Thundermind
29 years ago - Zou Kang is born in Bejing.
15 years ago - 14-year-old Zou attends Party School.
11 years ago - 18-year-old Zou attends University.
7 years ago - 22-year-old Zou graduates & begins his post-grad work to become a teacher.
5 years ago - 24-year-old Zou becomes a history teacher in Bejing No 8 middle school, He meets and falls in love with fellow teacher Wu Zhang.
3 years ago - 26-year-old Zou, while on a field trip, manages to translate an ancient scroll, liberating his overmind and allowing him to become Thundermind. He forgets his own identity until he saves Wu Zhang from a ferryboat accident. He becomes the most beloved Super-Functionary of the Great Ten.
The Great Ten represent one of my all-time favorite Grant Morrison creations. They did more than just build a new team of original Superheroes (Or Super-Functionaries, in this case), but they built a whole history around them, giving each character a truly unique story and sense of place, and structured it all around the history and politics and culture of a very real-world take on China and all it's complexity. It's an incredible piece of worldbuilding, and while it's tragic that they don't have that many appearances, it's also very understandable, because they are such an intricately woven tapestry, I can see why it would be difficult for other writers to pick them up.
Zou Kang's StoryThis is yet another character that I really wish was given a larger role in DC at large. The execution here is just great; It's the concept of Buddhist enlightenment implemented as a Superhero. By making him the Chinese allegory for Superman, he becomes this bright, positive character and a perfect spin on the concept.
Honestly, this is no easy feat. Allegories for Superman make up a solid 10% of the comics landscape, so to do one that feels like their own unique character is really impressive. In this case, Thundermind actually doesn't have Superman's powers; He has an awakened mind with incredibly advanced telekinetic and telepathic powers, which as any X-Men reader will tell you is one of the best powers to have. Where he mirrors Superman is in how his story is structured. He is beloved by the people in China, but he also has an unrequited love interest in Wu Zhang who is in turn in love with his Superhero persona. This is the execution I was talking about; It's a completely original character with clear ties to real-world history, executed using immediately recognizable superhero tropes. This is what is really great about the Great Ten. |