author G. Xavier Robillard talks superhero satire at The Red Door

He may be endowed with an arsenal of superpowers that would make Spiderman jealous, but Captain Freedom has problems.
It’s not just that nefarious mutant supervillains are constantly trying to exterminate him. His crime-fighting career is going down the tubes, largely because of his failure to commit to a long-term archnemesis. His girlfriend isn’t speaking to him. His sidekick hasn’t been taking his calls. And, worst of all, the world he is duty-bound to protect doesn’t seem to appreciate him one bit. 

Captain Freedom is the central character in a new novel of the same name by humorist G. Xavier Robillard. Robillard uses the literary device of a washed-up superhero to create a social satire that skewers America’s consumerist proclivities and foreign policy, replete with zany pop culture references.

Robillard will read from his debut novel at The Red Door in Portsmouth on Tuesday, Feb. 24, as part of a new in-lounge reading series co-sponsored by RiverRun Bookstore. The event will feature a question and answer session, a variety of prizes and a specialty superhero drink concocted by the author.

By day, Robillard is a computer programmer and environmental consultant. The 36-year-old Boston resident is also a freelance writer who contributes to a number of humor Web sites, including McSweeneys.net and Comedy Central. He’s also an avid comic book collector. “I’ve got a stack of comic books and graphic novels dating back to 1978,” he said during a recent phone interview.

Robillard said his inspiration for the character of Captain Freedom came from an unlikely source: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I have to thank Arnold for becoming governor of California. At the time, it was just so incredibly bizarre,” he said.

Robillard thought it would be funny if more action heroes ran for public office. On McSweeneys.net, he wrote a series of inaugural speeches on behalf of fictional characters like He-Man and Optimus Prime. He became increasingly intrigued by the idea of superheroes hanging up their capes and getting into politics.

And so, Captain Freedom was born.

On the surface, Freedom fits the criteria of a classic comic book hero. He can fly, he has super strength and lightning-fast reflexes, and he can predict the weather. And, just as Superman is debilitated by kryptonite, Captain Freedom, too, is susceptible to a single weakness: soy.

Captain Freedom and his sidekick battle giant barbarians, software pirates and Martians, saving the world no fewer than three times. But that’s not enough to satisfy upper management at Gotham Comix, the company that documents Freedom’s adventures in a lucrative comic book series. For Gotham, the superhero business is about turning a profit, not fighting evil and injustice. Freedom complains about Gotham the same way an aspiring musician might whine about a major record label.
Although he did not model Captain Freedom after any specific figure, Robillard wanted to create a larger-than-life character whose “self-protected ego bubble gets in trouble,” he said. On top of combating the world’s most deranged villains, Freedom faces constant scrutiny from vindictive reporters, legal snares with the courts and a grueling stint in rehab. Despite a movie deal that vaults him to the top of the superhero celebrity ladder, the machinations of corporate society still find ways to bring him down.

Superheroes traditionally symbolize the American ideals of freedom and morality, while supervillians represent the corrupting forces of greed and terror. But Robillard’s satire suggests that the United States has commoditized these very ideals, marketing truth and justice—as well as fear and evil—as consumer products.

The American public has always had a volatile relationship with its heroes. This has been especially evident in the sports arena, Robillard noted. New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, well on his way to setting the all-time record for homeruns, recently admitted to using steroids earlier in his career. Internet footage has surfaced showing U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, the top Olympic gold medal winner of all time, using his extraordinary lung capacity to toke an extra-large bong hit. The media was quick to besiege the formerly exalted athletes.

“Our culture is simultaneously elevating these people and then tearing them down as quickly as we can,” Robillard said. “I don’t care what (Phelps) does in his own time. He’s not selling crack to elementary school students.”

Robillard’s fiction also takes jabs at U.S. foreign relations. Even when he’s trying to save the world, Captain Freedom must navigate all kinds of red tape with the United Nations. The task of apprehending villains overseas carries an equally cumbersome bag of complications. In one of the book’s many snide observations, Freedom mentions that an effective way for supervillians to wreak global havoc is by tricking the United States into waging unnecessary wars.

“I was specifically thinking of the botched job in Iraq,” Robillard said. “That was all unfolding right in front of me as I was thinking about this novel.”

Robillard began working on the book in 2004 and had a solid draft completed within six months. It took several years to find an agent and publisher to distribute the novel. HarperCollins eventually stepped to the plate and released “Captain Freedom: A Superhero’s Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He so Richly Deserves” earlier this year.

The book is written from the first-person perspective of its protagonist, remaining in present tense even as Freedom recounts his early rise to superhero stardom. “The present tense is the tense of action, the tense of decisiveness. It’s really the tense of the future,” the narrator explains.

Robillard’s novel arrives at a time of resurgence for comic book heroes. The author said he had grown weary of the bland writing in modern comic books until Joss Whedon’s “The Astonishing X-Men” series came along several years ago, restoring compelling stories and strong dialog to the industry. Hollywood has followed suit, creating increasingly mature plotlines and characters with 2008’s “The Dark Knight” and 2009’s forthcoming “The Watchmen.”

More sophisticated stories, combined with enhanced special effects, have made superhero movies that much more credible, Robillard said. Plus, technological advances outside the movie industry have made some superheroes actually seem plausible. Robillard noted that a man flew 1,500 feet across the Royal Gorge in Colorado with a jet pack in November. “How far of a step is that to Iron Man?” he said.

Robillard looks forward to fielding questions about Captain Freedom at The Red Door. The early leg of his book tour included a signing at the New York Comic Con earlier this month, where he had the privilege of sitting between Peter Mayhew and Lou Ferrigno (for you non-comic geeks out there, that’s Star Wars’ Chewbacca and TV’s Incredible Hulk, respectively).

Robillard is already 200 pages deep on a second novel, a “dark comedy thriller” about a poetry magazine. For more on the author, visit www.myspace.com/alldaycoffee or www.alldaycoffee.net. To read Captain Freedom’s superhero blog, visit www.captainfreedom.net.

G. Xavier Robillard will read from “Captain Freedom” on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at The Red Door, 107 State St., Portsmouth, 603-373-6827.