Hell, I'm conservative, have no superpowers, and LIKE guns!
(mumble...bunch of tight-wearing prettyboys....mumble)
Posted on 11/12/2002 7:08:48 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
While created by the same company, DC Comics' two most famous superheroes differed in political alignment.
Clark Kent, also known as Superman, was raised by two Kansas farmers.
He was born, however, on the planet Krypton. Superman's race was a group with great powers: incredible strength, X-ray vision, heat vision, ice vision, the ability to fly, super-sensitive hearing and super speed.
When grown, Kent moved to the city, where he landed a job as a writer for the large newspaper, the Daily Planet.
Bruce Wayne--also known as Batman--was an industry-owning millionaire. He inherited much of his wealth from the parents he lost to the hands of savage murderers at an early age.
As Batman, Wayne battled his enemies with the use of wit, human strength and a slew of high-tech gadgets.
Through their actions as both average citizens and superheroes, Superman and Batman exhibited characteristics that pitted them with clear political ideologies.
The location where Superman spent his childhood statistically fosters a Democratic spirit. As a man from a small farming community in a rural state, Superman is a Democrat. His place of employment encourages a Democratic political philosophy.
As Clark Kent, he writes for the Daily Planet, a large paper operating out of the city of Metropolis. Such large papers are typically liberal, with a heavy focus on moving forward with equal rights for racial or sexual minorities.
The villains Superman often combated were rich and powerful. For example, the criminal Lex Luthor was a wealthy businessman, likely utilized by the writers of Superman as a symbol of massive, corporate, unregulated American business practices.
Democrats often combat the Republican approach to an unregulated market.
Some Democrats believe that wealthy citizens comprise the great majority of the Republican Party. Owner of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne surely had the interest of his industry in mind while voting and allocating personal funds to the political campaigns of his choice.
As he inherited much of his wealth from his family, Wayne highly valued the status quo. He expressed his resistance to change at home. He had the same butler, Alfred, for his entire life and lived in the same, early 20th century mansion for just as long.
Unlike Superman, Batman was human. He did, however, possess the most tangible of all superpowers: wealth.
While Superman was able to fend off the most vicious villains with his natural powers, Batman battled with a tone body and with an expensive arsenal of grappling hooks, vehicles, guns and other devices.
He was human, and as demonstrated by the 1960s television series, he most often used wit to escape the toils of his enemies. In fighting crime he aimed to subdue the radical criminals that corrupted Gotham City with their new-age terrorist tactics and left-wing views toward public policy and capital punishment.
While Batman used intelligence, Superman often resorted to violence, the political equivalent to war. Superman would sooner melt an opponent with his heat vision than he would extend a negotiation or use intellect. He was a supporter of the use of force. This use of force is clearly a parallel to the Democratic Party ideal of a large, mobilized army.
While the heroes differed far beyond their powers, their creators at DC Comics cleverly crafted their polar political alignments.
The parent company of both heroes was DC Comics, a company founded in 1935. During this period of American history, the economy was at its all-time worst. It was an outright poor and foolish time to found a business.
The creative heads at DC were clever, however. In order to garner mass appeal, they created two generally likable characters with starkly different political alignments. Selling their stories at 10 cents a pop, they made their source of entertainment affordable to the Roosevelt supporters suffering from the pain of the Great Depression.
The eager Democrats enjoyed Superman's All American spirit, his courage in the face of danger and his sheer invincibility.
While the comics were cheap entertainment, they served as quality entertainment to Republicans of the time, nonetheless. Bruce Wayne was a savvy businessman--surely not a victim of the Crash of '29. He was a charming man with a sleek and ambitious attitude.
Both characters had mass appeal but catered to more specific tastes when observed more closely.
Each of these wildly successful superheroes has had a dramatic impact on American popular culture. While they appear at first as incredible, outstanding citizens with wills to do good, when one looks deeper it is clear that these heroes do so in their own, politically specific ways.
Although they can be taken for the face value of entertainment, what fun is there in that?
I think that he was more like Kato Kalen. Anytime Jimmy ran across another woman (or creature) that had LL for initials, he'd hook up his buddy. Maybe Superman had some towels, robes, etc. for the ladies that were monogrammed LL and he wanted them all to feel "special".
Hell, I'm conservative, have no superpowers, and LIKE guns!
(mumble...bunch of tight-wearing prettyboys....mumble)
And who cares whom Jimmy Olsen is dating unless it is Supergirl. (is it really that essential to the plot?)
I think that somewhere in my reading I ran across fellow Tennessee Senator Albert Gore I "me too-ing" Kefauver's support for this hack. Wertham did more to set comic books back as a form than anyone else.
The professor was pretty dense as well and not good at picking up womenly signals for love.
What I can't figure out is why a salty veteran of the world like The Skipper wouldn't try and get some action with Mary Ann (unless he was playin for the other team and secretly keeping Gilligan as his slave boy)
You might be right, Mary Anne used bake him all those banana cream pies and he never seemed to get the hint. Although being adolescent doesn't always mean being naive. I can remember in the seventies as a kid having a pinup of batgirl, and she was one hot chick.
The "fussy" thing surfaces again. Well, yeah... the Adam West version of the character was a bit fussy. I recall whan he refused to let Robin execute a "Bat-Turn" on a public golf course, for fear of the Batmobile's jet exhaust scorching the fairway. How they ended up driving on the fairway is buried deep in the ol' brain sludge; I just don't feel like digging it out! :-)
Speaking of the Batmobile, that vehicle (along with the Bat Boat, Bat Copter, Bat Cycle, etc.) would surely have the EPA howling for blood. Poor mileage, air and noise pollution - yep, the only thing worse would be a **GASP** Bat-SUV! The choice of vehicles tips the scales back towards Republican (but yes, fat-cat Dems like their big, fast, comfy cars, too).
Blue is the Republican challeger (taking the electoral college vote for that state). Darker red is heavy Democrat support, lighter/brighter red is more Republican support in a Democrat won state.
1932
1936
1940
1940
1944
At the site, you can click on each state for more details. After 1936, there is winning support for the Republican presidential candidate in Kansas. Superman is introduced in 1938 (when the author-artist team take the advice of a SF author to take their character from a planet of super powered people and placing him on earth among ordinary people).
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