The idea I had for my story was based on a masked vigilante hero. The basic idea stems from the pulp stories of masked heros back in the day, but written for the modern day. I'm thinking Batman or V. Something more akin to the Watchman. My hero dosent have too much in the way of super powers, but like Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark is smart enought to piece the mystery together using his brains.
But all this got me thinking. How important is the origin story? Do I really need to tell it, or can I get away with leaving it something of a mystery? Do we really need to know how Batman became who he is? A large part of me feels you do, but then when I read comics with a character like Mike Mignola's Lobster Johnson I wonder how true that is...
Anyway, I turn to you readers and ask you the question; Is the first time a masked hero makes his appearance do we need to learn his or her origin story? If no, should it ever be told?
I think, as a write, that you should certainly sketch out an origin story but use it for yourself and only feed bits into the actual story when it become relevant. Some of the joy of characters comes from their mystery; but having the origins in your head will help flesh out the character when writing them into the story. That's my morning thought anyway. :)
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