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Toward a Red Planet (Superman goes Communist)
National Post ^ | Monday, May 12, 2003 | Jeet Heer

Posted on 05/16/2003 11:20:08 AM PDT by adam_az

(note hammer and sickle on chest!)

Joseph Stalin and Superman would seem to have little in common except their shared nickname, "the Man of Steel." Stalin was a brutal dictator who murdered millions, while Superman is the mythical embodiment of truth, justice and the American way. Yet in Superman: Red Son, a new three-part comic book series, the first of which has just been released by DC Comics, writer Mark Millar posits an alternative universe where Superman grew up on a collective farm in the Ukraine in the 1930s rather than in the idyllic Midwest town of Smallville, U.S.A.

Indoctrinated with communist ideology from birth, this new version of Superman grows up to be a "champion of the common worker" who "fights a never-ending battle for Stalin, socialism and the international expansion of the Warsaw Pact." In the first chapter of the series, which is selling briskly at comic book stores, the Stalinist Superman is well on his way to leading the Soviet Union of the 1950s to victory in the Cold War, using his superpowers to make his native land the world's only superpower.

Although using the Soviet Union as a background, the storyline is actually a sly comment on contemporary world politics, where the United States dominates the globe like an unchecked giant. Just as President George W. Bush is willing to bomb any country that could challenge American hegemony, the Soviet Superman uses his strength to gain global dominance.

Graced by strong, muscular art by Dave Johnson, the first issue of Superman: Red Son also demonstrates that there is a deep affinity between the aesthetics of superheroes and traditional socialist realism; both styles favour strong, manly physiques flexing their muscles.

In an interview with The Times of London, Millar admitted that playing around with an icon such as Superman is a provocative step. "Drawing images of Superman tearing down the Stars and Stripes and kicking in the White House doors with a hammer and sickle on his chest is the equivalent of making a joke about Princess Diana at her funeral," he observed.

Comic-book fans such as Jordan Elliot, who manages a Superman fan Web site, object to what they see as Millar's politicization of the beloved superhero. "I've always thought that politicizing Superman is a mistake," Elliot says.

Yet in many ways, by mixing up Superman with real world politics, Millar is helping to return the character to his roots.

As originally conceived by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster in the 1930s, Superman has always tried to make life better, not just by defeating bad guys like Lex Luthor and Brainiac, but also by intervening in political events.

One reason why the idea of a communist Superman is mildly plausible is that cartoonist Shuster could trace his ancestry back to Russia. Born in Toronto in 1914, Shuster's immigrant Jewish family had arrived in North America from Kiev (via Rotterdam). "Superman didn't really come from the planet Krypton, he came from the planet Minsk or Pinsk," political cartoonist Jules Feiffer once observed in a wry discussion of the immigrant origins of many early American comic book artists.

After Shuster's family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1924, he met his future collaborator Jerry Siegel. As second-generation immigrant Jews who came of age during the Great Depression, Shuster and Siegel developed their politics in a distinctively left-liberal milieu.

As social historian Irving Howe notes, from the 1920s onward American Jews were "largely committed to a politics of liberalism, both in the narrow sense of voting for the New Deal wing of the Democratic party and in the larger sense of favouring an internationalist foreign policy, a strong defence of civil liberties, active social legislation on behalf of deprived groups, and special efforts to help American blacks."

The liberal politics that Shuster and Siegel shared can be seen in the earliest Superman stories, from the mid-1930s, before their publisher took editorial control in 1948 after a protracted legal battle. Reprinted by DC Comics in a series called the Superman Archives, these early stories show Superman as a crime fighter with a distinct political conscience. He is seen fighting against a wife-beater, a lynch mob, two munitions manufacturers, some war-crazed military dictators, a drunk driver and a gangster who tries to take over a labour union.

Like the movies of Frank Capra and the Warner brothers from the same era, these early Superman tales are animated by a charmingly naive version of New Deal liberalism. Superman uses his fists to fight the social problems that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt tackled through social legislation. Not surprisingly, Superman is even described in one panel as the "saviour of the helpless and oppressed."

In one story from Superman #1, the Man of Steel tackles labour relations. The story opens with a coal mine collapsing. Superman rescues Stanislaw Kober, a worker trapped in the accident. Afterward, in the guise of Clark Kent, Superman finds out the cause of the accident. The miners turn out to be poor immigrants exploited by a cruel and criminally negligent employer.

"Months ago we know mine is unsafe," Kober says. "But when we tell boss's foreman they say: 'No like job, Stanislaw? Quit!' " The plight of the miners leads Superman to take the matter into his own hands by pulling an elaborate trick on the owner of the mine, Thornton Blakely. Using a series of elaborate and implausible deceptions, Superman gets Blakely and his capitalist friends trapped in the same coal mine that nearly killed Kober. After being "rescued" from this near-death situation, Blakely agrees to improve working conditions for his employees. In the last panel, Clark Kent says, "Congratulations on your new policy. May it be a permanent one!" However, Kent also thinks: "If it isn't, you can expect another visit from Superman!"

In Superman: Red Son the famous Kryptonian is shown battling against such practical problems as breadlines and the arms race. However odd this communist Superman may seem to some, he does bear a family resemblance to the left-liberal superhero who battled injustice back in the 1930s.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Cuba; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Russia
KEYWORDS: antibush; bewaretheredmenace; bigmedia; bravosierra; bunk; bushbashing; cartoonist; comic; comicbook; comicbooks; comics; commies; communism; communistm; communists; dccomic; isntpublicdomainyet; mccarthywasright; neocoms; prodictator; prosaddam; prostalin; reddupes; redmenace; socialism; socialistclaptrap; socialists; stalinsusefulidiots; superman; theredmenace; timewarner; warnerbros
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To: HELLRAISER II
I may have misinterpreted his comment but I thought he meant the 1960s "new realism, anti-hero" comics like Denny O'Neil and Neal Adam's GreenLantern/GreenArrow (drug abuse, slams at Nixon, Christ figures, etc.).
41 posted on 05/16/2003 12:47:43 PM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
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To: billbears
The writer of the article thinks its a good thing and shows the positive sides of socialism. He also uses it as an opportunity to dig at President Bush.

I'm writing about the article, not the comic.

42 posted on 05/16/2003 12:50:43 PM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
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To: weegee
if this is like miller's other works,

Truth, Justice, and the American Way win out.
43 posted on 05/16/2003 1:01:18 PM PDT by longtermmemmory
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44 posted on 05/16/2003 1:14:33 PM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
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To: longtermmemmory
I'm familiar with the work of FRANK Miller (and even Pete Millar, of Car-toons) but not of MARK MILLAR.
45 posted on 05/16/2003 1:19:43 PM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
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To: adam_az
So far this comic book year, Supes went commie, the Rawhide Kid went gay, and the Super Soldier formula that was originally thought to have been first tested on a white guy (who became Captain America) was actually secretly tested on black men first.

Keep trashing our heroes.

46 posted on 05/16/2003 1:22:14 PM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
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To: weegee
That's why I posted it...
47 posted on 05/16/2003 1:24:58 PM PDT by adam_az
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To: weegee
holy name confusion: its an ooops!
48 posted on 05/16/2003 1:30:39 PM PDT by longtermmemmory
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To: Melas
Ahhh so!
49 posted on 05/16/2003 1:38:48 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (®)
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To: Melas
I should add that while I am a fan of the Man of Steel, I am a died in the wool Marvel reader and collector. Stan Lee is my hero.
50 posted on 05/16/2003 1:40:08 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (®)
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To: adam_az
Superman goes Communist

It's been done.

51 posted on 05/16/2003 1:43:16 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (There is no Muse but Jabootu, and Ed Wood is His prophet.)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
spiderman movie, crowd scene where the goblin takes out the board of directors. The man with grey hair who pulls the little girl from dangers is stan lee.
52 posted on 05/16/2003 1:44:47 PM PDT by longtermmemmory
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To: adam_az
"What next, a blonde Nazi version called Ubermensch?"

FYI there is a Short Story titled Ubermensch and it deals with the idea that Superman fell to earth in Germany in the 30's rather than America.

Wasn't a bad read!

53 posted on 05/16/2003 1:47:51 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg (French: old Europe word meaning surrender)
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To: Smedley
"Little Tommy Taylor, from Ft. Wayne Indiana, writes in to ask: "what if Superman was from Nazi Germany?"

another classic was..

"Little Tommy Taylor, from Ft. Wayne Indiana, writes in to ask: "what if Napoleon had a fully loaded B-52 at the Battle of Waterloo?"

The cast of SNL should sue this POS for plagarizing their ideas!!
54 posted on 05/16/2003 1:51:41 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: Smedley
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Commieman!
Yes, it's Commieman.
Strange visitor from another collective,
who came to Mother Russia with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man.
Commieman,
Who can change the course of Capitalism;
Bend truth with his bare hands.
And who, disguised as Klark Kentovich,
mild mannered reporter for Pravda,
fights a never ending battle for untruth, injustice and the Socialist way.
55 posted on 05/16/2003 1:53:57 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY (((Is Perry White, Perry Red?)))
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To: adam_az
Sounds like more Stalinist revisionism. Unless its really Bizarro in Bizarro World where, of course, Soviet Russia would be the reigning superpower.
56 posted on 05/16/2003 2:03:24 PM PDT by fat city
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To: adam_az
The above article by this socialist was pure projection and BUNK.

"Superman" as originally envisioned by Siegel and Schuster (possibly pre-stock market crash) was a character on a whole planet of super beings. They wrote to a fanzine and received a response from SF author Jack Williamson who suggested that they place their "super man" among a race of normal bodied beings.

I think that they then positioned Superman as a villian (these were merely text stories).

Superman

Superman's early development was awkward. Siegel first used the name in 1933 for a science fiction story titled, “The Reign of Superman,” with illustrations by Schuster. Inspired by the German philosopher Nietzsche, Siegel's first Superman was an evil mastermind with advanced mental powers. Unfortunately, the text of this story has been lost to history. After Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 and proceeded to distort Nietzsche's concept of Superman, Siegel and Shuster decided to rethink their own concept of Superman's character

"The Reign Of Superman" may be extremely rare but Nicholas Cage auction off a copy last year.

57 posted on 05/16/2003 3:04:08 PM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
But Stan Lee is a Clinton-supporting wacko...
58 posted on 05/16/2003 3:19:59 PM PDT by Paul Ross (From the State Looking Forward to Global Warming! Let's Drown France!)
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To: longtermmemmory
The man with grey hair who pulls the little girl from dangers is stan lee.

I saw that! It actually took me until the 3rd viewing to recognize Stan in that scene. It went by so fast.

59 posted on 05/16/2003 3:20:34 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (®)
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To: Paul Ross
But Stan Lee is a Clinton-supporting wacko...

Nobody's perfekt.

60 posted on 05/16/2003 3:21:19 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (®)
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