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Action Comics #775
Apr. 11th, 2006 11:48 am(I posted this on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
scans_daily but thought it'd go great here too.)
A lot of people hate Superman.
I mean, a LOT of people hate Superman.
No, I don't blame Superdickery. Superdickery is wonderful, great stuff. No, I mean an all-too-frequent attitude I keep hearing both here and at the comic shop where I work. "Superman is a boring, lame, stupid, un-relateable-to white-bread hick boy scout, an outdated character, even a fascist character, and nowhere near as cool as Batman, yeah, Batman rules and could totally kick Superman's butt, jus' sayin'."
While that last part is certainly up for healthy and (fittingly enough) never-ending debate, whenever I hear variations of the other statements, my heart sinks. And in fairness to that opinion, what if Superman really is from a bygone era? What if those ideals of his truly are outmoded and corny? And if the ideals aren't, maybe he really is too cheesy for today's world. The common myths about black and white absolutes of good and evil have long since been shattered. I mean, hell, who are the popular heroes? People like Batman and Wolverine, who live only in the lighter shade of gray, and Spider-Man, who appeals to the angsting screw-up everyman inside us all. Even before the era of grim 'n gritty, in the eyes of many, Superman was already on the way out.
And all those years of crappy Superman comics really didn't help. But then, the majority of all stories are crap.
I think what happened was that Superman became more of an icon than a character. Sure, we knew he stood for "Truth, Justice and" this most controversial part was quietly edited out over the years, "The American Way," but what the hell did any of those mean? Much better writers and thinkers than I have debated many sides of those arguments, perhaps another never-ending battle. And for my part, sure, I loved the character, but I could help but maybe start to wonder if all those people were right.
Then I read this comic.
I knew, right after I finished this story, that I had just read one of my favorite comics of all time. A pure, eloquent, direct response to all the Superman-haters out there. An affirmation (and by no means is it the only one a person can make) as to why Superman is truly the greatest, why he's important, and why he is timeless.
Enough rambling from me. Onto the scans! Written by Joe Kelly, illustrated by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo.
( What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way? )
scans_daily but thought it'd go great here too.)A lot of people hate Superman.
I mean, a LOT of people hate Superman.
No, I don't blame Superdickery. Superdickery is wonderful, great stuff. No, I mean an all-too-frequent attitude I keep hearing both here and at the comic shop where I work. "Superman is a boring, lame, stupid, un-relateable-to white-bread hick boy scout, an outdated character, even a fascist character, and nowhere near as cool as Batman, yeah, Batman rules and could totally kick Superman's butt, jus' sayin'."
While that last part is certainly up for healthy and (fittingly enough) never-ending debate, whenever I hear variations of the other statements, my heart sinks. And in fairness to that opinion, what if Superman really is from a bygone era? What if those ideals of his truly are outmoded and corny? And if the ideals aren't, maybe he really is too cheesy for today's world. The common myths about black and white absolutes of good and evil have long since been shattered. I mean, hell, who are the popular heroes? People like Batman and Wolverine, who live only in the lighter shade of gray, and Spider-Man, who appeals to the angsting screw-up everyman inside us all. Even before the era of grim 'n gritty, in the eyes of many, Superman was already on the way out.
And all those years of crappy Superman comics really didn't help. But then, the majority of all stories are crap.
I think what happened was that Superman became more of an icon than a character. Sure, we knew he stood for "Truth, Justice and" this most controversial part was quietly edited out over the years, "The American Way," but what the hell did any of those mean? Much better writers and thinkers than I have debated many sides of those arguments, perhaps another never-ending battle. And for my part, sure, I loved the character, but I could help but maybe start to wonder if all those people were right.
Then I read this comic.
I knew, right after I finished this story, that I had just read one of my favorite comics of all time. A pure, eloquent, direct response to all the Superman-haters out there. An affirmation (and by no means is it the only one a person can make) as to why Superman is truly the greatest, why he's important, and why he is timeless.
Enough rambling from me. Onto the scans! Written by Joe Kelly, illustrated by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo.
( What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way? )
