Superman renounces US citizenship

Assuming Shadow X81 is an American, I will rephrase that:

MANY Americans believe the American system of freedoms and its republic are a superior system to anything else in the world. To compromise on such to "move forward" is a move backwards. Which is why Superman was supposed to be for the American way.

It saddens me today that many feel they have to apologize or say such a system is not the best. Its that mentality and reaction that has taken it down over the last few decades. And why the writers feel Superman cannot represent the American way any longer.
 
Thing is, "The American Way" is one of those fantastically vague phrases that can mean any number of things to any number of people, but on which most will "agree."

To a certain degree, I think the concept of Superman standing for "The American Way" makes sense more when you have something against which to compare it. Like, "The communist way" or whathaveyou. While even that's still pretty broad, it does at least narrow the conversation a bit.


In the meantime, let's not lose sight of the fact that this is MARKETING. The employment of a phrase like "The American Way" is a FANATSTIC way to sell comic books and other product because it's all about evoking sentiment, and has nothing to do with considered political discourse or discussions of U.S. foreign policy. It's about selling comic books. That's all.


Anyway, I'm sure Hercules dealt with this same kind of hue and cry when his publisher changed the name of his title from "Heracles" and they changed the slogan from "Bravery, Strength, and The Theban Way" to "Bravery, Strength, and The Olympian Way."
 
Action Comics #1

ACTION COMICS NO. 1

It mentions Clark Kent deciding to turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind so he becomes Superman! Champion of the oppressed, who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need. Superman is destined to reshape the destiny of a world.

Such a simple concept that got clouded over the years.
 
I'd be curious to see a poll on who's primarily upset about this change. Is it just Americans, or does anyone else mind?
 
"I think you are confusing Superman with Clark Kent there. Superman is just an image Clark Kent hides behind to protect his identity and life as a US citizen."

"It mentions Clark Kent deciding to turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind so he becomes Superman! Champion of the oppressed, who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need. Superman is destined to reshape the destiny of a world.

Such a simple concept that got clouded over the years. "


Superman upbringing as Clark Kent is what makes him the person he is as Superman. That Boy Scout mentality, the incredible power restrained by a humbleness and value of his upbringing. The wholesomeness and the values of "the American Way" is the core principle ethic and belief by which he interacts.
To say these are separate and unconnected issues is not not understand anything about what makes Supermen who he is or why he acts the way he does.
 
Picard102 said:
I'd be curious to see a poll on who's primarily upset about this change. Is it just Americans, or does anyone else mind?
Click to expand...

I would imaginine hard-core comic book nerds in other countries would potentially be bothered for more 'purist' reasons than political ones.
 
superman5.jpg

I'll take my Superman the way he was intended and created to be...An American. I did buy and read the comics, but when issue 900 hits...I'm done.
 
tripoli said:
"I think you are confusing Superman with Clark Kent there. Superman is just an image Clark Kent hides behind to protect his identity and life as a US citizen."

"It mentions Clark Kent deciding to turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind so he becomes Superman! Champion of the oppressed, who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need. Superman is destined to reshape the destiny of a world.

Such a simple concept that got clouded over the years. "


Superman upbringing as Clark Kent is what makes him the person he is as Superman. That Boy Scout mentality, the incredible power restrained by a humbleness and value of his upbringing. The wholesomeness and the values of "the American Way" is the core principle ethic and belief by which he interacts.
To say these are separate and unconnected issues is not not understand anything about what makes Supermen who he is or why he acts the way he does.
Click to expand...

Maybe you are looking a little too deeply into a fictional character who has changed so much over the years, taht he is barely distinguished apart from the suit, Lois, daily Planet and Kent. Even his origins have changed from decade to decade. This is just one line in a comic that will have been forgotten when the next issue comes out. It will be the people that take it too much to heart that will blow it into something more and something memorable. Just let it die, and it will get lost in the pages like an old dog story in a National Newspaper.
 
From Wired...
"But, to go against what the creators of SUPERMAN envisioned as the basis, no the very MORAL character of what Superman represents... Siegel and Shuster just turned over in their graves! What gives you the right to take away an AMERICAN ICON. Since WWII he has become a symbol of our American freedom, the American way. Our world is sadly bowing to the wishes of a few select elite that feel they can more easily rule this world by it being a solitary government. And although thats what the Image of Superman stood against... here we are witnessing some spineless artist and writers falling to their wishes. "

I could not AGREE more.
 
So what do we do that disagree with this?
I think the only DC title I'm folllowing now is Zatanna becaue Paul Dini is on the book right now. The last Supes title I followed was All Star.

Tell you the truth, comics are getting expensive, and hate to say it, I know so many people that just download them without ever buying.

Alienating at least half your top character's fans isn't a prudent business move if you ask me.

The only thing that works is people stop buying, but who knows how fans are going to react in that regard.


The character ceases to be the character for me when they do things like this.

He isn't Captain Planet.
 
"Just let it die"

Obviously of you care THAT MUCH...

But for those of us who like the character and would like to see intelligent works come from that franchise, it does matter.

If you take the mentality of just let it die to everything else, the world is truly going to get progressively worse. Anything I do have a voice in I hope I will leave with the idea or actual change for the better.


Or, I could follow your mentality and lobby that the next Doctor Who should really love Hello Kitty and decorate the Tardis in bright pink with an all out universal war of talking cats against talking dogs. His double agent sidekick could be a talking chihuahua named Gidget that happens to have Mexican accent and a taste for Taco Bell. He could find out that by going back in time, just destroying the right toaster that was eventually lost in space through a black hole wipes out the what turned out to be the beginning of the Daleks.

Yeah, I could have a career in the comic writer superhero thingy, at least as much quality as it is going now.
 
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Stupid DC WRITERS - On the day Bin Laden is given a lead shake to eat, they have Superman say he doesn't want to be an American -- WTG DIP****S
 
Same applies to the Captain America movie....
They are calling it "The First Avenger" for some countries.
 
Ok, changed mine.

Check it out now. It's like a flip book if I post after him! :lol
 
Superman will have figured out that Canada doesn't have so many problems going on and will be looking for citizenship there. I think Superman's just plain tired of all our crap in America, hahaha! (Totally kidding....)
 
I stopped buying DC after "52" or whichever weekly travesty followed it. I picked up the "Blackest Night" issues of Green Lantern but I'm hard pressed to able to tell you what it was actually about. I was still buying Marvels until recently, but due to expense and crappy meaningless storylines I've pretty much given up on comics. Iron Man got boring, Cap isn't Cap anymore, the Avengers got dull. My last big interest was Marvel's cosmic titles, but those were starting to get stale too. Too many titles, not enough story. I figure I'll watch for trade paperbacks collecting the relevant storylines if I want to read something.

Still, this is a bit of a slap in the face. He was Clark long before he was Superman, and that's what shaped his world. How will Clark's life be handled? The 80's Byrne reboot put as much emphasis on Clark as Supes and to me that made it interesting, but I guess that hasn't really been the case in a long time. Sorry, this just reinforces my lack of interest in comics these days. Maybe someday down the road I'll jump back on.

Jim
 
I've been enjoying reading the Geoff Johns run on Green Lantern and the corresponding GLC stories in TPB. I'm up to the prelude to Blackest Night, but DC takes forever to release paperback versions of these things now, and I don't see a reason to pay an extra $5 per book just to get the hardback versions. Still, it's entertaining stuff.

I do, however, see the frustration with these various annual cross-title events. Frankly, I lost interest in superhero comics when this stuff was happening in the early 90s with the X-titles.
 
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