HEROIC INSPIRATIONS:

New Book breaks down the World's most Iconic Superheroes! 

By day he teaches about superheroes to college students but by night Virginia college professor and author, Michael Critzer has been breaking down the moral fiber of the most iconic superheroes. His heroic challenge has paid off in this new book, Heroic Inspirations!
Why does Superman serve those in need? Why does Peter Parker reject the idea of using his powers to become a criminal? The answers to these exciting questions regarding your favorite DC Comics and Marvel Comics superheroes will be found in these pages. The book is also interactive and provides real life challenges.

Michael Critzer explained his motivation behind the book to HeroicWorld in this exclusive interview... ​

​As a college professor you are in the unique position to teach students about superheroes. Was this something you envisioned you would be doing as a young fan of the superhero genre? 
I never envisioned I’d be teaching superheroes, not as a young fan anyway. I should have though. I was/am a geek, and geeks love to tell people about their passions, right? It wasn’t until my undergraduate years, when I decided to write my Bachelors thesis on superheroes, that I became obsessed with how they operate in our culture as mythology. I continued my research through my Masters in English and Master of Fine Arts. When it came time to teach and design courses around literature, composition, and such, superheroes were a natural fit. Now I get to geek out and earn Academic street cred at the same time.
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What inspired you to write Heroic Inspirations?
For a while now, there’s been a rampant wave of deconstructionism in our superhero stories. It’s a tendency across the mediums to pick apart the nobility and values of heroes to “make them easier to relate to,” as people describe it. I argue that superheroes on a whole exist for us to aspire to rather than relate to. And I think our culture is going through one of those cyclical nihilistic phases that often occur during disillusionment after cultural upheavals. Theses phases of culture come and go, but the problem this time is that superheroes were already coming into the spotlight with the popularity of their films and TV shows. Naturally, the cultural nihilism has turned on those superheroes seeking to deconstruct them. But our heroes and mythology have consistently been our way out of these societal funks. And once you fully deconstruct a hero before its culture, they can never return to fulfilling the same inspirational function they once did. I believe that those of us writers, artists, actors, cultural scholars, and such who understand the characters and their importance to society should be doing all we can to show these characters in their most useful light. I wrote Heroic Inspirations to do my part. But that’s only the beginning.

​In your book, you talk about asking your students to write about which heroic archetype they relate to the most. Which superhero do you relate to most and why?  
Let me first say which hero I aspire to the most. The traditional Superman is the perfect inspirational standard for anyone with a heart open to hope and a better tomorrow. He was created as a trickster, adolescent geek fantasy, but developed through cultural feedback into the patriotic, hopeful fantasy the nation needed through WWII and beyond. That’s how the character has remained until changes were forced upon him in recent years. That pure standard, though is who I aspire to. I’ll never be that hopeful, that selfless, or that pure, but if I don’t try for that level, I’ll never reach as high as I will in the attempt.
For a character I relate to, I would have to say Tim Drake, the third Robin in the Batman mythos. Drake grew up inspired by Batman and Robin. He had a brilliant mind even as a child and deduced through some evidence who Batman and Robin were in real life. So when Jason Todd, the second Robin was killed, Drake saw the change that took place in Batman. He saw his aspirational hero grow sullen, darker, and more extreme. He knew that Batman, the Dark Knight, needed a Robin, a Boy Wonder, to balance and lighten his heart of heroism. While attempting to convince Dick Grayson, then Nightwing, to return to the dynamic duo as Robin, Drake proved himself worthy of the mantel. Batman agreed to train him, and Tim Drake, the fanboy who cared about and aspired to his heroes, became a hero himself, restoring balance and hope his idols. I’d like to think Heroic Inspirations will do a little bit of that Tim Drake work in our culture. 

Will you be using Heroic Inspirations as a textbook for your upcoming classes? 
I couldn’t quite bring myself to make it a required text. It seemed a bit egotistical. But the subject matter is integrally linked to what I teach in my classes. So I made it a recommended reading.

When readers walk away from this book, what do you hope they will get out of it?
I hope they will take away specific inspiration for situations in their own lives. Each chapter deals with a different superhero’s story, pointing out values and inspiration we can gain from it for overcoming tragedy and challenges in our own lives. I’ve included a series of questions at the end of each chapter to help readers make specific applications to their own lives.

What is your ambition in the world of superhero entertainment? Are you hoping to one day work with Marvel or DC?
I’d be crazy to turn down the opportunity to write for some of my favorite characters. That would be a dream come true. But that’s not a goal I’m actively pursuing because of how bound their writers are by current continuity and the increasing number of character mandates from corporate that are not always organic or the best decisions for the characters. I’m happy writing about my favorite heroes in my nonfiction and making up heroes of my own in my fiction.

Are you currently working on any other books?
I have a few projects in the works. I can’t speak about any of them at length yet, but I can say I’m working on a sequel to Heroic Inspirations, a memoir, and a novel. Readers can keep up with my latest updates at www.MichaelCritzer.com and all of my social media accounts linked to that page.
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​"This inspirational book delves into what makes today’s most iconic superheroes tick, revealing why we love them, and what we can learn from them. Michael Critzer’s Heroic Inspirations takes a heroic stance in pointing out the important role that morality plays in defining modern superheroes. It focuses on a superheroes most important quality, their complex desire to do what’s right."

-Scott Cranford: HeroicWorld.com founder and Superman actor. ​
 PictureMichael Critzer (far right) discusses his book Heroic Inspirations.
Heroic thanks to author Michael Critzer for taking the time to answer these questions and for his heroic efforts in bringing the inspiring book Heroic Inspirations to the public. Thanks also to Andrea Umbach at ​Hero House Publishing.
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