Wishing a very happy Superman Day to all who celebrate!
My love of Superman began with George Reeves in TV's Adventures of Superman and comics written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, Otto Binder, and Edmond Hamilton (among others) and illustrated by Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Al Plastino. It hasn't abated since.
I've been lucky enough to write Superman in comics, animation, and live action (okay, they called it Superboy, but close enough, right?). If I could travel back in time and tell my ten-year-old, comics-obsessed self what was waiting in his future, he'd faint from sheer delight.
Superman, in my view, represents the best in all of us. It's not his powers that matter—it's his decency, his compassion and, yes, his innate charm. It's as if, back in 1938, our collective unconscious created the hero we needed.
We need him now more than ever.
"It's as if, back in 1938, our collective unconscious created the hero we needed."
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree. I think that robs the creation of the unique times, circumstances, and people that led to the character's creation.
Jerry Siegel's father was shot in the family store when he was 14. Interestingly enough, the same age my mother was when her father died. I can tell you fro personal experience, that does not go away, it has a shadow over everything.
Yet, even in autobiographical works. Siegel rarely mentioned his father. By all accounts he barely mentioned his father. I think it is fair to say that he did not process it very well. Not surprising considering what happened next.
The Siegel family's life was blown off course. They had to switch to survival. Except for Jerry, whose mother became a stereotype, and refused to let him get a job.
Interestingly enough, one of the revolutionary things about Clark Kent was that he had a job, and was not rich. The Shadow, The Phantom, and Zorro all had secret identities, but they were all just some form of idle rich. The Green Hornet had a job, but he was the boss, not the one doing leg work.
People say the secret identity it was about the Jewish experience, or the immigrant experience. I think it is far more likely it was about him personally feeling he was capable of more. But we dismiss the idea that it could have been personal.
He had already been a fan of science fiction and pulp magazines, but his teenage years seemed to supercharge that. Likely because he needed an escape. Also.. a community.
Jerry Siegel was described as being very shy, or at least not outgoing, but he was actually very active in the sci-fi fan community. It seems to be were he grew his social self. It is also how he got in contact with Joe Shuster for the first time.
it is also where the idea of Superman came from. ONe of those correspondences suggested he read the book Gladiator. A book about a super strong man who grows up in a small rural town, and then goes out to seek adventure. It kind of reminds me of Hemingway to be honest. But that where the Super in Superman comes from.
Siegel was also very much inspired by Doc Savage. Which is even where Superman gets his name, form Dr. CLARK Savage jr.
Then there is the time and place where the idea was gestated.
Because of movies, I don't think people always understand just how insane the worlds was before WWII. IN the era Superman was created people got stabbed to each over the right to pick beans for three cents and hour.
You once said one of your favorite superman stories is the one where he gets the slums destroyed, so the government has to build a better place to live. Well, in 1933, in Siegel's hometown of Cleveland there was an eviction riot, because they were trying to throw people out of their homes when 1/4 of the country was unemployed.
Do you think that perhaps played a role? maybe.
One of my favorites Action comics #3, where Superman threatens to collapse a mine on industrialists who abuse tehir workers. Well, within a year and a half of Superman's first appearance two interesting points of national news occurred.
One was the Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago. You may have not heard of those, because it was so covered up afterwards, but at the time it was big news. It involved the POLICE shooting union organizers having a picnic.
There was also the Battle of the Overpass, where Harry Bennett, the head of Henry Ford's secret police force...yes, he had one... beat the shit out of Walter Reuther, and other UAW organizers. IN an industrial town like Cleveland... it probably did not go over too well.
Speaking of specific stories, Superman's first story is him saving a man wrongfully accused of murder. Saving an innocent.
continued...
ReplyDeleteWell, in 1938 the head of the Cleveland police Eliot Ness, burned down a homeless encampment to try and root out a serial killer. A serial killer he was not able to ever catch. Though, he did know who it was. The member of a wealthy family, who was institutionalized about the time the killings stopped. SO...not a homeless person. Still, Siegel would not have known of Ness's theories.
Still, the head of the local police department being unable to stop a horrific crime, maybe that is why vigilante justice seemed to appealing?
Superman could not have been made anywhere else but Cleveland, He could not have been created by anyone else. It was not collectively manifested, it was the very explicit realities of two people.
I know you weren't trying to rob them of their. But, let me put it this way...
One COULD say, as the world was on the brink of change it manifested new Heroes in the Marvel Universe, but you wouldn't. You would say it was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. You could say the Fourth world was collectively manifested, because there was so much cynicism in the world, and people yearned for simple good versus evil and higher concepts. but you...specifically YOU, J.M. Dematteis wouldn;t. You would say it was very specific elements ion Jack KIrby's life.
I don't balme you, or any of the other people who try to make it something else. DC comics worked really hard for decades to make people forget Superman had ANY creators at all.
But, isn't the truth a better story anyway?
Jack
I wasn't in any way trying to make people forget Superman had any creators, Jack. And something can come out of the specifics of someone's life and still be a projection of the collective unconscious. Both things can be true. I can write something that is profoundly personal, unique to me, and yet it can also function as something that the collective consciousness needs to express.
DeleteAs I said, i know you were not trying to short change Siegel and Shuster.
DeleteAS I pointed out, would you say that about the the Marvel Universe? Or would you fall back on it being Stan Lee? There was definitely a growing sense in 1961 that things were changing. My guess is that you would fall back on it being the Marvel Bullpen, because that is how it was always presented, despite it just as easily being manifested by the collective unconsciousness.
This is a unique problem for Superman, and this conversation is not the only time it comes up.
One of the big elements is to say that Superman is a representation of the Jewish experience, Frank Miller even calling Superman a "golem."
Was their Jewish lineage a part? Sure. They were Jewish, and not the self-loathing kind, However, by most accounts neither was particularly religious. So, is it being the dominant part of Superman's creation is realistic.
And I understand the reason why it is so tempting in that case. Jews have been othered for so long, it is a way of pointing out the importance of Jews to the fabric of America. Which is good, but it often comes at erasing the reality of the people.
And I understand why it happened. DC Comics spent decades trying to erase Siegel and Shuster from part of the equation. It can be done because that connection between Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and Spider-man is not there.
I know you are aware of the struggles of Siegel and Shuster. If you say that there is no difference in your mind between the the Superman origins and Marvel comics, I will believe you. You know your brain better than anyone better than me. You are in the industry, and I am sure the stories of Siegel and Shuster getting kicked off their own creation are ghost stories you all tell at night...God knows Neal Adams would go on about it.
I just layperson find it coincidental that not you, but almost everyone, has this disconnect between creators and creation, with the same character a company had a pretty strong campaign to disconnect the two.
Again, you say that is not the case, I will believe it is just your Hippie mind. I won't claim to know your beliefs better than you.
Am I the only one who now wants Ann Nocenti to write a Comics about Siegel and SHuster's life? or the labor movement?
Jack
Did you ever stop to think about what the evolving nature of krypton says about us?
ReplyDeleteKrypton is not show, life on it anyway, until seven years after Superman's creation. At the time, it is just Buck rogers futurism.
Then it disappears for about a decade. and Superman starts visiting. It is depicted as an idyllic society. Pointing out even the most perfect society can be destroyed by arrogance.
Wait? When were these stories written again? The 50s and 60s? Yeah, it was an allegory for nuclear war.
Then in the 70s we get a NEW look at krypton. It is all white. cold and sterile, the 70s shorthand for lacking humanity. backed up by the complete lack of any other life on the planet.
Jor-El is even not listened to, in part, because he is too passionate.
Contrast that to Earth in the film, where Clark is surrounded by life. whether it is fields or the bustling of Metropolis. Even Lois shows the imperfection of life, asking how to spell words.
it is about the dangers of giving away out humanity...very 70s sci-fi.
John Byrne's Mn of Steel takes that idea and pushes it further. Krypton views science as a religion. Jor-El is treated as a heritc, he is almost fine with the letting it die.
The way the kryptonians dress is not pleasing to the eye. They are completely covered up except for their faces. Things portrude an push people away, their is sharpness
Yes, it is about giving up humanity, but it is also about isolation, and rigid thinking. Separating oneself, and fanaticism.
In the 90s cartoon, Krypton looks like many future depictions form the 90s. Again, almost ideal. But they added a twist.
Now, brainiac s from krypton. He talks the Kryptonians out of listening to Jor-el.
It is about about over reliance on technology.
Man of Steel. I don't remember the film. I know I saw it, but I do not remember.
The point is, Krypton manifests as what ever we are afraid will destroy our society in that moment. Pretty impressive for a plot device that started out as just a means to an end.
Jack
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteI recently rewatched the first episode of the 50s Superman TV show, which had a really fun Krypton sequence (probably the only genuine science fiction moment in the whole series).
Interesting side note…
DeleteCaptain America is kind of in that episode.
The same studio who made it also made the Captain America serials, so one of the Kryptonian council members is wearing a part of Cap’s costume.
I love that!
DeleteSorry, I forgot to sign that.
DeleteAny way, now that Marvel and Dc will be doing crossovers again, this can inspire you to write the team up you always wanted…
Perry white teaming up with Bernie Rosenthal.
Jack
It'll sell MILLIONS!
DeleteSuperman represents a weird paradox in comics.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is a hot take to say comic storytelling has gotten more sophisticated than in the golden age.
However, consider this...
In the earliest Superman stories, as well as the George Reeves program, the formula was borrowed from the Green Hornet. A problem arises, the Newspaper gets a hold of it, Crime-fighting is used to stop the immediate problem, and investigative journalism is used to expose the larger societal issue.
It is just kind of interesting that as the writing got more sophisticated, this surprisingly nuanced view of what it takes stop society's ills...that you can't punch them away...got less popular. Mostly in favor of just handing villains over to the police. When it goes back to the original way, it is viewed as an atypical, often 'preachy' story.
Just think it is weird. no other commentary. Don't know why it happened. probably a need for recurring villains.
Jack
Yes. And the new voices coming in to tell the stories.
DeleteJohn Byrne's Krypton had a wild backstory. The explosion which destroyed the planet was the consequence of a nuclear terrorist attack centuries earlier. The group was opposed to cloning for spare parts, a standard practice at the time. Essentially Kryptonian society overcorrected in the aftermath with passion and human connection being seen as antithetical to an orderly society.
ReplyDeleteLater writers added more context. A xenophobic ancestor of Jor-El's created the Eradicator to preserve a pure Kryptonian society and introduced a genetic flaw in Kryptonian DNA which prevented them from ever leaving the planet. Jor-El modified Kal-El's genetic structure to eliminate the flaw.
Byrne tended to deemphasize Superman's Krptonian heritage and even conclude Man of Steel with him saying his Kryptonian origins were not relevant to his identity.
The "triangle era" creative teams reemphasized Krypton until finally in the early 2000s Jeph Loeb teased the idea that the "real" Krypton had a more Silver Age vibe. It turned out to be a fake construct, but it was a stopping stone to subsequent retcons which made Krpton less cold and sterile.
The animated series did a great job combining Silver Age and post-Crisis elements. Krypton is a bit cold but Jor-El is an action hero literally fighting for his son's future.
And speaking of your work on Superboy, he is being reintroduced as part of Clark's backstory.
--David
Really? Superboy is back? I love it.
DeleteRe: Krypton. I will always have a fondness for the magical Silver Age Krypton of my childhood. It was like a science-fiction fairy tale, if you know what I mean.
I know exactly what you mean.
DeleteI tend to prefer a Krypton along those lines too. I adore Leinil F Yu's Krypton designs in his collaboration with Mark Waid, SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT. It's beautifully rendered and the tragedy of its impending doom is deeply felt.
"For ten thousand orbits, a shining planet circled a celestial font of heat and light. The people of that world grew tired of war,...so they achieved a United society. They feared the unknown...so they conquered it with marvels of science. They yearned for heaven..so they created it beneath their very feet. For ten thousand orbits, a clump of dirt careened around a red dwarf star. And it accomplished miracles no one will ever remember."-- Jor-El
Birthright didn't last long as Superman's official origin, but Waid got the last laugh and now he's writing the new history of the DC Universe as well as Superboy's adventures.
The ending of Burthright has a beautiful sci-fi twist that is a real tear jerker.
--David
Now THAT'S my Krypton!
DeleteWhat's interesting to me about Silver Age Superman is that while that era had a less nuanced approach to social ills, there was an explosion of imagination and wonder. Also I feel like Lois' characterization was heavily influenced by Lucille Ball. Like you see a bit of back and forth with Superman that has the playfulness and equality of Lucy and Ricky (not as pronounced, but sometimes Lois teaches Superman a lesson with a practical joke).
ReplyDelete--David
That's a unique, and wonderful, insight, David! And, yes, those stories were FILLED with imagination. So many amazing concepts!
DeleteIt would. It be completely out of nowhere.
DeleteI always felt it was pretty clear that Lois Lane was originally inspired by the semi-common man and woman reporter comedies of the 1930s.
That was supposed to be, “it would not be completely out of nowhere.”
DeleteTruth is, even back in the day, the Lois and Clark moments were often at least a bit comedic.
Jack