The Many Versions of Superman, Part One

Over at Speculative Faith, E Stephen Burnett and Austin Gunderson are presenting a full-throated Defense of The Man of Steel .

There are some good points in there. I think for most people who had a problem with Man of Steel on grounds of tone really had Superman: The Movie in mind. It's worth noting that the remaining Superman films were downhill and I think Superman's behavior in Superman II was deplorable. I remember seeing it as a young adult and being very disappointed in how he acted. I've actually never seen the second one again.

I actually enjoyed Man of Steel but did have some problems with it, and I'm slightly bearish on Superman v. Batman. So, I'll set off on my own train of thought in this series (yes, it's a series because one good series deserves another.)

I've hosted more than 770 Superman Radio podcasts, read years of Superman newspaper strips, and Superman comic books in collected form and individual issues. Here are the major versions of Superman as I see them:

1) Aggressive Social Crusader:

When Superman arrived on the scene, he hit like a Hurricane. In the first issue of his comic, Superman breaks into the Governor's office, shoves past his staff and saves a woman from the electric chair, stops a man from beating his wife, stops thugs from harassing Lois Lane, and gets on the trail of an Arms Dealer with designs on starting war. And mind you, this is all in Action Comics #1 in a 14 page story.

Superman took to Metropolis busting rackets all over town. In 1938, Superman's activity was very cathartic for people who were oppressed by racketeers, greedy and unscrupulous businessmen who created unsafe conditions, and slumlords.

Jerry Siegel at this point was a brash young man who thought there was little that couldn't be solved by Superman punching people out or making them do the right thing. When Siegel was asked to write how Superman would end the War (before the US had to enter,) it as a 2-page story.

If Superman were on your side, it was awesome. However, what if Superman wasn't on your side? Superman had no problem flying leaping with victims up in there and tossing them about to get information.

Plus Superman could get more than a tad aggressive in his crusades. For example, infuriated at slum conditions, Superman reads of government aide to rebuild a city after a hurricane, so Superman forces the feds to rebuild by totally wrecking a slum neighborhood. In another Issue, Superman declares war on reckless drivers and decides to smash all the cars of reckless drivers to prevent impounds.

Superman's image changed but Superman would still have the occasional crusade. Over the radio from 1946-47 season of Superman, Superman took on the Ku Klux Klan (or a fictional proxy) and spent most of the season taking on racist politicians and gang leaders. It was courageous to take on the KKK, though with so many episodes from that season having the same theme, the thing could get repetitive.

Less successful was Superman's attempt to rid the world of nuclear weapons in the deservedly panned Superman IV. It's a scheme 1938-39 Superman would have approved of, but few others would have.