Superman Renounces [SPOILER] in 'Action Comics' #900

[The Nexus]

Source: Comics Alliance

By: Laura Hudson

Superman Renounces in 'Action Comics' #900



After recently undertaking a journey to walk -- not fly -- across the United States in the "Grounded" storyline and reconnect with the country and everyday Americans, Superman appears to be taking another step that could have major implications for his national identity: in Action Comics #900...

...Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship. Despite very literally being an alien immigrant, Superman has long been seen as a patriotic symbol of "truth, justice, and the American way," from his embrace of traditional American ideals to the iconic red and blue of his costume. What it means to stand for the "American way" is an increasingly complicated thing, however, both in the real world and in superhero comics, whose storylines have increasingly seemed to mirror current events and deal with moral and political complexities rather than simple black and white morality.

The key scene takes place in "The Incident," a short story in Action Comics #900 written by David S. Goyer with art by Miguel Sepulveda. In it, Superman consults with the President's national security advisor, who is incensed that Superman appeared in Tehran to non-violently support the protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime, no doubt an analogue for the recent real-life protests in the Middle East. However, since Superman is viewed as an American icon in the DC Universe as well as our own, the Iranian government has construed his actions as the will of the American President, and indeed, an act of war.







Read more: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/04/27/superman-renounces-us-citizenship/

[villager]

1. So he listened to what Batman told him in the original "Dark Knight" graphic novel, eh?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VG6tWsOgv8I/TVgPbpXlF0I/AAAAAAAADLY/oRiw3d4Mevo/s640/dark+knight+4+superman+batman+fight+1+-+Copy.jpg

[slay]

2. Well ya gotta listen to Batman.. cause.. well.. he's the

Goddamn Batman!

(Comic this panel is from was also written by Frank Miller)

[villager]

5. #1

[slay]

12. Nice

<-- odd rapport between teh super peeps. least we found out supergirl's a streaker. check out how tiny superman's legs look too. heh.

[Moonwalk]

24. Yeah. The Farmboy should forget all his hard working, adopted father and mother taught him...

...all he learned in rural Kansas and at public school growing up with middle and lower-class friends, all that stuff about saving people from catastrophes like tornados and earthquakes and floods...and listen to the rich boy with the butler who spends his inherited billions on high tech toys and dealing with his trauma by beating up criminals and teaching orphan boys to do the same.

Yeah. The goddamn Batman's got the right perspective :rofl: Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I never bought Frank Miller's bias view of Superman. I'm fond enough of both Superman and Batman, but Miller stacked the decked and ignored too many, er, inconvenient facts about the Dark Knight.

[slay]

29. Yep. Superman's a jerk

:P :P :P

[Sabriel]

37. Superman's a product of the public school system!

He finally used those critical thinking skills he learned to become an expatriate.

Hey, Supie, I hear Costa Rica will take you. The Fortress of Solitude might not work there, though.

[Systematic Chaos]

3. Lots of amusing, semi-literate comments below the article from the mouth-breather club.

:rofl:

[Keith Bee]

36. Yes

One guy was bleating about how Marvel "killed off" Captain America, and now DC is castrating Supes.

I wonder if he realizes that he's referring to fictional characters.....

[Ian David]

4. Superman should have done this after Abu Ghraib. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

6. As long as we don't lose Hal Jordan, we'll be fine...

[slay]

14. Hal protects all of sector 2814, not just the earth, much less just America

:P but yeah all american flyboy and what not. when he's not all spectre'd up. heheh. :evilgrin:

[The Nexus]

18. Look around the web, you might find.....

Green Arrow and Green Lantern team ups.

[slay]

19. Indeed

[The Nexus]

20. Some of the best social commentary in comic history. NT

[KittyWampus]

7. so Superman will be a citizen of which country? Does a person need to have a citizenship to live

in the USA?

Where will he move to?

[ret5hd]

8. Wherever he wants...he's superman!

[Javaman]

9. I heard he got a condo in boca. nt

[Xithras]

30. Canada, of course.

After all, the Fortress of Solitude is in the arctic, so he's already got residency there!

[SpiralHawk]

10. The Republicons have so befouled the nation with their perverted Republicon Family Cesspool Values

That good old Superman is packing it in...Thanks a pantload, RepubliWankers...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

11. Right wingers are running out of comic book options. First marvel then DC with the muslim

sidekick now this. Oh the humanity!!!!

[Moonwalk]

13. What a dumb idea!

Readers who would approve this message aren't reading Superman. They're reading Marvel comics where characters have always been more global, and they won't pick this issue up, not even to see Superman do this. Those who are still reading Superman don't want to see him quit on the U.S., they like him being a specifically American hero, and they'll drop the book like a hot potato if he does give up his citizenship.

If DC comics wanted restore Superman's image back to that of activist, then they should have had a story where Superman works to get the USA back to where it was when he originally appeared back in 1939. In the first few Superman comics, he took out greedy bankers and promoted, yes, a socialist agenda in favor of the unemployed, working stiff. THAT is how you get new readers and regain popularity for the character. Not by having him give up his citizenship like a bored and jaded voter, but by making U.S. citizenship mean what it used to mean and what people want it to mean again.

[slay]

15. I disagree. He just did his whole "Walking across America" arc. Do you read the comics?

i think this is fucking brilliant. liberals read DC - DC is global. it at least inspires some discussion. how can SUPERMAN be confined to just America anyways? he's SUPERMAN!!! :evilgrin:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. ''Readers who would approve this message aren't reading Superman.''

You're wrong. You think superhero comics are a mostly right-wing thing? Not by a long shot.

[boppers]

32. "get the USA back to where it was when he originally appeared back in 1939"

Yeah, when blacks had their own water fountains and toilets, women stayed at home, beating one's children was called "parenting", abortion was criminal, birth control was criminal, and there weren't all these pesky "regulations" to avoid poisoning the environment and killing workers....

Screw that.

[Stand and Fight]

34. Thank you. Could not have said it better myself. (EoM)

[Stand and Fight]

33. Wrong. I read Superman religiously.

And Marvel just the same.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. ''I'm tired of having my actions construed as instruments of US policy.''

You gotta admit he has a hell of a big point.

[tclambert]

21. Only Lois knows how big his point is.

But you know he's uncut because the mohel didn't have a kryptonite knife.

[The Nexus]

22. Just remided me.

What would happen to Clark Kent then?

[tclambert]

25. I'll guess that he gets a job with Wikileaks.

He needs to keep that Clark Kent cover identity so he can earn food money, 'cause Superman wouldn't steal. Oh, no, now I've started wondering about what he eats and how he digests it, and on to the whole super-poop problem.

No, wait, he doesn't need that Clark disguise at all. Anytime he needs some coin, he can just squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond and sell it.

[MilesColtrane]

31. I haven't been keeping up, but I figure that the Daily Planet must...

either have been consumed by Gannett or ClearChannel, or it simply folded.

I would assume that, after being laid off, Clark tried blogging for a popular website, but he got the shaft when the socialite/owner of sold it to AOL and didn't share the profit with her employees.

Disillusioned, and finding no other way to make a living, he got a job as a Halliburton mercenary.

[Ramulux]

23. People dont understand how insanely liberal comics are

If you take a look at some of the most prominent comic writers today, many of them are uber-libs who have no problem bashing right-wing governments and neo-liberal foreign and economic policies.

Grant Morrison, Matt Fraction, Warren Ellis, Joe Casey, Jeff Parker, Geoff Johns, J. Michael Strazinski, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker and even Brian Michael Bendis. Some are more open than others but almost every major comic writer around today has told at least one story with very obvious political overtones.

There was a mini series called "Siege-Frontline" that went along with the Siege event from last year and the entire book was about a fictional right-wing talk show host based entirely off of Glenn Beck who was trying to turn Americans against the Asgardians. In the end the Glenn Beck clone ends up getting punched out by the liberal principled-journalist who saves the day.

In the recent Marvel event "Fear Itself", Tony stark comes out and makes a very passionate case for a public works program to help put the country back to work and the speech sounds like it was written by Robert Reich.

There is so much liberalism to be found in comics, especially in Marvel comics.

[Teaser]

26. which is odd when you think about it

Because playing vigilante and kicking criminal ass (most of whom represent an oppressed underclass) is a pretty reactionary thing to do.

[shawn703]

28. I havent read comics for a while

But I picked up one a while back where the Marvel superheroes were splitting up into groups on whether or not they should reveal their true identities or not. Wasn't Iron Man on the side of making everyone reveal their identity? I thought that was pretty right vs left, with Iron Man on the right. Again I only flipped through it at a supermarket so I may be missing a good chunk of story.

[Stand and Fight]

35. No, you got the jist of it. It was the Marvel Civil War storyline.

And it ran through a number of books. I suggest you try to find and read it all. Very good stuff and very relevant -- even with "change we can('t) believe in".

[Teaser]

27. But is Clark Kent giving up his citizenship?

because my supervillain alter ego, Dr. Pervenstein isn't a citizen of any country.

[KittyWampus]

38. This would be even more radical if it'd been Captain America renouncing.

[Appenzell Wars]

39. Well in all fairness with the election of Lex Luthor for Gov of Florida.

Did he really have a choice???/