Let me begin with a disclaimer: I’m not taking potshots at Heroes or impugning its originality. I like Heroes. A lot. Besides, why debate any TV show’s originality? It’s an inherently derivative storytelling form. We already know that Heroes boldly goes where the X-Men and (to a lesser extent) Salman Rushdie have gone before. And what of it? Lost has attracted myriad comparisons to novels, comic books, movies, etc. This only enriches its appeal, expands obsessive fan scholarship, and encourages outside reading. Same with Heroes: When I speculate about creator Tim Kring’s inspirations, I do it out of respect. So let’s not play the flame game unless it’s absolutely necessary. Which I’m sure it will be by the end of this post — knowing me, knowing you.
That said… anybody heard of the Wild Cards books? It’s a long-running series of novels (which are themselves collections of storytelling experiments by various SF authors) about a world where an alien virus has jump-cut evolution, killed 90 percent of the world’s population, and divided the remainder into three groups: Superpowered ”Aces,” suffering mutant ”Jokers,” and ”Deuces,” people with basically useless abilities (like, say, blogging).
Wild Cards is an alternate-history of the 20th century, a Watchmen-esqueattempt to reconcile golden-age comic book fantasy with jadedcontemporary reality. Like most contemporary superhero fantasias, it’sabout cataclysm, exceptionalism and social Darwinism. And while weprobably won’t be seeing Fortunato in prime time, the Wild Cards character roster does bear some superficial similarities to the Heroes lineup. (Consider Shad, for example: an Ace with a murderous multiple personality disorder — sounds a bit Niki-esque, no?)
Full disclosure: I’m not terribly familiar with this series, havingreceived this tip from a source identifying herself as Sparrow (an Aceon the extreme DL). So nerd it up below: Have you read the books? Arethere any keys to the Heroes mythos therein? Should I just give up trying to be even minimally cool and buy a 23-sided die? Answer me!
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“…people with basically useless abilities (like, say, blogging)” I know nothing about this book series, but that line was priceless!
Where is a Heroes TV WATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This brings up a point I’ve always wondered about the X-Men universe: It doesn’t seem likely that ALL the mutations that occur are useful or beneficial in some way. Surely every now and then a mutant is born with the power to burn CDs with his mouth or something.
Strangely enough, I thought the same thing about HEROES when I first heard it was coming to tv. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed WILD CARDS and found the similarities between the two uncanny. In fact watching HEROES makes me want to read the books again. So I may just go do that now.
Ditto chris. I KNEW I had read the Heroes concept somewhere before! May I also ad that Heroes resembles a certian Vertigo series from the late 90s… the name escapes me, but I KNOW it’s out there…
At any rate, they say there is nothing new under the sun (see Studio 60), and concepts are bound to be repeated. However, isn’t Heroes and it’s ilk running dangerously close to copyright infringement? If I had developled the concept in “Wild Cards” and then watched ‘Heroes” I’d be on the phone with my lawyer…
Well has anybody mentioned that Heroes is also similar to M. Night’s Unbreakable? The two are very much the same on their take of how someone discovers they have powers.
>>>May I also ad that Heroes resembles a certian Vertigo series from the late 90s… the name escapes me, but I KNOW it’s out there…
Why do I wanna say Peter Milligan’s and Sean Phillips’ “The Minx”?
I used to love the Wild Card books in my uber-geeky teen years. I’m glad to hear that other people remember them too.
I would like to see some versions of the Jokers on Heroes. The people who may have special powers, but they are actually harmful to the person with them.
Have I stepped off the crazy bus into wacky land? What are y’all seeing in this show?? The stories are needlessly outlandish and gory-for-gory’s-sake. I’ve seen better superhero stories just about anywhere.
Can someone tell me what niche this show is filling in the cultural vacuum? Is there a zeitgeisty thing I’m missing? Because the plotting, pacing, and writing are really third rate. Thank god for the good actors, because this thing would be a total flameout otherwise. It’s already reminding me of the 4400, and the less we say about that, the better.
I read these a while ago, but I don’t think the viris killed off the worlds population; it was more like it killed 90% of the people who came into contact with it when it was released. 9% of the contactees would contract some horrible sideshow-like deformity (the “Jokers”) and 1% would end up with some super-cool power (the “Aces”). Other than that society in the books was pretty much normal. Nerd alert. ..and those books were cool.
The man who wrote the Heroes series is not a comic book person and deliberately didn’t read them. He did, though, bring in comic book vets who produce and write shows like “Alias” and “Smallville” to work with him, and he asked them whether various things had been done in comics. And all of the ones you could think of had been done, multiple times. And if they weren’t done in comics, they were done in sff. So he stopped worrying about it. So Wild Cards, Salman Rushdie, X-Men, all the rest are NOT influences for “Heroes,” just part of the grand tradition. And I agree — where is the “Heroes” TV Watch, people? You should have had that one up from the get-go.
The Wild Cards books were among my favorites growing up. The series, edited by Sci Fi/Fantasy stalwart George R.R. Martin, is actually a shared world type of series, like the current Star Wars books. So, a bunch of well known (and lesser known) sci fi artists all got a crack at the concept. I highly recommend them if you like Heroes (and can find them somewhere, which I can’t).
That being said, who cares where the inspiration for Heroes is coming from? It frickin rocks. Haven’t had a gotcha moment like the cheerleader on the autopsy table in a long time! Monday night is must see around our house with Heroes and Studio 60 back to back.
Oh yeah, HEROES TV WATCH!!!
I love this show, my favorite show in the new season. That and Ugly Betty, (how’s that for weird.) Anyway, I’m here to put my 2 cents about the TV WATCH.
EW — I want to get up tommorrow and read a blog about how HEROES gets a TV watch!!! cause of the TV WATCH DEMAND!
The concept behind the Wild Card series was built of a RPG (roleplaying game) that the editor had become obsessed with. So, the Wild Card series was derivative in its own right.
I read the Wild Card Series. It wasn’t always directed in the best way, but it was fun for a volume or two. The concept that the created or riffed on was “Deuces”. People who have useless abilities like Being able to float two inches in the air, but only when asleep. A movie that later explored the concept was Mystery Men. So, you’ll notice a grand tradition and a slightly derivative quality to Super Human Abilities.
Scott, you don’t even sound like you know what the heck you’re talking about. But keep talking about Heroes. TV WATCH!!!
Heroes is the BEST NEW SHOW, that and Ugly Betty
Why is this show not on TV Watch but Laguna Beach is? Screw EW!
Heroes really has nothng to do with the “Wild Cards” series of books.
Check wikipedia for WildCard info.
I’m sorry, I am literally addicted to Entertainment Weekly, but I almost fell down laughing with Giselle’s “screw EW!”! It must be the fact that you can’t spell screw without ‘e’&’w”. This should be the go-to phrase when people have a complaint! (As a sign of affection, of course).
Man this show is kick serious butt. So much so i was at a loss for speech on the 4th episode; and I started a blog to find real heroes in the world. Now I know this sounds crazy, but some interesting people have written in already. Come check it out, and if you have a Heroes site can we exchange links anyone?
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