Rambling man

[seriousfic]

Going back to the "one big change" theory, wouldn't the Grounded storyline, in which Superman decided to walk across America after being accosted by a woman for failing to save her husband (FROM A HEART ATTACK), have been better if the inciting incident were better? In some stunning tone-deafness I haven't seen since Civil War, readers were apparently supposed to agree "Yeah, why didn't Superman stop that guy from having a heart attack?"

Here's my revision: The woman is a mother whose son dies fighting in Iraq. She asks Superman "Hey, why'd you let that happen? You could have ended that war in five minutes. Why didn't you?"

I know, I know, it's political, but wasn't the big problem with Grounded how un-political it was? All we found out about Clark in this story arc was that he didn't like drug dealers and child abuse. And lest you think such a story would have to end with Superman punching Osama bin Laden, there's plenty of arguments you could make against Superman participating in wars, that it'd be doing more harm than good, a short-term solution to a long-term problem. After all, once Superman starts fighting on foreign soil, he's pretty much a member of the military--even if he doesn't take orders, the Army can just go to war with whoever and Superman will be obliged to go along with it because, hey, American lives.

But anyway, it has the potential to be thought-provoking and controversial, with the embodiment of American might trying to figure out what it is Americans want from, well, America.

Comments

[jlbarnett.livejournal.com]

it was tumor actually. The heart attack thing was early on the walk he told a gu that he should see a doctor because his heart was messed up, arteries clogged or something like that.