Jimmy Corrigan: What is a Superhero?

F.C. Ware's The Adventure of Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth destabilizes the common definition of a superhero. I am going to begin by taking a look at how the title character, Jimmy Corrigan defines a superhero. I would argue that Jimmy is the same person as an adult that he is as a child and in his mind that person is a superhero.

The boy who grows up without a father idolizes a television superhero called "The Super-Man" who gives Jimmy his mask. The idea of a superhero is important to Jimmy for many reasons. Since Jimmy has no traditional males to fill the father figure role, he supplants that role with that of the superhero. "The Super-Man" reinforces this for Jimmy when he spends the night with Jimmy's mother. In this way, Jimmy was able to bring home a father for his mother, retaining his innocence while creating a source of strength for himself. It is at this point that Jimmy puts the mask on and begins to fantasize that he is a superhero otherwise known as "The Smartest Kid on Earth."

Jimmy's idea of a superhero is someone who is constant, never changing, and easily accessible to children. As Jimmy's costume and persona never change, it accounts for the constancy that is required to be a superhero. Also, Jimmy's perpetual childlike state evidenced by his smothering relationship with his mother and his permanent view of himself as a child, we see the way in which Jimmy's superhero countenance is easily accessible to children.

The non-linear way in which this graphic novel is written underscores Jimmy's idea of what a superhero is as well as twisting the form of the graphic novel itself. Since the story is constantly jumping back and forth, the reader is hard pressed to feel any manner of stability. It is through the leading chapter illustrations that the reader is able to simulate any structure or coherency. This is very much like Jimmy's life. The illustrations at the beginning of each chapter feature the title and Jimmy as a superhero. In many of these illustrations he is in a perpetual childlike state and his "costume" never changes. It is as if Jimmy is trying to create a sense of permanence in his unwavering role as the "smartest kid on earth" in order to fill the void left by his absent father. So the reader, like Jimmy, can find stability in an otherwise chaotic novel through the superhero at the beginning of each chapter.

Essentially Jimmy Corrigan creates a superhero when there is none. He fills a large hole in his life with that of a superhero image and when he cannot find someone tangible to fulfill that role for him, he creates one for himself. That is a very good reason indeed, why he is able to call himself, "The Smartest Kid on Earth."