View Poll Results: Who is Clark Kent?

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  • Classic Golden Age Clark: Timid, yet socially aware.

    14 25.00%
  • Silver Age Clark: nerdy and frail, yet still famous.

    3 5.36%
  • John Byrne Clark: Groovy cat who works out, captain of the football-team, but naive farm-boy.

    18 32.14%
  • All-Star Superman Clark: complete facade, bumbling oaf, who saves people through fake bumbling.

    7 12.50%
  • Something else... "here's my pitch!"

    10 17.86%
  • I don't care about Kent. More SUPER, less man.

    4 7.14%
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  1. #106
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    When I was reading the Alvin Schwartz stories the other day, there were a good ten that had a certain social conscience, if you read them in the right way.

    And there are two well known Superman stories from the early '60s that are critical of the U.S. government's policy on nuclear arms. One is much ballyhooed and the other is much mocked.

    "The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue" has the Supermen imposing nuclear disarmament on both the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R--in SUPERMAN 162 (July '63). That story is often declared as one of the great Superman stories, yet people never point out how controversial Superman's actions would have been in 1963 when the story came out.

    "The Invasion of the Super Ants" is laughed at and jeered by readers who can't get beyond the cover which shows Superman with a red ant-head--in ACTION COMICS 296 (January '63). Yet the actual story is a moral lesson to warn all governments of the world including the United States against the build up of nuclear weapons.

    Both stories clearly go against the policy of the United States at the time. And it was very brave in those days to take that kind of stand against America's nuclear arsenal. But I believe Weisinger was not in favour of the Cold War build up.

    At the same time, I think Weisinger and others at DC probably supported the Democrats--or at least John F. Kennedy. During the short time he was in office, JFK appeared in three different Superman stories. That's more than Eisenhower, who appeared in one. I don't think Truman appeared in any--nor FDR--at least according to the Fleisher encyclopedia. But Kennedy's social activism probably appealed to the editor of the Superman books, even if his nuclear policy was challenged.

  2. #107
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    I like the early work of Jerry Siegel, Gardner Fox and Bill Finger, but it's strange that so many folks hold these early Superman and Batman stories in greater esteem than the stories that followed immediately thereafter. These early stories are very rough--no doubt that's part of their charm--but Siegel, Fox and Finger worked on their skills and became better and better writers. So it's a left-handed sort of compliment to say that their early immature work is better than the stuff they did when they had developed and had a better understanding of how to craft a comic book story.

    The social justice and anti-corruption issues in these early stories are rendered in very simplistic terms. And the solutions that Superman and Batman find--beating up guys and throwing them off rooves--are unsophisticated and slap dash. Yes, these issues are very obvious in those early stories, but that doesn't mean those concerns went away in the intervening years--although Superman and Batman found more inventive solutions than brute force. It's simply the case that Siegel, Fox and Finger became more adept at writing stories with a bigger canvas of ideas, as did other writers.

    There's sitill plenty of social justice and anti-corruption ideas in the Superman and Batman stories in the next few decades. But the writers don't bang you over the head with it.

    Writers probably did pull back from openly attacking their government. They probably didn't want to attack their government in any event, because I believe most of the comic book writers were patriotic and wanted to support democracy over fascist or communist tyranny--some of them had even served their country during the war. But many stories had human interest concerns and if you look for them you will find them. I just think not a lot of readers bother to do that. They've been told that the early Superman and Batman stories were important and the stories after that are unimportant, so they let that be their guide in what they read and how much import they give it.

    I admire the stories from the '40s, '50s and '60s, because on the surface they don't seem to demand a lot from the reader--as they were to be read by children--yet beneath the surface there is a lot going on. It takes a skilled writer to pull that off.
    You'll find stories throughout Superman's history where he challenges the ideas and policy of the government, absolutely. But as you say, you have to read between the lines and find the context, which is often hidden behind alien races and big red ant heads. It's not direct, bold, brazen, scribbled across the page with flair and a glare.

    Superman didnt stop having a social conscience after the War, but he rarely called the Federal government out, and instead these stories were usually told through a colorful proxy; an alien race that treated its secondary class citizens poorly, instead of tackling civil rights directly (just as an example).

    And hey, given the times and the situation, I doubt anyone here is judging or condemning that. We're just saying, Superman stopped going after "The Man" and became much friendlier towards the government.

    As for why so many of us love those original stories...you could be right that some people have been told they matter and have never bothered to read beyond that. But I know for a lot of us, its the rawness that appeals. Those early stories are not well written or drawn, they're poorly paced. Compared to today, they're not good at all. But they possess a certain raw energy and bravery and willingness to tackle any idea, no matter how serious or silly or polarizing, and that has a certain kind of magic. Those old stories are, in my mind, sort of like early heavy metal and rock; not that solid from a technical standpoint, but full of emotion and power nonetheless.
    "We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."

    ~ Black Panther.

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