The Power of Superman, Beyond Death and Rebirth

[CBR News]

Joseph considers the relevance of DC Comics' Superman, from his place in the fictional world of comic books to what he means in the real world.


Full article here.

[vasir12]

This is extremely well written, and I agree.

[GreenLanternRanger]

Great article I agree what Superman stands for is indeed timeless.

[Kevin Street]

With all the bad news constantly raining down upon us, we often forget about the human capacity to do good. There really are people who will run into burning buildings or throw themselves in front of bullets because they want to save others. And there are people who will labor for their entire lives, working hard at terrible jobs because "someone has to do it" if society is going to run properly for the rest of us. Then there are the people who volunteer their time helping the innocent and the unfortunate, not for a reward (because the rewards are slim to nonexistent), but just to help others feel better.

Superman is the fictional avatar of all these people. He's a symbol of the very real and often unappreciated human capacity for empathy and selflessness.

[solo500]

Yes, and to be the avatar of optimism in the midst of Depression and world war, he needs the spitcurl and overpants... and a Christopher Reeve smile on his face, a Curt Swan stance, a Joe Shuster wink.

[Robotman]

a great article. he captures why Superman has endured. inspiring us to do good not for the sake of vengeance or ideology but because we have the power to help others and the power to do good.

[manduck37]

A great article and I couldn't agree more.

[adrikito]

WOW.. It was true .. Batman said the last time Superman(superdad) inspired someone was being dead..

This comment was shocking for me when someone told me about this, I thought the comment real would more soft.. But no..


Jesus Christ? Superdad.. I prefer Superman as a Sun God and the ultimate immigrant

[Jim Kelly]

In those times when we need a super-hero to be an emblem of something greater than ourselves and what we aspire to be in our daily lives and in times of trouble--Superman is the clearest example that comes to mind.

There are others--Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman and more--but for one reason or another these heroes have become compromised by association with lesser values.

So it is Superman who remains in our consciousness as that ideal.

[The_Captain]

Articulated well enough, but a little trite. The author offered nothing new or fresh. For someone who supposedly had a 46-year relationship with comics, what he voiced should have been very old news to him, yet he only discovered it after talking with his comic book writer friend recently. That it took him that long to figure this out is amazing. The rest of us have known this about Superman for decades. Moreover, for many of us, because of this, Superman started us (and guided us) down the path we eventually traveled. I'm glad he figured it out, buy I'm saddened by what he missed out on by not realizing it sooner.

[Tim Pilotus]

This is why the recent attempts to "darken" Superman (Injustice, Man of Steel, even Nuperman at times) don't work for me. I understand how it's difficult to write a "symbol" or an "ideology" and authors' desire to write a character instead but making Superman something he isn't, in my opinion, or put him through paces that require him to be diminished just reads like creative bankruptcy or even appeals to audience schadenfreude. The world can be a messed up place, sure...do we really need to bring Superman to our level now?

Whether people like it or not, they need something--a concept, a character, an earnest belief, what have you--to aspire to. Something that they might think infinitely corny or outmoded that requires that reach exceeding its grasp. Something that is indicative of a Man of Tomorrow that says, "You're not there yet, but if you keep fighting the good fight you'll get there."

I mean you get to have your Batmen and Wolverines but save some room for the "good" guys who do what must be done but don't take glee in it or do it from a place of extreme psychological distress.

[Francisco]

People keep placing New52 Superman and the word "dark" in the same sentence and I just can't manage to understand what do they mean. There is nothing dark about New 52 Superman. At least nothing darker than any former version of the character. Maybe they just mean New 52 had a set of testicles instead a couple of burned out marshmallows.

[The Shredder]

"Dark", "Edgy", "Unfocused", "Dullsville" or what have you, New52 wasn't to alot of peoples liking. No reason to get overly sensitive about it. Balls? Yeah, nothing reeks of more machismo than instances like finding out the girl (Lois Lane) New52Superman was clearly interested in is banging another guy (Jon Carroll) who moved in right from the start of the New52, with panels of him walking away back to the elevator with his head down, non-verbally defeated (hope he had fun listening), or later putting said girl in direct danger with Parasite because it might help him with his problems*.

It's definitely no secret that both, yes BOTH, Post-Crisis Superman and New52Superman suffered from bad writing, and planning. Even Pre-Crisis Superman isn't exempt of this. Let's not pretend otherwise.

*Thanks to manofsteel79 for bringing that up. I only recall hearing about that, and actually completely forgot about it as I pretty much had enough of New52 at that stage and was occasionally picking up a Superman title out of habit. "Forgot" might be the wrong word though, probably "blocked it from my memory" would be more accurate. Yeesh!

[Francisco]

That first issue was basically a retreading of Super "I can't live without Lois"man. Thanks god Morrison and Greg Pak the only guys who actually bothered writing New 52 Superman never went in that direction. As far as I'm concerned that was the last issue of pre-flashpoint Superman ever written until Rebirth. (or the first issue of Lois and Clark)

[Tim Pilotus]

Maybe they just mean New 52 had a set of testicles instead a couple of burned out marshmallows.

lol

This statement might just be a really great representation of Nuperman for me...a kind of youthful blustery aggression at times--maybe almost immature? No offense meant but Superman is just a tad bit more magnanimous to me.

With all sincerity, sorry you don't have your Superman anymore.