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seriousficNot to front-load this review, but I'd like to start with the moral of the story: Clark Kent is Superman because it's the right thing to do. He helps people because he likes doing it. That is all you need to know about Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman, and why he is the way he is. This is why Superman is the leader of all the superheroes, why everyone looks up to him. It's not because he's the most powerful—there are other superheroes as strong as him, and why would a bunch of rational adults follow a man just because he's the toughest? It's because he does the right thing for the right reasons. A lot of heroes were forced into their roles—they do what they do because they lost someone, they're trying to redeem themselves, whatever. Superman chose to be Superman. He's the moral authority of the DC universe, the same way Captain America is in the Marvel universe (and it says something about the respective companies that in the DC universe, the moral authority is the most powerful man in the universe, while in the Marvel universe, it's the equivalent of an average joe).
Superman does the right thing because Jonathan and Martha Kent did a spectacular job of raising him—they're the important factor in his origin, not Krypton. That's why you can play around with what exactly Krypton was like, which you can't do with the Amazons of Wonder Woman or the parents of Bruce Wayne.
Maybe this is a bit too simple. Maybe a lot of writers prefer the melodrama that being evil feels good, and doing good feels awful, and so doing good is all about resisting temptation and being miserable and having angst.
That's fine. But those writers shouldn't write Superman. Because they'll try to make him interesting, not realizing that Superman already is interesting. The question "how did Superman develop the wisdom and morality to be Superman?" was good enough to get ten years of Smallville, even if the show itself didn't raise to the occasion. If you can't think of interesting stories to tell with a man who has near-limitless powers but an unbendable moral code (the man never lies), well, that's your problem. Not Superman's.
Unfortunately, in recent years, this has been forgotten. Even as people complain that Wonder Woman's origin is too complex, they've decided Superman's is too simple. And they try to turn Superman into Hamlet, drowning him in angst, indecision, and darkness. (Tellingly, most of these stories never get past Clark Kent becoming Superman. That's how limited their vision is.) Superman Returns, Smallville, Superman: Earth One… these are a few of the stories that try and fail to redefine Superman for people who don't like Superman (by people who don't like Superman).
Superman does the right thing because Jonathan and Martha Kent did a spectacular job of raising him—they're the important factor in his origin, not Krypton. That's why you can play around with what exactly Krypton was like, which you can't do with the Amazons of Wonder Woman or the parents of Bruce Wayne.
Maybe this is a bit too simple. Maybe a lot of writers prefer the melodrama that being evil feels good, and doing good feels awful, and so doing good is all about resisting temptation and being miserable and having angst.
That's fine. But those writers shouldn't write Superman. Because they'll try to make him interesting, not realizing that Superman already is interesting. The question "how did Superman develop the wisdom and morality to be Superman?" was good enough to get ten years of Smallville, even if the show itself didn't raise to the occasion. If you can't think of interesting stories to tell with a man who has near-limitless powers but an unbendable moral code (the man never lies), well, that's your problem. Not Superman's.
Unfortunately, in recent years, this has been forgotten. Even as people complain that Wonder Woman's origin is too complex, they've decided Superman's is too simple. And they try to turn Superman into Hamlet, drowning him in angst, indecision, and darkness. (Tellingly, most of these stories never get past Clark Kent becoming Superman. That's how limited their vision is.) Superman Returns, Smallville, Superman: Earth One… these are a few of the stories that try and fail to redefine Superman for people who don't like Superman (by people who don't like Superman).
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Date: 2012-03-26 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 12:57 am (UTC)In the Golden Age and Silver Ages Clark had powers as soon as or almost as soon as he reached Earth. He was frequently a dick(shocking I know) even as he was teaching moral lessons and defeating alien conquerers, etc. Sort of "well it's be wrong to really smack around these people who would be so helpless around me, but I don't have to really respect them" while since then "my power doesn't give me the right to treat anyone but how I'd want to be treated."