Five Heroes
May 21st, 2009
My friend Jonobie said at the end of her most recent blog post to consider myself tagged on this one. So I am considering myself tagged.
Instead of doing the 5 greatest heroes, I’m going to start with the earliest memory of a “hero” or a good guy or at least a main character, and go up from there. So, these aren’t necessarily the 5 greatest heroes, and they aren’t necessarily the 5 earliest heroes in my life, but I think this list will be a fair combination of the two.
- Han Solo - I saw Star Wars in the theater, and even though it’ll prove that I’m not actually 30 like I always say I am, I will tell you that I was 6 at the time. I obviously don’t remember that much from the movie, but I remember a bit, and one of the things I remember from that first viewing was that Han Solo had a big, hairy friend. I wanted a big, hairy friend. As I aged, and watched Star Wars again, I realized that Han Solo was the most ass-kicking good guy available to my as-yet limited exposure to fiction. He wasn’t the hero. He wasn’t the farmboy-turned Jedi. He wasn’t the royalty figure who’d lost her… everything. He wasn’t the wizened teacher. He was the guy with the gun and the ship, and the total lack of desire to be included in the action. He was the one who thought not with his big head or his little head, but with his pocketbook. Rescue the princess? Never! For a reward? Now we’re talking. But in the end, our soft-hearted rogue came through, and it changed his life forever. It’s easy to be a hero when your family (or your entire planet) is dead. but when you’re high-tailing it out of the system with a cargo bay full of credits? Yeah. That’s a hero to me.
- Indiana Jones - I make no apologies for Harrison Ford being on this list not only twice, but as the first two entries. Just feel lucky that Decker’s not on the list too. Indiana Jones oozes hero. He gets punched. He falls down. He gets dragged behind cars, shot, burned, and left for dead in a pit of snakes. But he never, EVER gives up. He doesn’t even consider it. When he’s bloody, burnt, staggering, and has moments before his girlfriend will be consumed by fire, and a big bald guy with treetrunk arms forces him into an unfair fist fight, Indiana Jones merely sighs, resolves himself, and steps into the fray.
- Groo - Back in my youth, I was mildly addicted to a couple comic book series, and none were more addictive than Groo the Wanderer. Groo was not a smart man. It was just slightly possible that he wasn’t actually a man at all, as he lacked the cranial capacity to survive in the modern world of whatever BC year it was in the comics. But survive he did, mostly at the whim of a veritable smorgasbord of characters who would use Groo’s one skill - his unerring ability with the two Katana swords he always had strapped to his back - for their own ill purposes. In the end, though, Groo would always put it right, or at least destroy everything in the vicinity so nobody profited off of him. Then, usually, he would flee the area as the villagers chased him with torches and pitchforks. But he always meant well.
- The Doctor - Jonobie put this one on her list, though she’s talking about the newest Doctor, and I want to talk about the older ones. I *loved* the Doctor in high school. He was smart, witty, brave, and never made a mistake. And he knew he wouldn’t. His sheer confidence was a thing to witness. I’m watching the show now as the DVDs come out, putting each one at the top of my Netflix queue as it is released. I have loved every one.
- Vic Gentry - I won’t feel bad if you don’t know this name. I created this character in high school as kind of a mix of #2 and #3 on my list. He was a super-soldier type adventurer with one crippling flaw: Total lack of coordination and mental acuity. Looking back, I see that he was actually “Sci Fi Groo,” especially because his first appearance was in a comic that I drew instead of paying attention in class in my senior year. I don’t look up to Vic, but his effect on my life is unmeasurable. His story is the direct ancestor of the Crimson Lien, which is for a great part the reason for the existence of the Stargate Cafe. The Universe I built around Vic Gentry is the Universe that I spend my creative time in. It’s where the Crimson Lien flew in the podcast, and it’s where the Crimson Lien flies in the book I’m working on (Or not, but eventually I promise!). And Vic - in some form - is a part of that universe and eventually we’ll meet him. And trust me, this new Vic’s a hero in every sense.
Okay, now it’s my turn to tag people. You! You there, reading this. You’re tagged!
