Time Magazine spent some… time looking at the main guy in superhero comics. Can Superman still fit in with the world we now know as reality? They do some theorizing and talk to some of the current and recent Superman creators to get an idea of Kal-El’s relevance in this post cold war world.
“He’s a metaphor for America, but an outdated, obsolete America: invulnerable to attack, always on the side of right, always ready to save the rest of the world from its villainy whether or not it wants to be saved.”
Sounds like a certain president I know.
I think for the first time, this article has made me think of Superman and what I would do with him were I able to write him. And I think the fans wouldn’t like it. The thing is, that prior description sounds exactly like George W. Bush. Like him or hate him, he’s a man who’s really doing what he thinks is right, even if the rest of the world thinks he’s off his nut. I have a feeling that history will likely not vindicate our current president’s actions. Would Superman, should he exist, be exempt from those same constraints? I don’t think so. But Superman doesn’t die, and Superman doesn’t have term limits. Superman makes choices and has to live with them. But I think for far too long, Superman has always made the right choices. Superman’s choices don’t go badly. Superman has the judgement to back up his awesome might.
Sounds like boring drama to me. Right is not right and wrong is not wrong. Every decision that helps someone hurts someone else. It has to. Superman could have incredible potential, and serve as a stand in for the trials that this nation faces. But he won’t. Superman is a corporate trademark, not a metaphor. He’s a business, not a symbol. It’s too bad, because there is a whole lot of untapped potential there just waiting to be explored.
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…and we get political 🙂
It’ll die on the vine. Don’t sweat it.
I think these kind of stories have been handled before but not with any sort of regularity. In DKReturns Supes is a toady to Reagan. A lackey to what was “right”, because he didn’t use his own judgement. If I can remember correctly this type of Superman: under the jurisdiction of the United States has been around for years. I think this is how it was even in the 40s. However, in this day and age, the unstoppable Superman apparently isn’t being used like this as much. They’ll have to create a “Spear of Destiny” type excuse for why Superman doesn’t go into Qurac (or is it blown up) and disarm everybody.
good topic
that toady superman is the main character at the crux of the Lex as president deal.
Is that still the status quo in supes books? I think it was a brilliant idea still.
Lex isn’t the President anymore. He was revealed to have been complicit in the alien invasion during the Worlds at War storyline or whatever that was called. Pete Ross is the President now.