Superman
April 28th, 2011




I’ve got a short item up at the Standard on Superman renouncing his citizenship. It’s another brilliant move from the crack team running DC.

In related news, I found a high-grade copy of Silver Surfer #4 last night . . .

Update: Here’s is a perfect example of a very particular kind of journalism. Over at Reuters, Alex Dobuzinski has a piece about the reaction to the news of Superman’s impending citizenship renouncement. He writes:

In the comic, Superman never actually renounces his citizenship, he only talks about his plans to do that.

But conservative commentators reacted with disgust to the new storyline, given that the fictional superhero has long proclaimed he stood for “Truth, Justice and the American way.”

In a blog post at The Weekly Standard, senior writer Jonathan Last questioned Superman’s beliefs, now that he seems to have rejected the United States.

“Does he believe in British interventionism or Swiss neutrality?” Last wrote. “You see where I’m going with this: If Superman doesn’t believe in America, then he doesn’t believe in anything.”

Maybe “conservative commentators” have reacted with disgust. And I’m certainly bent out of shape about it. But the point of my complaint–and I don’t think it was buried too deeply–wasn’t “hey, here’s another bit of PC nonsense.” It was: “Hey, Superman needs this anchor to give his character dramatic weight and meaning and what DC has done strips him of that.”

I realize this is a (slightly) nuanced argument but isn’t it pretty obvious that it’s a literary, not a political one?



  1. Galley Wife April 28, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    Wow. That’s a lot of words, Last.

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  3. Jason O. April 29, 2011 at 10:30 am

    Is that the one in which the sky rider of the spaceways meets Mephisto? (Greatest Marvel bad guy move of all time: when M. turns the Surfer into a thought so he can just forget about him)

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  5. Dr. J. April 29, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    What’s Clark going to do with his citizenship? Last time I checked, Clark’s the one with the drivers license.

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  7. Ben Lynch April 30, 2011 at 3:38 am

    If he believes in America, does he believe in rendition and illegal wars? That’s the American way!

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  9. Peter F April 30, 2011 at 5:48 am

    Perhaps you should ask to see Superman’s birth certificate. That should clear up this citizenship kerfuffle.

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  11. Avi Green May 2, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    Mr. Last, it’s sad that I have to do this, but there’s a conservative here who finds something very distasteful hidden in your piece. Something that detracts very greatly from what impact it could have.

    First, if it matters, I’m an Israeli citizen. I live in Jerusalem. And I’ve read plenty of comic books too for many years. And I was very, VERY angry to discover, that you actually condone DC’s grimy little misogynist screed called “Identity Crisis” (and I read those 2 earlier posts you did nearly 4 years ago), which, as people like Peter Sanderson have noted, is almost exclusively male in its viewpoint, tarnishes several characters both major and minor, and even resorts most disgustingly to shock tactics.

    What exactly do you consider “fantastic” about that POS? I assume you consider Deathstroke’s causing Zatanna to vomit fantastic? Do you think Slade Wilson’s cuffing and near asphyxiation of Black Canary is fantastic? Is Slade’s stabbing Flash fantastic? Do you think the humiliation of Sue Dibny is fantastic? Do you even think Jean Loring’s inviting her ex-husband to hit her, and the suggestion that she was molested in prison was fantastic? And, do you even consider making the Justice League into scapegoats – shades of leftist Blame-America tactics – while trivializing the crime committed by Dr. Light, fantastic?

    But even if the story didn’t have such disturbingly subtle left-wing allusions to 9-11 hidden underneath, would the misogynist manner it’s written in alone be legitimate? No way jose. And that just underlines how irresponsible you are even on that level. What you did there doesn’t just clash seriously with your concerns about Superman and American citizenship, it’s also an insult to victims of rape and wife-beating. Have you ever considered what a woman who was raped by Islamofascists, whether in the middle east or Europe, might think of you if she found you endorsing a sick book with an approach that was offensive to their plight? What would even Lara Logan think?

    As for the minor players misused in Identity Crisis, do you really see them as so expendable that you’re even willing to applaud as they’re disgraced in such an awful manner? And if Lois Lane were the victim or culprit, would you have stood for that? I don’t make a difference between superheroes and supporting casts based on popularity rank, I base my view on the story quality, and my fandom for one doesn’t come at the expense of another.

    Mr. Last, I’m sorry to say, but you’ve done a grave disservice just as bad as Bill Kristol himself after he attacked Glenn Beck for his concerns that the Islamofascists in Egypt intend to establish a modern day caliphate. And I question whether you’re really a comics fan, if you have such a low opinion of the DCU that you’d be more than willing to stand by idly as they maim what’s in their ownership. Not to be a curmudgeon here, but let me ask you something: if Dr. Light were depicted in that book as a racist, and Sue Dibny and Jean Loring were members of minority groups, and Light attacked Sue out of a hate crime, and that too were trivialized while the “lobotomy” was deemed far more important, would you have stood for that? Would you have even approved if the white DC heroes and their supporting casts were called “white crackers” by the villains?

    Maybe that’ll give you something to think about. I hope you’re happy at how Dan DiDio and company destroyed other people’s childhoods and worse, insulted women’s rights with their grimy, perverted miniseries. If that’s the kind of stance you’re going to take, regardless of whether there’s moonbat messages hidden inside it or not, you are not qualified to make an argument on Superman’s giving up US citizenship.

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  13. SkinsFanPG May 2, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    Talk about bad timing: Supes renounces his citizenship right as we kill Osama (by an Obama hit squad, no less!) and Americans unite and rejoice. Seriously, DC must be kicking themselves right now. As that dipshit Sullivan might say: meep meep!

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