I believe if a character can entertain but at the same time give people ideas on how to better themselves, I think that’s a better character to develop even if that character only happens to be an NGO volunteer with unusual people skills and has more than the usual adventures. WE can take inspiration from Herge’s Tin-tin. How simple is that? A guy and his pet dog go on all these adventures! And he doesn’t even have powers! yet that character was huge in Europe.

Much like the creator of “99″ wanted kids in his country to have good Muslim characters to look up to instead of the usual diet of AK-47 wielding fanatics that Muslims have been tarnished with. So what did he do? He created a superhero team made up of the 99 virtues in Muslim theology.
The superhero element is there, but it also ties in with education.
Hey, I’d like to collaborate on something given the chance.

Peace,

Rod

Read all the comments and I will try to chime in with my two cents:

The Filipino disunity and lack of cohesion is something that was discussed a lot. I agree that we seem to be still locked in what I call our “tribal mentality”. There is only the love of your own family and local town (hence the patrimony that exists on all levels of society). And yeah, we need to look beyond just being members of our immediate clans and baranggays and consider the country as a whole. (If not, we may as well break up into a federation of island states because that is how we have acted almost since gaining independence… )

Hey, Saw Gilbert Monsanto’s post. I was at Sonic Triangle/ GASI too… those were the years indeed… underpaid as all heck but somehow enjoying the fact that my unusual (Manga/Western) style was accepted there. I was lining up to get my check with a bunch of housewives… Ah the memories…

But to the topic at hand…
I think many cultures have their “iconic” characters. In the US, you have the Marvel and DC characters. Crossgen failed because no matter what their efforts, they failed at creating an iconic character. They failed to create their “Superman” or “X-men”. That one character or series that defines the company.
Every entity has their iconic characters. Hasbro has Transformers and G I Joe. Disney has Mickey Mouse and company.

IDENTITY is important. If all we do is come up with a Fil version of Mickey or Dilbert, it will fail.

The Japanese ripped off early American comics and cartoons. That’s where most innovations begin. But out of that came the gigantic comic book industry we know today as the purveyors of our favorite manga and anime.

I believe that given time, even we will come up with our own brand of character.
Like I mentioned before, it may not be in the form of a superhero for that idea was borrowed from another culture. It’s worth borrowing, don’t get me wrong, but I think it can be a good foundation to creating what would be the future genesis of a line of characters similar to how current anime has roots in Disney’s Snow White.

I fondly remember original Filipino characters (not superheroes) like Nik-nok (middle class suburban kid that loves fried chicken–brilliant!), Planet op di Apes, Bing, Bam and Bung… I mean, all those original funny characters including those gossiping neighbors in Inquirer “LOve Knots”… the list goes on and on.
But yeah, there will be a future iconic character that speaks to most Filipinos. That character can be our hometown hero like Wiggles is to Australia or Dora the Explorer (a girl that just encourages learning–imagine that!).
It ain’t sexy, but if a character can somehow encourage people to better their lives through education or information, then I believe it will catch on.
They are “super” heroes… in their own way.

The problem with that is that they would no longer be superheroes, would they? Warren made superheroes into super murderers. Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, to save the world, they made superheroes into super dictators. Awesome stories, awesome comic books, but these are stories that have an underlying contempt for the idea of the superhero. A hero is about doing the right thing, even when it’s the most difficult, most ridiculous thing to do.

Grant Morrison is perhaps the one that came closest to addressing this basic conundrum of superheroes and real world issues. In JLA, Morrison postulated that superheroes are not here to save the world. They should allow humanity to grow on their own. Then what is the point? Superman says they’re here to catch us when we fall.

In fact there’s a 95% chance that if any one Filipino gets superpowers, it’ll be someone way below the poverty line. And addressing my hunger will the first of my concerns. The 4% remaining middle class citizens will probably do the most genuinely heroic thing while I don’t want to even imagine what would happen if some rich spoiled 1% gets that superpower.

I’d disagree that foreign superheroes will be put in an awkward position when forced to address real world issues. Warren Ellis did it perfectly well when he murdered President Bush in his Black Summer. When Mark Millar took over The Authority from Ellis, the first thing the superhero team did was overthrow a southeast asian dictator and housed the refugees it was terrorizing. Alan Moore’s Miracleman literally obliterated the concept of MONEY and when Neil Gaiman took over, he turned that world into a utopia.

Superman (according to Grant Morrison) on the other hand, is rationalized as a scientist that protects and observes, not to interfere with the affairs of humans as much as possible. Although in his original conception, Superman first fought against domestic abuse! Batman until now still deals with mobsters every now and then, which were a major social concern in the time of his creation (and to some degree, until this very day). Captain America was made to fight Nazis in an era where the Nazis were a real threat. Heck even Bugs Bunny was shown hammering Hitler in those days.

I would actually go so far as to say the superheroes are an adolescent fantasy’s way of dealing with the real world.

Wooooooooo… I like this premise. Wow, I’d place him on one of the 7,200 islands watching the whole nation with all his sort of electronic gadgetry! Brilliant idea.

Now we’re talking…

The international crime syndicates will all be against him because they won’t be able to use the country for all their nefarious activities: curtail hegemony, economic sabotage, unabashed abuse of local resources such as poisoning the water and land from multinational mining companies, abuse of fishing in the country by Japanese fishermen, and so on.

powil guzmanos you’re one heck of an idea man.
I won’t mind seeing this sort of a Pinoy superhero. It’s quite edgy: not really bad, definitely not good, but absolutely intriguing.

But could superheroes battle against social problems? I guess in the story itslef it’s difficult. But Looking at a particular title as a comics-product in a real bookstore might add another dimension to the discussion.

Unrelated to that are my pinoy superhero ideas:

1. a nobody in the Philippines but realized the superhero potential within while abroad. because overseas, the stakes are higher, the villains bigger, and there are other things that can further the superhero career. ex. going against nuclear powered weapons or protecting Hubble Space Telescope from asteroids. Both are possible with an American nationality.

If you’re Filipino you’re limited with going against local insurgencies, or impeaching/protecting the president, every several years, at best.

2. superheroes not wearing spandex and sexist clothes not because they finally realise they are silly but because the catholic church condemned them. While superheros from other countries still wear them all the time.

3. superheroes not tackling problems in poverty, education, corruption, starvation, etc. because that’s what those in power effectively do in the Philippines. So it’s okay. Really! It would be socially untrue if superheroes do otherwise!

4. politicians using superheroes as campaign endorsers (hence they are protected by the government unlike in other superhero stories), until somebody exposed a sex scandal video. the superhero in question tells the media he/she is the victim.

5. Foreign superheroes’ adventures in the Philippines. Local heroes don’t have the “save the world/country” attitude. Their powers seem to only function only within several baranggays.

6. Superhero realising the superhero potential within after going back home as a balikbayan – picked up the “save the world” attitude from abroad.

7. Superheroes not performing high enough because the talents are misdirected. ex. a “Catwoman” -like hero saving kittens/cats from becoming roadkill all day long because even animals need superhero assistance in the Philippines.

8. superhero wants to become a superdictator. the hero was so frustrated with many generatiions of politicians he/she vowed no one should hold a public office except himself/herself.

9. superhero coping with real world problems rather than solving them. A superhero realises the power he/she posesses, but doesn’t know what to do with it. example, what to do during the 1986 EDSA revolution..but no matter which side things don’t seem to go for the better.

10. superhero with super identity crisis

Learning is indeed fun. :-)