[Skywalk]

Ok, let me take on my Rusty Shackleford alter ego for a moment.

I believe Superman is a representation of the New Soviet Man.

Consider the following:
1)Superman allegedly fights for the American Way, but the color white is not part of his uniform. Oh yeah, the blue is there to throw the gullible public, but what's in the middle of his chest? A big Red(and not American flag red) 'S' with a yellow diamond background. Lessee, red and yellow what colors could those be?

2)Superman's arch-enemy is a successful capitalist(ahem)

3)The communists in the West were obsessed with the idea of a New Soviet Man, some kind of perfect commie specimen that would be the result of the utopia they'd lead us into. Superman has all these amazing powers, obviously

4)Superman would be a normal person on his planet, just as a Soviet Man would be just another Commie living his life for the collective. But on Earth(or the US) he stands out for his greatness(exemplification of communism)

5)Peasant background of his adoptive family. Glorious peasant collectivization

6)Works for a muckracking paper, I'm sure doing lots of reporting on evil guns and capitalists


That's all I can think of at this point. </Rusty Shackleford aka Dale Gribble>

[steve-b]

I recall a reading satirical short story tracing Kal-El's life after he landed in the USSR, but don't recall the title or author.

[ewing]

Fer cying out loud Supes is not a commie!

Lois Lane writes all of the liberal spew for the Daily Planet and Clark Kent does the obits or something equally non-descript to maintain his cover.

[spetznaz]

Do you know what is really hilarious Skywalk? Your lil' tale actually has some logic in it! As in even though you made it up in the spur of the moment it has some stuff that can be correlated to a Soviet ubermensch (yeah yeah, ubermensch was German but it applies). And it can be easily applied to some communist writer using Superman as an indoctrination tool for communism!

I guess that is how urban legends start.

Nice tale by the way. Very nice.

[weikel]

ROTFLMAO

[spetznaz]

Hi Skywalk, are you sure you are making that stuff up? The reason i ask is that it really makes a lot of sense!

Think of it: The colors adorned by Supes are more commie than 'red, white and blue!' Also in Krypton (the USSR) Supes is normal, but when he comes to Earth (the USA) he becomes a superman due to the yellow sun only found in Earth which is the source of his powers (maybe the yellow sun denotes American cowardice, and hence in such an environment Superman aka the Soviet Ubermensch becomes filled with superpowers).

Also, as you said, Superman is weakened by Kryptonite. In the comics there are 2 types ...green kryptonite that robs him of his powers temporarily (and if exposed long enough can kill him) and yellow kryptonite that can rob him of his powers permanently. Green is the metaphorical color that represents money (a product of capitalism) while gold would stand for gold! Thing that commies are against and the 'Capitalist America' would have.

Furthermore add the fact that Superman's nemesis is Lex Luthor (in the comics one of the richest men in the world and a leading industrialist). In essence Lex is the paragon of Capitalism, and is a corruptive element. Thus Superman strives to destroy Lex (i.e the Soviet Ubermensch destroying corruptive American capitalism).

Also add the fact that although Superman is strong enough to take over the world by force he decides instead to become its helper! And not only that, but he decides to be incognito! In essence fulfilling the 2 commie ideals of being subservient to the common good (hence no taking over the world by force) plus being humble and quiet in your daily toil (which is why Supes would not try to become famous).

You may have come up with the idea from the blue ...but if you consider that the communist movement was strong back in the days when most of the comic characters were incepted there is always the chance your lil' tale may have some truth to it.

[weegee]

Comic book censorship advocate (and associate of 1950s presidential wannabe Senator Estes Kefauver) Frederic Wertham claimed that Superman was a bad influence because he was a Nazi. The embodiment of the Nichetze "super-man" influencing children to want to be drag racing teenagers (be the first, be the best, be the fastest).

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.