“Damn it, I wish I’d read this before I read Tom King’s Supergirl book. I feel like both tread some of the same territory (waiting for an intergalactic phone call and sitting on an intergalactic bus have kind of the same vibe, you know?).
It’s a good Superman book, and Tom King’s skill in using different framing devices for different chapters works great for this one.
I was talking about Tom King’s books, and a friend was asking about my rankings and said, “And you didn’t like Mister Miracle as much because you don’t have kids.”
And I was like, “No, I think it’s that Vision was more interesting to me, had more differentiation in storytelling.”
Also, I did not care for the wholesale ripoff of Breaking Bad’s veggie tray schtick in Mister Miracle.
I do have this issue when people assume the childless among us “couldn’t possibly understand” what it’s like to have kids.
I’ve been an amateur athlete my whole life, and I would never assume a fat guy couldn’t understand the Flash, you know?
Or, maybe to put a finer point on it, if the thing you share with Mister Miracle is that you’re both parents…is that really the big commonality there? Is that the larger gap to leap? Or is it maybe him being a big part of a galactic war for his day job?
I’m totally willing to buy that stories with imperiled kids, or about the challenges of balancing parent life and life outside the house, have some added weight when you’re a parent because parents probably tend to see themselves and their kids in the place of the characters more. BUT, I think “not getting it” is a different issue.
I sort of think parents like to be able to just sort of say, “The childless will never understand.” Because then, they don’t have to define what it is about parenthood that’s so wonderful. Which, if I’m being honest, probably has a good deal to do with chemicals released into your brain because we are creatures with evolutionary mandates.
And, hey, I have NO problem with this. I’ve had booze before, I know that chemicals on the brain are nice. I’m not here to pull a Psycho Mantis and tell you that you’re a disgusting animal who only wants to procreate. There are not a lot of ways to find happiness, and if having kids is what makes you happy, you’ve cracked the code!
But I AM here to say that I don’t think the joys of parenthood are inexplicable. More to the point, I don’t think it’s something you cannot understand without going through it.
I just don’t trust you parent types. You know why? Because not one of you has ever said you regret having kids. That if you could do it all over again, you wouldn’t have kids.
That seems far-fetched. What other choice in life will you hear NOBODY cop to being a bad one? C’mon there’s gotta be SOMEONE out there who has at least THOUGHT it. I mean, if your kid goes and shoots up a school? Or your kid is like a total jerk? If your kid grows up to be a criminal who hurts a lot of people? Are you really telling me that those parents never question their decision?
More importantly, though, I want to hear it from just ONE parent whose kid isn’t bad, they just…eh, didn’t feel like their kid added a whole lot to their life. That MUST exist, right? “