Tag Archives: Protagonists

Paper Souls

By A. Lee Martinez | Published: March 9, 2012

My stories are about characters. I’m unlikely to wow you with my amazingly complex plots. I’m not going to bowl you over with my astounding command of language. And aside from a general theme of “Don’t be a jerk”, you probably aren’t going to walk away from an A. Lee Martinez novel with a profound [...]

Posted in Blog, Writing | Also tagged Anyday, Bit Of Fun, Character Studies, Cotton Candy, Fluffy Cotton, Happiness, Jerk, Little Bit, Monsters, Ogres, Quiet Smile, Raccoon, Redneck, Spoofs, Squids, Uphill Battle, Visionary, Weird Creatures, Weird Thing | 1 Comment

Flawed

By A. Lee Martinez | Published: August 18, 2011

A flawed character is not the same thing as a damaged or negative character. In fact, a character can be good and noble and nearly perfect and still suffer from a flaw that keeps his stories interesting. I think of Superman as a perfect example. Superman is a flawed character. His flaw is his unflinching [...]

Posted in Blog, Comic Books, Writing | Also tagged Absolute Desire, Batman, Hero, Hostage Situation, Maverick Cop, Missing The Point, Mistake, Moral Center, Moral Code, Morality, Negative Quality, Nothing But A God, Obstacle, Protagonist, Superman | 3 Comments

Green Lantern (Cultural Counter Punch)

By A. Lee Martinez | Published: June 20, 2011

There’s a line in the cultural sand of superheroes. It’s a line that says superheroes are either “dark and sophisticated” like The Dark Knight or “slight and stupid” like Green Lantern. It’s deeper than superheroes actually. It’s how we have been taught to view the world now. Shows like Dexter and The Wire and others [...]

Posted in Blog, Comic Books, Movies | Also tagged Action Adventure, Asshole, Counter Punch, Creative Action, Culture War, Dark Knight, Dexter, Different Point Of View, Epic Battle, Good Fun, Good Guys And Bad Guys, Green Lantern, Outright Hostility, Reasonable Person, Smart Film, Superhero Flick, Superheroes, Term Culture, Wages | 7 Comments

Monsters, Women, and Other Strange Creatures

By A. Lee Martinez | Published: May 30, 2011

Maybe it’s because I’m just as likely to have a robot or weird monster from dimension X as a human playing the hero in my novels, but I tend not to relate to stories solely by the race or gender of their protagonists. I’ve had a good mix of male and female, human and inhuman [...]