How important is Perry White?

[daBronzeBomma]

A huge part of the enduring appeal of Superman is the fluid mix of the utterly otherworldly aspects with the utterly mundane stuff.

And there is almost nothing more mundane than answering to a boss who doesn't know what you are truly capable of, like Kal does with Perry White.

So, the question here is, IYHO,:

How important to the Superverse is Perry White?

Poll WAS forthcoming, but my phone died in the middle of making this, and I don't feel like making a new thread, so we'll just do this manually:


A. Essential - he's the Jim Gordon of the Superverse

B. Important - hard to tell a good Supes tale without him

C. Useful - take him or leave him as you wish

D. Unnecessary- easy to tell a good Supes take without him

E. Irrelevant - Perry Who?

[LordUltimus]

As important as the story needs him to be.

[Yoda]

I think Perry and the rest of the Daily Planet extended cast are pretty important to the mythos overall. You can absolutely tell Superman stories without any reference to any of that, but Clark Kent secret identity is a massive part of the mythos and that is intrinsically tied to the Daily Planet. It gives a range to the stories that can be told. Sci-fi epics to street level crime. Superman really has an amazing range of storytelling potential that is built into the mythos unlike a lot of other characters. I think Bendis's Action Comics has shown that you can tell a pretty intriguing stories about the Clark Kent side while still incorporating Superman. And from a multimedia perspective, any live action Superman is always going to incorporate this aspect of the character. Both for budgetary and storytelling reasons.

All that comes back to the Daily Planet, and Perry is the Daily Planet in a lot of ways. Perry is a great character, can work as a foil to Luthor, and works well with his team of reporters. I always liked that idea that he knows and doesn't care that Clark is Superman. He gets better stories that way and trusts/understands Clark has his reasons.

Mass media is going to be around for a long time despite people saying newspapers are dying. And if anything the larger organizations like the Daily Planet are going to endure as the smaller ones will be consolidated into them. So the argument that its a dying medium and should be dropped from the mythos is pretty weak.

[daBronzeBomma]

For me, it's A.

Perry White is essential.

He is absolutely an integral part of the Superverse and sent Supes tale that doesn't involve him at least somewhat is diminished by his marginalization.

Here you have this superhuman being who can split planets, move and react faster than lightspeed (when the Writer decides to have him remember that), can see/hear virtually everything, has beaten down gods and beings who dwarf the gods, has been to places no human has even dreamed of ...

And yet goes to work, punches a clock (or logs into a computer), and does a pedestrian job while being held accountable to a boss who does a lot of yelling, sometimes at him.

You lose that, and you lose a whole lot of what's relatable about Superman.

As to whether or not Perry White knows the secret, I say no, he doesn't. For the simple reason I feel that anyone who can figure out Kal's secret on their own would have to spend a lot of time with BOTH his personas, and that small list doesn't include Perry, who spends almost no time with Superman.

But if that ever changed, yeah, Perry would figure it out and not let on. But that hasn't happened.

[Ishmael]

I'll go with: A.

I think Perry White is probably the most important character after Lois Lane. One thing I really enjoyed about the triangle era was that they actually explored Perry White as a character in his own right, as opposed to just window dressing at the Daily Planet.

Perry White isn't JJJ Jameson - he isn't the kind of gruff character who simply barks orders at the staff. He's someone who, when properly utilized, rounds out Superman's grounding in the real world, and provides a basis for stories as their source.

And I've always thought he should know who Clark is, but it remain ambiguous for the reader. Perry White is no fool, yet not someone who would sell out Superman's secret identity to move copy. I think Morrison captured this pretty well in All-Star Superman.

[Kuwagaton]

Agreed, Ishmael. It always bugs me when someone takes a random crack at Superman and uses JJJ to fill in the blank.

I'd say he's Jim Gordon, but to me that requires the acknowledgment of two things: one, that Gordon isn't important to the story so much as he is to the mythos; and two, that Barbara's relevance does not count as his own.

[The World]

Great character but I've read more than a few great stories that he in no way factored into. Needing anyone specific character to be showing up all the time other than the MC is the sign of either a weak supporting cast, a weak MC, or both.

[RudHao]

Looking at J Jonah Jameson from spiderman comics, all I will say about old Perry is that he is a character of unrealized potential.

No he doesnt have to be like Jonah and hate superman or something dumb like that, but honestly theres not much too the guy (perry that is) in my opinion despite decades of history....

[Yoda]

Great character but I've read more than a few great stories that he in no way factored into. Needing anyone specific character to be showing up all the time other than the MC is the sign of either a weak supporting cast, a weak MC, or both.

Stable and strong supporting casts are pretty essential in serialized storytelling. No Perry doesn't have to show up in every story and he is in no way essential to telling a great Superman story. But how is having a supporting cast of characters that isn't a bunch of rotating disposable randoms a sign of a weak main character or a weak supporting cast? That seems paradoxical to me.

[Celgress]

As important as the story needs him to be.

This, so I'll say B (although given the chosen narrative structure he might only warrant a C). While important Perry isn't essential like the Kents or Lois or even (arguably) Jimmy. The Superman mythos could survive without him or with him reduced to a minor role although, in either case, it would be a loss.

[Kuwagaton]

Looking at J Jonah Jameson from spiderman comics, all I will say about old Perry is that he is a character of unrealized potential.

No he doesnt have to be like Jonah and hate superman or something dumb like that, but honestly theres not much too the guy (perry that is) in my opinion despite decades of history....

What I meant at least is how he gets limited to two catchphrases and some variation of, "grrr I'm your boss get to work." He's had Alzheimer's and cancer, but with some writers it begins and ends with hemorrhoids.

He's actually my favorite supporting character in thar unlike Lois, he's completely voluntary in usage and can't spin off without deviating from his status quo. She's more like a co-star.

[RudHao]

Here is a question for you guys, are there any notable Perry White Moments or facts about his place in the Superman Mythos that a comic nerd would just know?

For example, I dont read spiderman comics and never have, yet by virtue of being a comic nerd I could tell you about that time JJJ funded the spider slayers to go after spiderman or something like that, that was involved in the scorpions origin, and that his son is an astronaut who encounter some kind of tragedy. JJJ as part of Spiderman mythos has contributions and history other than being the Daily Bugle Cheif and hating spiderman and being as blowhard, hell these days I hear he doesnt even hate spiderman anymore and was New York Mayor at some point, is that character evolution?

On the other hand I have actually have read Superman comics and still do and yet honesty couldnt tell you anything about Perry White other than hes the daily planet chief and a "good man" with "integrity".

Honestly Perry White seems to be a glorified background character on the level or Robie Robertson from spiderman, and even with that guy if you've seen cartoons then you'd maybe know about some vague connection to that monster Tombstone or the Prowler. Perry white, I barely remember him even being in Superman The animated series or SMALLVILLE (I saw that show long enough to see Clark work at the daily planet and see fake Jimmy Olsen die (his big brother or something), yet I dint remember perry white at all even though he should've appeared already by then)


Perry White.... for such a long standing character in the Superman franchise a whole lot of nothing has been done with him.

I rate him a D...

[The World]

Stable and strong supporting casts are pretty essential in serialized storytelling. No Perry doesn't have to show up in every story and he is in no way essential to telling a great Superman story. But how is having a supporting cast of characters that isn't a bunch of rotating disposable randoms a sign of a weak main character or a weak supporting cast? That seems paradoxical to me.

I'm saying somebody like Superman who's an action adventure character needing to drag certain characters around with him all the time to be interesting to watch implies the guy himself isn't very interesting without them. On the flip side I guess I mean in the sense that your supporting cast optimally should have at least a certain amount of fluidity to it that makes things feel natural for a guy like Superman who probably goes to a great deal of different place even in a single day. Kind of like One Piece where the MC's crew is probably 8ish characters at any given time but it's usually packed with tons of people they've met along the way that could stay along for the ride for dozens even over a hundred chapters before disappearing. The current arc has basically dropped the MC off in a massive labor camp with essentially a bunch of randos, and a rival character who basically just showed up after being absent for chapters upon chapters.

I mean having a small and closeknit supporting cast is fine if your on Friends, or Seinfeld or something like that but it feels confining for Supes. One of my favorite Superboy stories involves a one off character who never shows up again.

[Kuwagaton]

And the main character's right hand man might only hopefully be relevant soon for the first time in like seven years...

But with Perry and several others, it's most telling that they were shown regularly when Clark spent years not even working for the Planet.

Here is a question for you guys, are there any notable Perry White Moments or facts about his place in the Superman Mythos that a comic nerd would just know?

For example, I dont read spiderman comics and never have, yet by virtue of being a comic nerd I could tell you about that time JJJ funded the spider slayers to go after spiderman or something like that, that was involved in the scorpions origin, and that his son is an astronaut who encounter some kind of tragedy. JJJ as part of Spiderman mythos has contributions and history other than being the Daily Bugle Cheif and hating spiderman and being as blowhard, hell these days I hear he doesnt even hate spiderman anymore and was New York Mayor at some point, is that character evolution?

On the other hand I have actually have read Superman comics and still do and yet honesty couldnt tell you anything about Perry White other than hes the daily planet chief and a "good man" with "integrity".

Honestly Perry White seems to be a glorified background character on the level or Robie Robertson from spiderman, and even with that guy if you've seen cartoons then you'd maybe know about some vague connection to that monster Tombstone or the Prowler. Perry white, I barely remember him even being in Superman The animated series or SMALLVILLE (I saw that show long enough to see Clark work at the daily planet and see fake Jimmy Olsen die (his big brother or something), yet I dint remember perry white at all even though he should've appeared already by then)


Perry White.... for such a long standing character in the Superman franchise a whole lot of nothing has been done with him.

I rate him a D...

We have seen him weather a few storms on the ownership and operation of the DP. I'd definitely call him Robbie over Jonah, because he comes across as a less exaggerated character. And he also doesn't rock Superman's boat really, because the point is largely that he's a regular human. Perry is the boss who wants to work like an employee, and thus expects his employees to work like he would. That acutally gets him along with Clark, Lois, and Jimmy. Aside from being the toughest newsboy in pre crisis Metropolis, I think a real stand out story was about his Super Cigars (he still had one by Whatever Happened). As I mentioned, at that time he also had Alzheimer's and it was actually kind of troubling. I mean like, not the usual way some fiction treats the forgetfulness as a joke.

Post crisis his past with Luthor is a very huge thing, and I hope this doesn't spoil much to say it has a profound effect on his relationships with his son Jerry and wife Alice across several story arcs. Then aside from giving up smoking (very Gordon like... but I'm not the most knowledgeable on how that played out in Batman) and still getting cancer, there was adopting Keith to the chagrin of his old pal Franklin, and the big question of how much he knows about Clark. In the late 90s and 00s, that looked like it put their relationship on ice, especially during President Lex. But he never became an enemy or anything like that.

[Vordan]

I’d say he’s useful. He and the Daily Planet as a whole are an important way of ensuring Supes keeps his ties to Metropolis, but I can’t remember any specific story where Perry played an essential role. He’s basically a “quest giver” for Supes, putting him on the trail to find out what’s going on in Metropolis. I’d like Perry to get a bit more fleshed out, tell us what his current background is and what not. I prefer to think he knows Clark’s secret or at least suspects but that’s just my personal headcanon.