EVERYONE WANTS TO be a superhero, it looks like from the comments and emails. I like this. I encourage this. I think we all need to be pixelated into comic dots, to see ourselves in superhero form. Yesterday after I wrote my Flash blog I started thinking about my friends and trying to figure out which superhero each would be*.

Some people were easy- one friend is certainly the Hulk (perfectly sweet until angered) and one is Sage (she brings out the best in everyone else). Evan would have to be Multiple Man, ideal for the politician that he is, Jason would be Razorback, of course, and Beau might wear the mantle of Ambush Bug.

As interesting as all this was, I really got more distracted creating new superheros out of people's pre-existing personalities. We all already have our strengths and weaknesses built in. I like characters who have one or more fatal flaws, and everyone I know seems to have those in abundance.

So here's the game plan: take your favorite personal quality and enhance it to an extreme, ridiculous level. For example, if you particularly like that you can sympathize with other people, turn that into the ability to read people's minds (or at least sense their emotions). Next, choose one physical realm you've been exposed to since childhood. Born in a super-hot climate? Lived on the beach? Skied every day on snowy mountains? Raised by fire-walkers? Incorporate that into your talent. Now choose your biggest personal weakness- say, you're awfully vain. Now you're an empath immune to cold damage who can hurl snowballs from nothing, but who is completely powerless against mirrors. Your nemesis is Reflectoman (made of highly polished silver), and your sidekick is Avalanche Boy. A costume would include ice blue and white with some sort of mind-bending helmet (a nod to your psychic talents), snow motif, and a silver cape.

Now go, my minions! Make your own superhero!

* I also learned that the phrase 'super hero'- two words- is trademarked by Marvel and DC Comics. I'll stick to 'superhero' so we don't all get sued.

Ciara is currently listening to You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry.