Local writer breaks superhero mold

By Timothy Gerwing

EDMONTON — Truth, justice and the American way is exactly what local author Robert Burke Richardson seeks to avoid with his new trade comic, Old School, a book that subverts the superhero genre into something different.

Old School is a funny, action-filled story that follows a team of aged heroes into battle against time and a mutant enemy.

“My idea was what if the first superheroes aged in real time,” said Richardson. “Superman was created in the ‘30s, but every once in a while, DC Comics rejuvenates him, and suddenly he’s 20 again.”

For Richardson, challenging genre norms is nothing new. His last book, The Matriarch, featured  a heroine who staved off villains while meeting the demands of single motherhood.

“I think all superhero fantasies are necessarily power fantasies, and they’re almost always young, white, rich male fantasies,”  said Richardson. “Make it equal opportunity, since all people in the world like superheroes now, not just ‘comic book people.’”

Richardson said  he finds the standard archetype boring, and his stories work to fill a niche that major publishers just aren’t satisfying.

“I think at Marvel and  DC they’re going back to the stuff that worked before rather than trying new things,” said Richardson. “Marvel has a specific mandate right now where they’re putting out more issues of their core characters.”

In 2009, Richardson signed a contract with DC Comics. Through the publisher he wrote Absolute Magnitude, a “hardcore science fiction” story. When the recession hit, however, the industry started taking fewer risks with their comics, leaving Richardson to explore other avenues. Since then he has released multiple books through smaller publishers, and worked on a Lost anthology with Orson Scott Card.

“Major publishers have to satisfy their base,” said Richardson, “but that often leads to stories that alienate people outside of the ‘bubble.’”

In modern comic-to-film adaptations such as Batman, Thor, Captain America and Iron Man, the heroes are unimaginably rich, good-looking, white males.

Richardson said the economy is partly to blame for conservative business models, and that classic comic audiences are only looking to buy what they know. Regardless, Richardson is happy to live in a world where alternative stories can find a home online or with smaller publishers.