Superman Adventures: From Reality to Myth

Reading both Superman: The Dailies, 1939-1940 and Superman in the Forties, I was struck how Superman's mission has changed.

In early Superman stories, Superman was very much involved in the ordinary struggle of human beings as a sort of modern day Robin Hood. In the first two issues of Action Comics, Superman prevented an innocent woman from being executed, smacked around a wife-beater, took on a gang of ruffians,and ended a war by forcing the munitions manufacturer into military service. Twenty-four year old Jerry Siegel theorized that war was caused by munitions suppliers wanting nations to go to war.

Also included was a text story that was required by law in which Superman went to war with a patent attorney who was cheating his clients out of their patents.

In the comic strip, it was much the same thing. Superman battled racketeers, gamblers who ruined an honest fighter's career, an abusive orphanage administrator, and thieves selling weapons to a nation at war.

However, modern superhero stories are concerned far more with big supervillain battles against aliens, mutant lizards,and other such spectacular foes. While it's true that some issues do focus on a social issue such as human trafficking or drug use, but these sort of story lines when our heroes deal with the type of things that actually effect our lives are pretty rare. The villains they battle with are often so removed from the things that actually threaten us that it's astounding. Why aren't real life problems a bigger concern. I'd offer four reasons:

Reason #1: Our problems are too small. Simply put many of the everyday human problems we face are too small. Imagine, putting Superman on a Child and Spousal abuse case. How quick would that be? How hard of a challenge would it be for Superman to defeat the abusive spouse. Having our heroes take on supervillains rather than the type of people who do harm to us in real life we actually give our superheroes a challenge rather than ensuring a quick triumph. It's also not exciting to imagine a superhero spending weeks just to solve the complex problem of one guy in need as Superman did in one issue.

Reason #2: Our problems are too big.: Conversely, the reality of some problems are too big for comic superheroes to take on. A key example is the whole issue of war. As mentioned before, early Action Comics showed that ending war was clearly a job for Superman. Superman in the Forties contains a special 1940 two page comic done for Look Magazine where Superman ends the War by flying in and dragging Hitler and Stalin before a war crimes tribunal and resolves the whole thing. However, reality set in and Superman's role in World War II stories was limited. While if Superman were real, he could end the war in a second, he wasn't and it would take th death of millions to end it. Once America became engaged in the war, it would have been a mockery to imagine Superman swooping down with red cape and boots and making it all better would be absurd at best and disrespectful at worst. And most big problems are like that. They're too big to solve by Hulk smashing something or a few webs. And in order to avoid absurdity, there are some issues that are not addressed at all.

Reason #3 We seek escapism not catharsis : If you or someone you know had been oppressed by the rackets, there had to be a great sense of catharsis of seeing your oppressors really get what for. However, comics have an entirely different set of readers, most of whom don't need catharsis by are seeking escapism. Far out there alien villains are for better for that purpose than real world menace.

Reason #4: We Can't Agree on What Problems Should be Addressed: The things Superman went after in the late 1930s were things most Americans agreed were bad. Gangsters, brutal wife beaters, gangsters,and abusers of orphans were all classes of people who there was little sympathy for. However, many others today are divided. Certainly, some comic books have taken social stances (most left wing), but those stances always have to be tempered lest superheroes are stereotyped as a left wing outlet. If that happens, movies like The Avengers and The Dark Knight won't happen in terms of their popularity that cuts across partisan lines. Liberals may like their favorite comic book character standing up for environmentalism and the gay movement, but would probably not be appreciative of a character being pro-life and against teacher's unions. The danger of pulling superheroes too deeply into politics checks even the most strident comic book artist.

This also brought to mind something I was reading in Paul Asay's book,
God on the Streets of Gotham: What the Big Screen Batman Can Teach Us about God and Ourselves. Asay wrote about his own father's decision to banish superheroes from his life. He is quite understanding of why his dad did it and why other Christian parents may do it because some kids may view superheroes "as a replacement for Christ."

However, my thinking about this issue of the type of battles our superheroes fight these days calls to mind a great contrast that kids and adults should keep in mind in addition to the differences between the Son of God and a fictional character. With Christ, there is no problem we might have that is too big, too small, or too hot to handle. He is intimately concerned with our lives in every detail. 1 Peter 5:7 says to cast your cares upon him for he careth for you.