Those super press releases

By Neil Elkes on Jun 24, 08 11:22 AM

SINCE gettting a reputation as the 'comics guy' in the Mail newsroom I get handed many weird and wonderful press releases. Those where dry-cleaning companies compare themselves to Superman or Hulk smashes down prices as big business tries to cling to the cape of the latest big screen hero.

One I was passed today uses the classic press release technique of a poll of the nation's favourite super hero to promote a new season of films on telly. Obviously several Batman movies are on because he is, funnily enough, the favourite hero. We are told he was chosen in a survey of 100 movie 'experts'. They must have missed Batman and Robin - which managed to undo all the good work of earlier films.

As ever there is no indication of who these expers are, so they are probably film buffs from the PR company's office. Nor does it say how many votes each received and whether it was an open field. But to compensate they do give us some expert analysis.

This poll is obviously a significant indicator of the national psyche as we are then treated to a quote from psychologist Donna Dawson. She enlightens us: "The popularity of super-heroes like Batman shows that we prefer our super-heroes to have inner demons, in the shape of problems that we can identify with. This makes them more 'human' to us. It would appear that the heroes which modern men aspire to are not the ones with supernatural powers, but those who overcome all the odds and every adversity in order to push themselves to the top of their game."

She claims we identify with them, not because we dream of leaping buildings in a single bound, but because they are crap at relationships, insecure at work or have anger management issues.They are the characters from Seinfeld in coloured tights.

The top five are in fact six, listed as:
1. Batman
2. Spider-Man
3. X-Men
4. Superman and The Hulk in joint 4th place
5. The Silver Surfer

It's easy to conclude that Fantastic Four 2 must also be on. And Iron Man can't make the list as his film is not on, but he may be next summer's highest new entry.
I wonder if they are showing Catwoman?