Confessions of a Superhero
by When I was a kid, I collected Archie comics. Yup, those cheery, wondrous excursions into surburban, middle-America. For someone growing up around the somewhat tame beaches of Sydney, Australia, this window into the girl vs boy fixation of American teenagers — as reflected in the bright eyed adventures of Archie and his crew — bordered on the obsessive. I had garbage bags of them, comic book after comic book piled up and dog eared from repeated reading. Oh, and I had a crush on Betty. But that’s another story altogether. This documentary, Confessions of a Superhero, which chronicles the day to day existence of four faux superheroes panhandling on Hollywood Boulevard, makes me feel a whole lot better about that traumatic day at age sixteen when, convinced I had finally outgrown them, I packed up my entire collection of Archie comics and sold it to a kid down the street. Sigh. I still recall the sense of loss that enveloped me as I handed the bags over in exchange for $50 and a thick wad of football cards. But now I’m grateful for that moment of belated epiphany. Afterall, I could’ve easily ended up sporting a red wig, op shop clothes and flogging fake smiles and hugs on LA’s tackiest strip.
Tagged: comics, Los Angeles, superheroes
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