Yesterday I asked if Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips’s Sleeper would be better without the presence of superpowers. (Flying and laserbeams and suchlike, not the USA and USSR.) Reader Dan Coyle writes:
No.
And here’s why, after giving some thought on the subject: Holden’s motivations are tied strongly to his superpowers- his inability to feel and his invulnerability are both a gift and a curse and probably influences his actions to a very high degree.
Now, your mileage may vary when it comes to such metaphors–“He can’t feel any physical pain, and this mirrors the emotional numbness he feels” may just be the comics equivalent of “they’re zombies, and they’re in a shopping mall–get it?” But the point is that Carver’s power set was not chosen at random. It’s tied directly into the themes of the series.
This is one advantage of superheroes who are, if not creator owned, at least designed with the input of the current creator–whatever themes they plan on exploring can be worked directly into the fantastic elements from the get-go, instead of depending on the kind of heavy lifting required of, say, Brian Bendis to get Daredevil where he wanted to go, or of Grant Morrison with the X-Men.