SUPERHEROES
PAST…
One of the earliest local comic book super‐ heroes is Pluto‐man, who swooped onto the scene in 1983. He is the eponymous hero in The Valiant Pluto-man of Singapore by Roger Wong. Aliens from the planet Pluto transform an ordinary man named Po Shan into Pluto‐man by shooting plutonic elec‐ trons into his body. They instruct him to “use [his] might and power to fight crime, and help those in need”. The aliens also give Po Shan a ring that aids in his transformation and which also doubles up as a weapon that can emit freeze rays.
With his newfound powers – super strength, super speed, flight and a “plu‐ tonic instinct” for fighting crime – Pluto‐ man goes on a crime‐ bus ting spree, including foiling a bank heist involving a fake Merlion.
In 1985, the Singapore Police Force unveiled Captain V as the mascot for the National Crime Prevention Council. Captain V’s mission was to explain crime prevention to children and their role in the fight against crime. At the launch, a 3.65‐metre‐tall model of Captain V stood atop a bus, which crashed through a paper wall at the Police Academy on Thomson Road to reveal Captain V himself.
In 1987, Captain V was given his own comic book series when the first issue of The Amazing Adventures of Captain V was launched at Singapore’s second comics con‐ vention (Comicon ’87). Although Captain V combats crime using technology such as jet boots, he does not possess any inher‐
Mention comics and most people automatically associate it with characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman. Superman popularised the superhero genre and inspired others to create their own superheroes, including in Singapore.
ent superpowers but has qualities such as vigilance and valour.
As a sidenote, while not strictly a superhero comic, among the older comics in the National Library is Python Gang by Ronald Wild. Wri/en in English, Chinese and Malay, the comic revolves around police investigations into a criminal syndi‐ cate called the Python Gang. While it was printed in Singapore, there are no details about the publisher or year of publication. However, we do know that the comic has been in the National Library’s Legal Deposit collection since 1963.