In Praise of Superman

A Man of Tomorrow for Today

Siegel And Shuster Society

Every now again, I remember that I can read graphic novels on my iPad. Usually I’m a tactile guy with a preference for hardcover or paperback books, but I like the dynamic navigation of the panels with an iPad. You’re not tearing through pages. Rather, you’re cruising from panel to panel, offering a more focused telling of the story without the distraction of what’s going on around the page.

When I go back to graphic novels, it’s usually something Batman. I was never a big fan of superheroes in the traditional sense. That is, extraordinary beings with unrealistic powers. With Batman, I appreciated that the character could at the very least lose, like I have in everything from particular career pursuits to athletics.

This is largely what turned me off of Superman, a character I only knew from general pop culture knowledge, the occasional video game, and HBO re-runs of the Christopher Reeve movies when I was a kid. The first Superman I saw in theaters was the 2006 sorta-kinda sequel with Brandon Routh.

I don’t think I have to give a spoiler alert for something nearly 20 years old, but nevertheless… Spoiler alert.

Superman’s weakness is kryptonite. We all know that. Even people unfamiliar with Superman lore know that ‘kryptonite’ is shorthand for a weakness.

Nevertheless, the 2006 Superman is able to lift a literal continent made of the mythological element, and hoist it into the heavens and beyond. I left rolling my eyes.

Suffice it to say, I skipped out on a theatrical viewing of Superman’s next cinematic turn in 2013’s Man of Steel. (Though I did later watch it on streaming, enjoyed it despite the neck snapping, and have a couple of pieces from Hans Zimmer’s score on my workout playlist.)

Now we have another Superman. And again, I didn’t rush out to see it. Besides my issues with the character’s presumed immortality, superhero fatigue is a real thing. I’ll take a Batman every now and again. Other than that, I’m mostly good.

Then, three things happened that started to stoke my interest.

First, they reused the inspirational motif from John Williams’ original 1978 score –– and somehow made it even more badass. Seriously, I don’t know how you listen to it and not want to run through a wall.

Second, early reviews and chatter talked up the new film’s simple, overlying message of just being nice to people. Kindness, so they were saying, is the new punk rock. As someone frustrated with just how mean and spiteful people can be –– from the MAGA cult followers cheering on the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to the everyday drivers laying on their car horn because of a minor inconvenience –– I’m ready for people to just start being nice to each other.

Last but not least… Superman was born and raised not in the fictional Krypton or the farmlands of Smallville, Kansas. He was born in my hometown: Cleveland.

Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel met at Glenville High School in Cleveland and dreamed up the character together. Over time, as the character gained in popularity, the mythos started to develop. Superman was the new Moses –– sent away by a family mother in hopes of saving his life.

This third point pushed me over the edge, not least of all because they filmed a good chunk of the film in Cleveland. If nothing else, Melanie and I could spend a couple of hours spotting things from our old neighborhood on the big screen.

I’ll spare you a full review. In short, I liked it. It was entertaining and did leave me feeling a little hope that, beyond the Elon Musks Lex Luthors of the world, we all have the innate ability to be kind and empathetic to one another.

This all reminded me of how I started this piece. That is, that I can read graphic novels on my iPad. So, I decided to give graphic novel Superman a shot.

I’m starting with a graphic novel called Superman: Birthright. It’s an origin story that stretches out into the beginnings of Clark Kent as the titular hero. As it turns out, my understanding of the character was so wildly surface, it’s no surprise I lost interest from the beginning.

Did you know Superman is a vegetarian? This point is driven home early on in the story as he recounts his ability to see the aura around living beings.

"Living things have a kind of glow around them," he writes to his adoptive parents in Kansas. "I'm not sure if that halo is a soul or an aura or what. I do know that at the end of the life cycle, it fades pretty quickly, and what's left behind is... hard to look at. Empty in a way that leaves me empty, too."

A few sentences later, he adds, "I know that information's not very helpful when you're trying to explain to a cattle farmer Grandpa why your son's a vegetarian, but..."

(Side note: I did a quick search and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a debate among die-hard fans as to whether or not Superman being a vegetarian is considered canon. But it seems to me it’s a quality in line with someone who’s able to perceive the distress or pain of every living being.)

Speaking more broadly, it turns out Superman is a character who needs us as much as we need him. Despite efforts by the usual rage baiters trying to denounce the latest Superman as “woke” (as if that’s a bad thing), Superman is literally a refugee. He’s an extraterrestrial refugee, but a refugee nonetheless.

Perhaps what enrages some people by this fact of mythos is that he doesn’t look like how some people think a refugee should look. He’s a handsome, farm strong white guy raised in the United States. Ipso facto, not a refugee.

Except, he very much is. He’s a refugee who struggles with the sense that he’s lost his birth culture without knowing what it ever really was. There are aspects of the immigrant story I can relate to having lived it (albeit a privileged version) in Germany, but that confusion and emotional void for a life he never knew left me feeling bad for the guy. I felt empathetic for Superman. And despite what Luthor Musk had to say about empathy, I think it can be humanity’s greatest strength.

Seeing Superman as a refugee or an undocumented immigrant makes him far more interesting than just some god on Earth. If you don’t like Superman being called an immigrant or refugee, then I think that says something troubling about you.

There’s a scene near the end of the new film where Superman confronts Musk Luthor and emphasizes his humanity.

“I’m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning and despite not knowing what to do, l put one foot in front of the other and I try to make the best choices I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human. And that’s my greatest strength.”

It’s a mini-speech that’s resonated with a lot of viewers. It’s certainly resonated with me. And it’s a message I wish more of the powers that be took to heart.

Shoutout to Anthony Desiato, host of the Digging For Kryptonite podcast, whose conversations about the film and Superman mythology helped form some of my own thoughts.)