Tomorrow, & Tomorrow — My Superman Story

A couple nights ago I couldn’t sleep. When this happens, I tend to listen to old-time radio — The Saint, The Shadow, Rocky Jordan, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, etc. This time I turned on my old favorite, The Adventures Of Superman.

Superman has been on my mind a lot lately, mostly because of the renewed debate over Zac Snyder’s Man Of Steel. Listening, I was thinking of how forward-thinking the radio show was, having him fight the KKK in 1946, equating them directly with Nazis. I’m glad that story has gotten a comics adaptation.

People complain all the time about politics getting mixed into comics, as if that’s not what they inherently are. Captain America’s first appearance showed him punching Hitler in the face. Wonder Woman was all about female empowerment — and punching Nazis. The X-Men were an analogy about “other-ness” — at the time race and religion, today LGBTQ+ and more.

It was recently announced that Superman’s mission statement was ditching “The American Way” as something he was fighting for. Now it’s “Truth, Justice, And A Better Tomorrow.” Since “The American Way” was only added in the 50s to fight the Commies, I’m all good with that.

Many writers have trouble writing interesting Superman stories. While Superman is based in part on Moses, he is often used as a Christ analogy. Which is fine, I guess, but doesn’t leave a lot of room for interesting stories — analogies are not, in themselves, compelling. A lot of time, too, creators feel the need to…