a dream that featured the Martian Manhunter. I dreamt there was a fiery explosion in the air which MM flew out of because, instead of draining his powers as it does in the comics, it boosted his powers instead. In fact, it gave him such a rush he was laughing as he flew above me to take care of whatever threat was occurring. In fact, I think he was going to fly into a burning building to rescue some people there.

Funny.

My kids dream about cartoon characters all the time. Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario and Luigi, Scooby Doo, Naruto... It's just now that I'm older and I see a comic character, there's a certain level of awe that might not have been there if I were younger. I remember one dream I had a few months ago when I saw Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman walking off on some mission, and I ran up to Batman (who wore the blue and grey costume, not the all-black movie costume) and told him that I used to idolize him with a tone that suggested that I couldn't anymore because of how he'd been depicted for the past x number of years. I remember seeing Superman smirk as I said it, and it made me wonder if there was some truth to the idea that fictional characters have a life of their own separate from our time-space existence as if the way they're thought of influences the aspect of their personalities that they display. If, for example, Mort Weisinger insisted that Superman act like a jerk to Lois Lane then that would be part of his persona from now on. I mean, this Superman didn't feel like Christopher Reeve's Superman, it felt like Mort Weisinger's arrogant Superman drawn by Neal Adams.

But there was a sense of awe to the Martian Manhunter I saw last night. He was big and strong and he was on the side of the people who needed him. Plus he looked a bit like he was drawn by Gene Colan...