Superman no longer a US citizen?

[SinXAzgard21]

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

What are your thoughts?

[Callie Del Noire]

I know it's a move to 'widen the Superman appeal for the impending movie' but it pisses me off that we're to PC that no one can claim the boy raised in Kansas as a citizen of the US anymore.

Almost as much as having Joe Quesada say that Captain America's outlook was no longer relevant in modern day.. a LOT of service men got pissed off by that.

[Kunoichi]

Eh.  From the way the article's presenting it, the move really seems to be one that makes actual logical sense, and wasn't just thrown in randomly to boost comic sales.  Superman is tired of dealing with international politics every time he goes out and helps people in other countries, so he's taking steps to deal with that problem.

It's not like he's renouncing Clark Kent's US citizenship, or something...

[Funguy81]

To be honest I can see the reasoning behind it from superman's point of view, but at the same time it looks like DC is trying for a PC move to say he's not going to represent the "American Way" when the alot of the people around the world really hates "American" ideals.

[Jefepato]

Isn't he an illegal immigrant?  How'd he get citizenship in the first place?

[Avis habilis]

I think he snuck in during one of those "guest worker" programs.

[Hemingway]

This doesn't seem like an instance of exaggerated political correctness to me. It seems like a pretty rational move.

[RubySlippers]

He is an asshole he is supposed to stand for the AMERICAN way plus truth and justice. Traitor.

I will be boycotting the next movie over this outrage.

[rick957]

Last line from the linked article:

Do you think the shift to a more global role makes sense for Superman? If he really is going to renounce his U.S. citizenship in order to function as a more international figure, how do you think it will affect the character?

It won't affect the character at all.  Nothing that anyone at DC Comics' publishing arm has done for the last 25 years has had any lasting effect on the character (with the possible exception of his marriage to Lois Lane, which was a terrible idea too, just like this latest boneheaded move).  Fortunately for the few people who care about the character, his identity is too ingrained in popular culture for any of his current comics to matter to anyone.

Besides, he's basically wearing an American flag, fer chrissakes.

hehe Sorry to sound like a bitter old fuck, but I'm old enough to remember when Superman was still a source of inspiration for kids, and not based on some movie or cartoon, but based on the comics themselves, when they were still a popular medium and not just source material for merchandise and spinoff projects. 

Has anyone been reading the comics lately?  Is the actual story any good?  Are there comics readers out there who enjoy anything that's been done with the character in a long time?  Examples?  Seriously, I'd love to hear from anyone who's read the character in the last couple decades, which I haven't really.  And I'm not someone who hates all modern comics, I've read plenty of great ones.

[Brandon]

Im a little torn, on one hand it makes sense for the character on the other hand it seems like a PC motivated development. Somethings just off about the whole thing but I cant quite put my finger on what exactly that is.

I am not really a big comic reader but I have purchased a trade here and there (Note: A trade is basicly a collection of comics forming a single story line in one book). The last DC trades I bought were having to deal with the multiverse's return and were published in the earlly 2000s I think (looking at my shelf the trades are titled infinite crisis, 52, countdown, and final crisis which are all pretty good when put together). For both DC and Marvel I think its hard for outsiders to get into comics, the massive amount of changes in continuity is what often keeps me away. Its a lot like a soap opera, you miss one day and it throws the entire story off for you.

Anyway, occasionally Ill see a trade, think it looks interesting, and grab it. Some are pretty bad or confusing while others are really interesting so I would suggest doing the same thing if you want to get into the various comic book stories out there.

[Sabby]

Has anyone been reading the comics lately?  Is the actual story any good?  Are there comics readers out there who enjoy anything that's been done with the character in a long time?  Examples?  Seriously, I'd love to hear from anyone who's read the character in the last couple decades, which I haven't really.  And I'm not someone who hates all modern comics, I've read plenty of great ones.

Superman: Distant Fires.

The world is wiped out by nuclear war, this takes away Supermans powers, and he's left riding around the wastes on a giant mutated rat with a machine gun looking for survivors. Him and surviving heroes somehow build a futuristic paradise where a civil war springs up, they realize that somehow the Earth is exploding from the nukes, and he uses Green Lanterns ring to make a ship and send his son to another planet.

It was horrible in many way. I'd get into At Earths End, but... your ears might bleed. It involves Superman somehow becoming God. Nazi's are involved.

[consortium11]

Superman: Secret Identity is a really good Elsewords (although not classed as such) series with a little meta-commentary. Essentially in a world where Superman is just a comic book character a boy named Clark Kent (which he really dislikes his parents for doing to him...) ends up developing his powers. Great characterisation and plot.

[HairyHeretic]

Is Red Son any good? The one where he lands in Russia instead of the US?

[Yorubi]

Don't blame him, US gives people a bad name... and its not even Americans faults, its the government mostly. Superman simply found out the American dream died years ago and such a place doesn't exist anymore.

WTB new continent found to restart a country that gets morals and doesn't loose them like the US did due to greed. *Pokes* Though that is political sounding, haha it is completely true. Why must everything go slowly diminish till its nothing like what it was dreamed to be in the past? >.< I bet you when we land on the moon it will be an amazing place (given it manages to separate itself from the countries) and have so much to offer and conflict after conflict will arrise and things will slowly spiral out of control.

[Jefepato]

Is Red Son any good? The one where he lands in Russia instead of the US?

Yeah, it's quite good, although I understand there is some disagreement over the way history changes due to Superman's actions.

[consortium11]

Is Red Son any good? The one where he lands in Russia instead of the US?

I personally found it excellent although quite a few people dislike the way that Wonder Woman is treated. Excellent characterisations of Batman and Lex Luthor which give each character their just credit without massively overpowering them (so no crazy Batgod type shenanigans). Does a good job of including most characters from the Superman lore in a clever and well integrated way.

Some dislike the way political decisions and consequences are handled in there but if you view it as a comic rather than a deep "What if" type alternate history it stands up well.

[Callie Del Noire]

Is Red Son any good? The one where he lands in Russia instead of the US?

I prefer the Gotham by Gaslight elseworlds better but it was fairly good.

[NotoriusBEN]

seems that Bruce Wayne's view of an entropic universe (corruption is the norm, requiring people to become points of light and make it right) is the right view.

superman is too much of a boy scout thinking that order and normalcy are the universal norm. took him 80 or so years, but he might be growing up finally. >.>;

[TheGlyphstone]

Superman: Distant Fires.

The world is wiped out by nuclear war, this takes away Supermans powers, and he's left riding around the wastes on a giant mutated rat with a machine gun looking for survivors. Him and surviving heroes somehow build a futuristic paradise where a civil war springs up, they realize that somehow the Earth is exploding from the nukes, and he uses Green Lanterns ring to make a ship and send his son to another planet.

It was horrible in many way. I'd get into At Earths End, but... your ears might bleed. It involves Superman somehow becoming God. Nazi's are involved.

Isn't At Earth's End the one reviewed by Seanbaby, where Superman fights twin Hitler clones with a 50-barreled quad-gatling gun or something? That's firmly into So Horrible It's Awesome territory.

[consortium11]

I prefer the Gotham by Gaslight elseworlds better but it was fairly good.

Gotham by Gaslight's generally held as the best of all of the Elseworld's though... it's going to be hard to find many Elseword type stories that people prefer to it (even accounting for individual taste).

[Jefepato]

Isn't At Earth's End the one reviewed by Seanbaby, where Superman fights twin Hitler clones with a 50-barreled quad-gatling gun or something? That's firmly into So Horrible It's Awesome territory.

That's accurate enough (except insofar as Bearded Idiot clearly has nothing to do with Superman other than wearing a similar costume), but it's not awesome at all, even though it should be.  It's just horrible.

[Major Major]

Speaking of Elseworlds comics and such, you know something that's always got my goat about DC and Marvel Comics? They always seem to go out of their way to put the United Kingdom in as bad a light as they can possibly manage.

[consortium11]

Speaking of Elseworlds comics and such, you know something that's always got my goat about DC and Marvel Comics? They always seem to go out of their way to put the United Kingdom in as bad a light as they can possibly manage.

Really?

The most high profile Marvel comic set in Britain recently that I can think of (Captain Britain and MI:13) showed both Britain and their superheroes in a pretty good light. There's a perhaps overly heavy focus on mythical lore and Britain's status as "Avalon" and some characters who at first glance appear to be pastiches (Captain Midlands and John the Skrull... a shape shifting alien in the guise of John Lennon who was sent to Earth in the 1960's to prepare it for invasion but ended up going native) but each has been given depth and character... John's death and Captain Midland's betrayal were both handled in a sensitive and touching way). Likewise in DC there's Knight and Squire (Britain's Batman and Robin analogue) which is a bit whimsical which again is quite whimsical but is written by Paul Cornell (a Brit himself who has also worked on Dr Who). It's a bit heavy on meta commentary at times (mainly about the sense of fun in comics compared to the "grim dark" that's often become the focus in recent years but it can also be genuinely touching.

That's without getting into the likes of Hellblazer and the other comics published by the big two's imprints.

[Brandon]

Speaking of Elseworlds comics and such, you know something that's always got my goat about DC and Marvel Comics? They always seem to go out of their way to put the United Kingdom in as bad a light as they can possibly manage.

I recomend you look into Union Jack which is kind of like Marvels version of the english captain america. Cool costume + neat back story and a pretty good view on the english IMO

[Cold Heritage]

I'm kind of surprised he didn't do this after the whole New Krypton thing, since the President of the United States of America signed off on General Lane and Lex Luthor working towards the genocide of the Kryptonian people and the destruction of the planet of New Krypton.

It kind of seems naive to me. If people figure he's a tool of American Imperialism, after everything he's done to save the entire planet, then I don't think this'll convince people that he's a non-partisan alien who really just wants to inspire humanity to the greatness he sees in them.