Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "versions-of-superman"

Over at Speculative Faith, E Stephen Burnett and Austin Gunderson are presenting a full-throated Defense of The Man of Steel .

There are some good points in there. I think for most people who had a problem with Man of Steel on grounds of tone really had Superman: The Movie in mind. It's worth noting that the remaining Superman films were downhill and I think Superman's behavior in Superman II was deplorable. I remember seeing it as a young adult and being very disappointed in how he acted. I've actually never seen the second one again.

I actually enjoyed Man of Steel but did have some problems with it, and I'm slightly bearish on Superman v. Batman. So, I'll set off on my own train of thought in this series (yes, it's a series because one good series deserves another.)

I've hosted more than 770 Superman Radio podcasts, read years of Superman newspaper strips, and Superman comic books in collected form and individual issues. Here are the major versions of Superman as I see them:

1) Aggressive Social Crusader:

When Superman arrived on the scene, he hit like a Hurricane. In the first issue of his comic, Superman breaks into the Governor's office, shoves past his staff and saves a woman from the electric chair, stops a man from beating his wife, stops thugs from harassing Lois Lane, and gets on the trail of an Arms Dealer with designs on starting war. And mind you, this is all in Action Comics #1 in a 14 page story.

Superman took to Metropolis busting rackets all over town. In 1938, Superman's activity was very cathartic for people who were oppressed by racketeers, greedy and unscrupulous businessmen who created unsafe conditions, and slumlords.

Jerry Siegel at this point was a brash young man who thought there was little that couldn't be solved by Superman punching people out or making them do the right thing. When Siegel was asked to write how Superman would end the War (before the US had to enter,) it as a 2-page story.

If Superman were on your side, it was awesome. However, what if Superman wasn't on your side? Superman had no problem flying leaping with victims up in there and tossing them about to get information.

Plus Superman could get more than a tad aggressive in his crusades. For example, infuriated at slum conditions, Superman reads of government aide to rebuild a city after a hurricane, so Superman forces the feds to rebuild by totally wrecking a slum neighborhood. In another Issue, Superman declares war on reckless drivers and decides to smash all the cars of reckless drivers to prevent impounds.

Superman's image changed but Superman would still have the occasional crusade. Over the radio from 1946-47 season of Superman, Superman took on the Ku Klux Klan (or a fictional proxy) and spent most of the season taking on racist politicians and gang leaders. It was courageous to take on the KKK, though with so many episodes from that season having the same theme, the thing could get repetitive.

Less successful was Superman's attempt to rid the world of nuclear weapons in the deservedly panned Superman IV. It's a scheme 1938-39 Superman would have approved of, but few others would have.

In the first part of this series, we began to look at The Many Versions of Superman starting with the initial militant crusader that took to Action Comics #1. Now, we take a look at a few more:

2) Fairy Godfather:

Superman was concerned about big problems, but not in the sense you and I would think. Meteorite smashing into the city or Organized Crime were big problems, but so were the big problems faced by individuals. Until the 1960s, Superman was not only a comic book character, but also starred in Sunday and Daily newspaper strips. It was in the newspaper strips where this version of Superman was most seen.

Lois Lane handled the lovelorn column for the Daily Planet and received a letter from a man who was constantly pushed about. She tossed his letter into the trashcan concluding he was a pathetic waste of manhood. Clark Kent took the letter and set out to help him, declaring:

"This fellow and his problem may seem petty, but to him it's the greatest crisis in the World!"

Superman helped the man out over three months worth of newspaper strips. Another example was when Superman helped a down on his luck boxer. He not only saved the boxer from committing suicide, he impersonated the boxer to begin the climbing the ladder, while trying the boxer at home so the boxer could win back his championship.

This idea of Superman was in full bloom during World War II. Superman got his own office in the Planet to answer requests from soldiers. Some were fictional requests created by writers. Others were based on actual letters to soldiers. Superman helped sort their romantic life, brought a bit of relief to the front, and made a few dreams come true. He also helped the family of a soldier sent home due to what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder understand and accept him.

This idea of Superman rarely pops up. However when Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski brought it back in the storyline, "Grounded" when Superman had just finished an event of, "War of the Supermen," where he'd been fighting over New Krypton, he decides to get back to his roots by walking around America, helping people in need as he goes. I know many were critical of it, but that version will always have a soft place in my heart.

3) Role Model

Kids began to look up Superman as his comic strips became popular and there was also cartoons. This was a big deal in the 1940s. During the War, being a role model meant encouraging kids to buy war stamps and war bonds and do what they could to back the War effort.

However, in the wake of World War II, juvenile delinquency was a huge concern. Superman had to teach kids to be good people and good citizens. This meant that most of the rough stuff that defined Superman's early days was put aside for more responsible and kind heroics.

Superman became a symbol of goodness, of trying to do the right thing. He did become a far less violent and menacing character. He was a role model for the youth of America and you didn't want them to be the sort of people who used violence to solve every problem.

This was something they took very seriously in the late 1940s and 50s. But it really has persisted in the best of Superman stories. Superman as this role model and example that other heroes looked up to and who inspired them was key, even as to many the character became passe.

This fueled some great stories. In "Kingdom Come," Mark Waid imagines an Elseworlds Tale where Superman has retreated from the world as anti-hero meta-humans have taken over. However, when one of them destroys the State of Kansas, Superman comes into action to save the world from these metahumans to teach them the right way to do things, though some will resist.

The grim and gritty anti-heroes that were dominating indie books at the time really came to a head in the main continuity of Superman in the epic, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way." In it a team of anti-heroes become popular for executing criminals and for their wanton disregard for human life in pursuit of criminals. This leads to a direct confrontation with Superman on the moon. It's a comic book version of, "High Noon," putting traditional heroism against the amoral 1990s equivalent.

For those who are confused by, the anger many felt regarding the end of, "Man of Steel," these stories provide a picture of why that scene was so problematic for many.

This could be seen on television. In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, after getting engaged, Lois discovers that Clark is a virgin who has saved himself for marriage.

Superman's moral core and moral fiber is what makes him a hero rather than a dangerous villain. This was something that was explored in the Justice League story, "A Better World" where the Justice League encounters heroes from a parallel Earth who were just like the Justice League until their Flash was killed and their Superman opted to kill Lex Luthor, who was then President. Once that red line was crossed, Superman and his league became the Justice Lords who established a dictatorship that lobotomized all supervillains and established martial law.

While Superman hasn't always been able to avoid killing, the type of standards he holds are so vital to the DC Universe.

In our next installment, we take a look at two other types of portrayals of Superman as we examine his fun side and the idea of Superman as a messiah figure.

See Part One and Part Two.

Having covered the first three different versions of Superman, we turn to two others:

4) The Fun Adventurer:

While Superman would always be a role model, he couldn't be just a role model. Superman during the 1950s and through the 1960s was probably one of the most consistently fun comic book heroes.

Superman's adventures were weird, they were wacky, and they were fun. Under Mort Weisinger, the series had Superman enjoying numerous wacky and colorful adventures.

Superman had a team of robots who could fill in for him. He had a Super Best Friend in Batman. He had a Fortress of Solitude that makes the Batcave look like a kid's treehouse.

Superman stories of this era have some silly or off moments, but they're something so incredibly fun and joyful. Reading this stories, it's great to be Superman and even greater to be Superman.

Superman was so popular that he not only had stories in Action Comics and Superman, but Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen each had their own spin-off titles, and of course there were the adventures of Superboy.

Some of these stories were weaker. Many, such as the Lois Lane stories could read like sitcom plots as Lois Lane and Lana Lang competed over Superman. There was the time the IRS went after Superman for not paying taxes on various activities but ended up backing off when it was pointed out Superman had saved the world and could claim everyone as a dependent. Yes, it was awesomely silly, but wonderful.

That doesn't mean the stories were totally vacuous. The Silver Age Superman established Metallo and Brainiac as well as introducing Bizarro as a character that adult Superman had to deal with.

Not all 1960s stories were happy, but still fun but with poignancy mixed in. One told the tragic story of how Superman couldn't save Ma and Pa Kent. Another, "Superman's Return to Krypton" had Superman travelling back in time and landing on Krypton and finding himself trapped in its final days but falling in love with a woman who loved him just for him.

Two stories dealt with the Death of Superman: one an imaginary story where he actually died and another where he appeared to be dying and spent his last days trying to find ways to help others on his home world. Even a relatively silly story where Superman got a lion's head, Superman was really upset about it and Lois (whose pursuit of Superman always seemed a little selfish) gave him a very sweet kiss in a touching scene.

Of course, the Silver Age couldn't last forever and Superman moved on. Yet, the sense of fun survived the original Superman Movie, and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and of course the tone was reflected in the 1950s Superman TV show and the 1967 Cartoon show which aired during the Silver Age.

While the 1990s Superman: The Animated Series had some darker themes in it, it still was drawn in a far more brighter fun way than the more dark and serious Batman stories.

This does contradict one of the major points of the Speculative Faith series that inspired this, but I'll save those comments for Part Five.

5) The Savior Figure

Superman as a savior figure is something that's been written about quite extensively. It's true that the character was created by two Jewish young men who certainly didn't have the idea of doing anything based explicitly on Christianity. Still, they saw him who came to Earth as a "savior of the helpless" (Action Comics #8). However, it's safe to say that he wasn't initially anymore of a Christ figure than the Green Hornet who saved people from racketeers and rackets. Superman was seen as a savior, but not really as a Christ figure.

However, Messianic imagery worked its way to Superman, starting with the novel The Adventures of Superman which George Lowther renamed Jor-L to Jor-El with "El" being the Hebrew name for God.

Reverend H. Michael Brewer in his book, Who Needs a Superhero?: Finding Virtue, Vice, and Whats Holy in the Comics writes of the parallels. One of the big ones is, "Superman arrives in this world as Kal-El, who comes from the Heavens sent by his father to a planet in desperate need of his help."

Still, Superman saved us from the same things other superheroes did. Superman had no big plan to save the world, at least not usually, but there were a couple exceptions.

Imaginary stories were a huge features of the Superman Universe. They told stories of what might happen or could happen but it was imaginary because if these stories did "happen" it'd be too big of a gamechanger.

1963 saw the publication of, "The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue" which imagined the people of Kandor (Kryptonian survivors who were shrunk and imprisoned in a bottle by Brainiac) giving Superman an ultimatum: You have 30 days to restore us to normal size, eliminate the effects of Kyrptonite, and banish crime from Planet Earth.

And in this imaginary Story Superman accomplished his mission. He did an experiment that created two of him (Superman Red and Superman Blue) and the two of came up with solutions to all these problems, including a scientific solution that eliminated all evil. Luthor and Brainiac became good, the Cold War ended with Castro and the Soviets ending their evil ways, and peace and prosperity prevailed. Superman Blue married Lois and moved to new Krypton while Superman Red married Lana and retired to Earth with Superman robots handling search and rescue missions. The story reflected a modernist belief in science like no other Silver Age tale.

Nine years later in a "real Tale" thanks to brainwashing by the Guaridans of the Galaxy, Superman begins to wonder whether he's hindering human social progress. He begins to think they're right when he encounters migrant workers who refuse to stand up for their rights except when Superman's around. Superman then pledges only to help people with things they can't do themselves.

It was only with Superman: The Movie that the image of Superman as a Christ trope and as a Messianic figure really takes firm root with Jor-El's dialogue on why he's sending Superman to Earth, "They can be a great people Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son."

The other thing that changed was the emphasis on Clark Kent, particularly int the post-Infinite Crisis era of comics and media. Early comics viewed Clark Kent a disguise, a device for Superman to achieve his goals. The radio show said that Superman was "in the guise of mild-mannered Reporter Clark Kent." However, in the modern era, it's different.

In the 1990s TV series, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Clark declares, "Clark is who I am, Superman is what I do." Clark embraces humanity, lives among us, and identifies with us.

Still, Superman would be mostly as an example because they wouldn't kill Superman...Except they did in 1993's Death of Superman event when he battled the malevolent Doomsday, and in killing him died himself.

Brewer writes of the story:

Doomsday was too powerful for an easy victory-he combined death, evil, and judgment into one terrifying figure. In retrospect the stakes were too high for a cheap win. The defeat of this gigantic threat demanded a heavy price.

Superman had taken it upon himself to be humanity's champion, and the one who came from above had to finally lay down his life to fulfill his mission. No lesser effort would have halted the onslaught of evil. No smaller sacrifice would have ransomed those in the path of destruction...

His death brought tears to my own eyes and echoed a much older story, this one true. Behind the slumped figure of the dead Superman, an upright piece of broken lumber juts from the wreckage. The tattered cape of the Man of Steel hangs on the board and flutters in the wind. In my eyes, that heaven-reaching timber casts the shadow of the cross over the scene. Superman is no savior, but his dying to rescue Metropolis points our hearts towards the true Savior who died for the world.

After this event, Christian imagery became more pronounced working its way into Smallville and of course The Man of Steel and has become part of the Superman mythos, a part that does point the way to Christ.

In our next post, we'll turn to to two more modern innovations. Superman as the "anti-Batman" and as a Greek god.

See Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. We've covered five different approaches to Superman. Here are the last two and they're definitely of more modern vintage.

6) The Anti-Batman:

This is definitely a post-Crisis theme. Superman and Batman were pals when they first met on the radio in 1943, and then in comics in 1952. The two began teaming up together every month together in World's Finest Comics in 1954 and continuing until1 1985.

When the DC universe rebooted with Crisis on Infinite Earts in the 1980s, things changed. When Superman and Batman first meet in the new DC Universe in Man of Steel #3, Superman goes to Gotham City to stop Batman. The two end up teaming up reluctantly and the new precedent is set for the DC Universe. Superman and Batman do grow closer, but their contrasts in style has them at odds over tactics, though very rarely over who or what to fight.

As Batman became bigger, Superman became defined by not being Batman. This could be taken in both a positive and a negative light for Superman.

If you wanted to be positive about Superman, you'd say, "Superman tries to make a difference by inspiring hope, Batman tries to make a difference by inspiring fear." Superman is far bright and friendlier.

On the other hand, you could say that Batman is more realistic. Batman isn't afraid to do what has to be done. Superman flies through bright skies like a god but Batman is in the grime where people are actually suffering and is willing to be tough when that's what's called.

Or you could go point out that even though Superman isn't human, he lives among humans, he represents our best values and aspirations. He's Clark Kent and identifies fully with humanity. Bruce Wayne may technically be human, but he lives apart from them except in the most shallow and superficial ways. He uses wealth to insulate himself, so he can sit in the batcave and viewing us with a cynical eye, no more human that the Bat Computer.

Or you could go again. Superman may claim to be more friendly or more approachable, but he keeps his secret from the most important people in his life. Batman has Robin (multiple Robins), Alfred, and a strong supporting team. Because despite his gruffness, he really is one of us.

You could go at this for YEARS and never stop coming up with things. It's a trope with great writers and hacks alike having mined.

Frank Miller was a Batman guy in the extreme portraying, Superman as the evil establishment tool of the government in his 1986 Graphic Novel, the Dark Knight Returns, while Batman is the true hero who will stand against evil. The two fight and of course, Batman wins.

Miller's at the extreme edge, but illustrates why this has been problematic. While the Superman-Batman comparison is something writers like, it's hurt the Man of Steel's brand as many more Comic writers are Batman fans first. Being the anti-Batman not a great way to make a character liked.

At the comic book stand, Superman is consistently outsold by Batman by a wide margin. In March, the best-selling Superman comic finished 25th out of all comics behind three different Batman titles. One thing that makes these comparisons hurt Superman so much is that the writers tend to lean strongly towards Batman as does a lot of the fan base. Still, it's been a big part of what defines Superman and for better, it'll stay that way for a while.

7) The Greek God

One thing that confuses people about early Superman media is the fact that Superman's enemies were not really threats to the Man of Steel: mobsters, mad scientists, corrupt government officials. Only the occasional alien was worth Superman sweating over.

Golden Age Superman was about catharsis. People really suffered at the hands of mobsters, corrupt politicians, and injustice. They didn't want the bad guys to have a fair shot. They wanted Superman to grab them and play catch several in the air until the big strong villains cried for mercy.

As most Comic book fans are far from oppressed (particularly with the prices many companies are charging), the activities of our heroes are viewed far more dispassionately as fans want Superman to face tough challenges.

This can be carried to extremes though. There are many fans where Good, evil, it doesn't really matter. They just want big battles, Superman pounding the heck out of someone or something.

In essence, I think they want him to be less a type of Christ and more a type of a Greek God, all filled with epic fights and exploits. Goodness or morality isn't part of this vision of Superman.

Of course, this shows up in other ways, too. In the old days, it was all about the romance between Superman and Lois Lane. But in the view of those who like Superman as a bit of a Greek god, why have Lois Lane when you can have and Wonder Woman, which was the big power couple since the latest DC reboot, with Superman and Wonder Woman considered the "D.C. Universe's Power Couple."

Thus Superman becomes less the man who was really Clark Kent and identifies with humanity and more the Greek god that smashes things and has epic battles. I'm not a fan of this new idea of Superman, but I don't write DC Comics.

Anyway, in our next post, we finally turn to offering thoughts on the Man of Steel and responding to Speculative Faith's epic defense.