• Here’s the complete text of Kevin’s excellent Rolling Stone piece titled “The Superhero”, as well as the cool illustration by Faiyaz Jafri that accompanied it:

The Superhero
Cops and the president we’re suspicious of, but freaks and masked men in tights – them we trust
By Kevin Smith
Stan Lee, the Godfather of Marvel Comics, the human face of comic books for the last forty years, comicdom’s ambassador to the world, once told me that he’d thought superheroes would be just a fad. But with the first appearance of DC Comics’ Superman, and the red letter (or red-boots) sales that followed, Marvel did what any good marketplace competitor would do when the other guys have a good idea: They aped it. And thus began the decades-long proliferation of the tights set.
So what is it about superheroes that has captured our imaginations for more than half a century? Why is it that we view cops, the legal system – hell, even the presidency – with cynical suspicion, whereas we will still believe in what a man masked in a pointy-eared cowl or a barelegged woman in a tiara stands for?
I say it comes down to two things: altruism and the clothes.
The superhero archetype was the creation of an international coalition of the willing, years before it was en vogue to team up and knock the tar out of an evil menace. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, an American and a Canadian, dreamed up Superman back in the Thirties and established the palette from which all superheroes will be painted, till the end of time. Take a man or a woman with the power or abilities that could be used to enslave the world (or at least a small corner of it, such as Gotham), and have him or her opt instead to employ their might for right. Give him or her two identities – either to protect their loved ones, or simply to maintain some semblance of a normal life outside their work. Wrap them up in clothes worthy of the Halloween parade down Santa Monica Boulevard in L.A., and you’ve got a superhero.
Like Westerns, superhero tales are normally about fixing what’s broken. But the clothes are a lot better. In the real world, cops and firemen perform heroics daily – but they don’t have the great outfits. They’re missing the cape. They’re missing the tights. And where the hell’s the codpiece? That’s how you can tell a superhero, right? They’re all-powerful, they can do no wrong and, apparently, they are also hung like Holmes. When women are superheroes, it’s not the codpiece that’s stacked, it’s the bra. If Wonder Woman really existed, the magic lasso or the invisible jet wouldn’t be the most implausible aspect of her character; it’d be her ability to just stand up without falling over.
But maybe it’s that touch of the impossible that makes them so appealing. The first comic book I ever purchased featured an “imaginary” Superman story, in which Lois and Clark were married. The image from the tale of Mr. and Mrs. Superman that struck me the most was of Superman and Lois Lane waking up together on a bed of clouds. The implication was that they decided to join the mile-high club, but because I was a kid, I didn’t put two and two together, because I didn’t really know what sex was yet (my wife says I still don’t). But I did know that my parents slept together – however, it was on a double Sealy Posturepedic, not a cloud. What I took away from that comic was that superheroes do the same stuff that everybody else does. They just do it way bigger (and probably longer, in more positions and far more satisfyingly).
After nearly seven decades of predominance by comic-book superheroes, their audience is dwindling. Today, successful comic books move up to 150,000 copies; in the Fifties and Sixties, even the less popular titles sold in the millions. It’s been rumored that Warner Bros. keeps DC Comics going solely for the licensing fees that can be derived from their characters. How sad that comic books wouldn’t be published for the value of their story so much as for the financial margin derived from slapping a superhero’s face on a pair of socks or a Frisbee
Even though big business threatens to do what the Legion of Doom couldn’t, the superhero still thrives today, continuing to capture imaginations. But the new superhero icons aren’t born on the page anymore; they’re born on the screen, where special-effects technology has finally caught up with their uncanny abilities. The Wachowski brothers’ ultrabrilliant movie The Matrix not only gave the world “bullet time,” it invented the superhero in the best way possible: by not changing much at all. Neo is the very definition of a superhero. He’s got a secret identity (the guy in the rags he normally is when not inside the Matrix), he wants to save the world, and he’s got the clothes. But if that’s not enough to rank Neo up there with the legends, I submit this final proof: In the trailer for The Matrix Reloaded, the guy can fly now. How fast, you ask? Probably faster than a speeding bullet.

The article ends with a brief bit of info about the author: Kevin’s ends with “Kevin Smith’s next film is ‘Jersey Girl,’ due out this fall”. A very nice plug for the film that will certainly be noticed by many.

• Clerks placed number 85 in NME’s 100 most rock n’ roll movies. It was categorised in relation to music genres as ‘punk’. The article article had this to say about it:

Other films considered to belong in the punk genre were Sid & Nancy, Rude Boy, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls,The Wild Bunch and If, however whether the Wizard of Oz, which placed 50, is more rock n’ roll than Clerks is a moot point.

• Regarding that Zink magazine, we do hear it can be had at some Barnes and Noble locations, Walmarts, and other bookstores, though it’s not common. It’s a 2-page interview with 8 pages of new photos of Mewes.
• An IGN insider article (for subscribers only) gives Honorable Mention to the “Evening With Kevin Smith” DVD amongst their list of the top Comic Book discs out there.
• Stroke 9 (who did that “Kick Some Ass” tune towards the end of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) will play at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, this Saturday (May 3rd) at 8:00 PM. The price is $10, call (614)236-7797 for concert info and tickets.
• Seems we mention a quiz and people either find or make more…So here’s two others. This first one requires that you register to play, and is called a “Kevin Smith” quiz. Then, another Quizilla quiz , “Which Kevin Smith Character Are You”? No more now, we’re all quizzed out.
• Correction: Our scooper was wrong and we didn’t check the facts: Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters and Marvels is in fact available on region 2 DVD in the UK, from all the usual outlets.
• It appears that two Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back props are available on eBay: Some screen-worn jewelry and the Scream costume. The place looks legit enough, but keep in mind this is NOT View Askew run or supported, so buy AT YOUR OWN RISK. We just wanted to let you know it was there.
• And finally, we assume that most of you check out the View Askew “Pic of the Day” from time to time, but this one’s a classic, and we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it. Catch ya later!

• We received some excellent little recaps from fans who attended Kevin’s appearance at SMSU last night. As always, Kevin dropped a few new bits of information that we thought you might be interested in. Some are just confirmations, others are brand new. Also, just 2 stories were repeated from the DVD, as Kevin tries to keep those out of the Q&A’s as much as possible since he assumes most fans have now heard them:

• While Kevin did feel that it was time to try something a little different than another Jay and Silent Bob flick, one of the biggest reasons he’s said there won’t be any more are because of Mewes’ drug habits. Once Jay’s clean, Kev says that he could see bringing Jay and Silent Bob back.
• He’ll be filiming The Tonight Show’s Roadside Attractions in Branson today (that Simpsons episode where they end up there sure does come to mind) and on Tuesday he’ll be in various area spots.
• Clerks the Animated movie is in the beginning production stages. They want to make it all in Flash and are doing an animation test right now. The movie should be done in a year or so (12-18 months was the exact estimate he gave).
• Kevin is still planning on Fletch Won to be his next project. It’s at a standstill right now because Harvey Weinstein wants Ben or Matt to do it and Kevin won’t do it unless Jason Lee plays the young Fletch. Kevin is hoping that if Jersey Girl is successful (and it should be, for several reasons) he will have the pull to make the movie with Lee. So buy those tickets in multiples this Fall, folks!

He also told his famous Reese Witherspoon story, the “Suzanne” classic, the Chevy Chase incidents, and also a new one about how he made Jen watch Sweet Home Alabama, then commented on Harley watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Apaprently, when Bob gets stuck in the drain pipe, Harley said, “You’re too big.” Kevin said he was “Proud and offended” at the same time. He also phoned a girl who was in the hospital with appendicitis. Another great show from all we’ve heard. As we always say, don’t miss this guy when he comes to your town.

• These things are just WAY WAY cool. Wow. Here’s the skinny:

Just think how cool they’ll look on your bookshelf or DVD shelf! Go ahead, start your Christmas shopping 8 months early and buy your favorite View Askew fan a set before the limited run of them is gone forever! Grab them at the Stash today for immediate shipment.

• We’ve just received word that “Drop Dead Roses” took home some major honors from the recent New York Indie Film & Video Festival! The flick was honored with the “Best Dark Comedy” award, View Askew’s beloved Brian O’Halloran took home BEST ACTOR, and Eddie McGee was named the BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR. Our congratulations go out to them and the entire DDR team, we’re sure that these awards will help the film get noticed and released soon, so more of you can finally check it out. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.

• That New York Times article is now available at the NY Times website (with free subscription) but we’ve got most of the Jersey Girl-related stuff for you here. WARNING: The last paragraph of the article is a HUGE JG SPOILER!!! So, read at your own risk. Here’s some of the piece (no spoilers here):

When Love Hurts (a Movie): Affairs to Forget
By NANCY GRIFFIN
ALTHOUGH his movie “Jersey Girl” doesn’t come out until November, the writer and director Kevin Smith is already feeling anxious about its chances for success. Research audiences have responded positively to the story line about a music promoter whose life changes after he falls in love and has a child, and they call the love scenes “hot.” Only a few people have said things like, “Oh god, enough of these two already.” But Mr. Smith knows that he is at the mercy of a phenomenon that is beyond his control and could wreak havoc with his film. “Jersey Girl” stars the tabloid entity that he calls Bennifer: the betrothed, Bentley-riding, bussing, perpetually intertwined celebrity couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
This was not what Mr. Smith, the New Jersey-based indie-auteur of “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma,” bargained for when he cast his good buddy Ben in his romantic drama. At that time Mr. Affleck had just wrapped the gangster comedy “Gigli” opposite Ms. Lopez, and he recommended her to play his wife in “Jersey Girl.” “Then all of a sudden it turned out they were a couple and I was, `Ah, no wonder he wanted to work with her again,’ ” says Mr. Smith by telephone, laughing. “Suddenly his suggestion didn’t seem so altruistic.” By the time scenes from the movie were shot in New York City last summer, scores of paparazzi were hounding the couple. “You really felt how obsessed people are,” Mr. Smith says.
Now Mr. Smith can only hope that obsession translates into box office. Will audiences pay $9 to watch J. Lo and Ben falling in love on the big screen when they can see them every night on “Access Hollywood”?
The same question is probably being pondered by the folks at Revolution and Sony who have $54 million invested in “Gigli,” which comes out in August. In recent weeks some nasty buzz has swirled around “Gigli,” after an Ain’t-It-Cool News film critic infiltrated a Los Angeles test screening and posted his opinion that the movie was “unreleasable,” comparing it unfavorably to the calamitous “Showgirls.” Then The New York Post’s Page Six reported that the movie’s director, Martin Brest (”Beverly Hills Cop,” “Meet Joe Black”), and its producer, Joe Roth, had come close to a fistfight in the theater after the lights went up. (A Revolution Studios spokeswoman denies this, although she admits that tempers flared).
It’s always been a risky business when stars fall in love for real while making movies, but in today’s celebrity-saturated culture our investment in actors’ lives increasingly interferes with our ability to believe they are the fictional characters they play. No wonder that movie marketers get wigged out over stars’ love affairs: if the couple breaks up they’re likely to refuse to promote the film (Catherine Zeta-Jones and John Cusack played this scenario for laughs two years ago in the romantic comedy “America’s Sweethearts”), while if they stay together the public might get bored with them. At the same time, the raging vanity of a supercouple in love knows no bounds. Even as studio executives wring their hands over whether J. Lo and Ben are going to flame out, an Internet rumor spread that the pair wants to remake “Casablanca” together (not true, say their publicists). Someone would surely finance that effort, but would it be worth more than a hill of beans in this crazy world?
Movies that feature real-life couples can be divided into two main categories. The first type, which occurs when the leading actors court and spark during shooting, can succeed if the director can capture their crackling sexual tension. Mr. Smith is hopeful that he’s got lightning in a bottle in “Jersey Girl.” “We got Ben and Jennifer at a perfect time,” he says. “They were falling in love in real life and falling in love on film.” Shooting their PG-13 love scenes, he adds, was a breeze: “I don’t know that they had to act that much. There were times when we’d say `cut’ and that didn’t seem to matter to them.”

The rest of the piece goes on to focus on other couples in film, past and present, and ends with that JG spoiler. So again, read carefully.

• Ebay has a rare chance to own a FULL SIZE Japanese Jay & Bob poster now, not a mini-sheet, this one’s the biggest that you can get the design in. Bid HERE.
• A clarification on the Dawson’s Creek scoop from last update — The comparison made was between “El Mariachi” and “Clerks”. Still, a very nice little nod (citing Mariachi’s mini-budget as compared to Clerks’ slightly higher one).
• Stan Lee’s “Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels” will be show on UK Sky Movies Premier on May 4th at 3 PM (as part of their Superhero Sunday to celebrate the release of X2). Kevin is prominently featured in the program as he interviews Lee. The DVD was not released in that region, so it’s a great chance for UK’ers to catch it. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back also debuts on Sky Movies in June.
• We hear there’s a huge 10 page interview with Jason Mewes in the April edition of “Zink” magazine, but we have no idea where to find it. We’re assuming newsstands. But seek it out if you’re so inclined.
• And to round out the day, this quiz asks, “What Dogma Character Are You”?

• Watch this Sunday’s New York Times for a new piece in it that talks a lot about “Jersey Girl”! If anyone gets an advanced copy, please send us a scan/transcript.
• A new one-page article by Kevin, titled “The Superhero”, appears in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine. If anyone’s got a transcript, send it on and we’ll post it up for everyone to check out.
• Clerks scored another mention on the latest new episode of Dawson’s Creek this week. In a scene with the character Pacey explaining to Dawson why to keep his money in a certain stock a couple of days longer, it was said that it would mean the difference between making “Clerks” and another film (more expensively-budgeted, our scooper couldn’t recall).
• A new Flash animation featuring Jay & Silent bob appears at Newsgrounds.
• “Now You Know” opens at the Biograph theater tonight in Chicago. The film isn’t playing widely, so if you’re in the area, we suggest you stop in and check out Jeff Anderson’s directorial debut!
• A “mega-mix” of dialogue from View Askew flicks has been posted to the Kevin Smith club at Yahoo. To hear it, we believe you must be a member of said club (though it’s of course free to join).
• Finally today, a happy 33rd birthday to one of the View Askew favorites, Jason Lee. Let’s hope this new year brings Lee a contract to star in “Fletch Won”! Adios for now, folks. ‘Til next time.

• Kevin dropped some answers to the big questions over at the board recently, and, while some of you already have seen hints regarding some of this stuff, it’s nice to see confirmations straight from the source. Here’s a summary of the Q&A we thought you’d like to know about:

• Chronic Waves have a clip online of a new song from Jason Mewes. The guy’s sure been in the spotlight quite a bit lately. Anyway, listen to Mewes rap a bit and buy the single at their site for $1.99.
• Some folks have caught that the original “Jersey Girl” film (no relation) is airing on Starz this month. It’s got the same name as the upcoming View Askew flick, but the similarity ends there completely.
• IGN takes a look at the upcoming Daredevil DVD today and has a lot of GREAT stuff to say, tons of media from the disc, and compliments for Kevin’s segments.
• Apparently Will Ferrel, recently of course seen in J&SBSB, ran in yesterday’s Boston Marathon.
• Learn more than you could ever possibly want to know about a Sound Mixer’s experience working on “Jersey Girl” in this article from The Mixer Online.
• By the way, be sure and vote in our new poll over on your left sidebar. Thanks to DerekD for the topic suggestion!