Superman

Although Superman is an immigrant and an orphan, it is not something that is really focused upon. Until the article “What Makes Superman So Darned American”, I had only ever considered his immigrant and orphan status as background information that never had much importance. For me, his second identity as Clark Kent has assimilated so well into American culture that I sometimes forget that he is actually from a different planet. This rapid and thorough assimilation, I suppose, could be a comment on the educational theory of the period it was stressed. Perhaps the “superman” alter ego is also a statement that regardless of how well people seem to have assimilated and become American, they still hold onto the strong cultural traditions and roots of their homeland.

After reading the assigned Superman comic, some of it did not quite make sense. The main part that troubled me was when he went to Washington, DC rather than San Monte as the editor had directed him. What was the motivation of going to DC? Then, the part where he eavesdrops on the senator and the lobbyist seemed rather unlogical. When they are talking in the Senate, perhaps their conversation may seem a bit suspicious, but once he finds out Greer is a lobbyist, the two men have not done anything wrong. It seems rather contradictory that the hero that fights for “truth, justice, and the American way”, according to the article “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, and self proclaimed “Champion of the Oppressed” would invade on the rights and privacy of two men without any evidence of wrong doing.

Also mentioned in one of the readings was that Capitan America was designed to fight against the Nazis, and later fought against Communists. Are there any comics where a superhero is fighting against terrorists?