Action Comics #900 - Superman Goes Global (spoiler)

If you're a comic reader and you ignored the spoiler warning in the title, well, you chose to look.

Superman Decides to Renounce His US Citizenship

The panel from the comic is displayed at the blog posting above.

Apparently he's more hard-core than Statesman, who just said "We don't work for you" but never outright said "I don't want to be an American."

Of course, Kal-El was an illegal alien, technically... In fact, it isn't clear to me that he ever had American citizenship in the first place...

I wonder if Clark is going to rush out and declare himself a global citizen now and get a green card?

A valid question, though, is that if Supes is serious and follows through, then where will he base himself? Working out of Metropolis would seem to be a little problematic after renouncing his citizenship. Declaring himself a citizen of the world doesn't exactly give him carte blanche to disrespect borders and do whatever he pleases, though I suppose there isn't really anybody who could stop him from going pretty much wherever he pleases, anyway.

Heh... at least they used attempt to hide the flagging sales PR stunts in the past.

Dear DC,

Wanna impress me so much I'll start buying issues again?

1) Reboot the best (eg, written before 1986 unless it's a really, really stand out books, like Jeff Loebs "Long Halloween"and ) of the Silver, Iron and Modern Age books under the "Earth 1" imprint. Then go reread as many Silver Age Books as you can and make the titles like that.

Why? So they'll be fun to read again.

2) Reboot the "Golden Age" flagship books under the imprint of "Earth 2" Then go reread as many Golden Age Books as you can and make the titles like that, right down to being set in "period".

Why? So they'll be fun to read again.

3) Ditch everything else.

4) Make it so that each hero appears in only one singles book and one team book.

5) When considering a concept for "world wide game changing kaffkaffcrisiskaff event!" Everyone who likes the idea should have to undergo the Native American "Sundance" of the Souix for a week, to prove thier commitment to not making it a huge heaping convoluted mess.

6) Forget the terms "Digital Comics" or "Motion Comics..." Paper and ink are your freakin' mediums.

6) Have everyone involved sign a contract that includes the phrase "no take-backs or I'll never work in the comic industry again."

Sincerely,

Jetboy.

PS: Extra credit for bringing back digests.

It's 106 miles to Grandville, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing faceless helmets

... Hit it ...

Blame editors, not writers

The main problem with the story is that Superman has been a "citizen of the world" for decades. But inconsistent characterization has been part of the Superman books for so long, why stop now?

Secondly, the story suffers from the same problem as a lot of modern Superman stories- it's characters standing around talking about Superman. The title is "Action Comics", why not have Superman perform an act that shows he's not a political tool (like stopping a US-launched missile fired on a foreign city), rather than just tell us?

That would also avoid dropping Superman into very serious, real-world current events, which I think is kind of poor taste. (I realize they used Iran instead of North African, but still...)

Betting its a ploy to avoid paying any income taxes by not being a citizen of any country and living in his fortress.

Yet another reason I'm glad that I no longer buy comics.

/rant

I can hear my grandfather rolling in his grave over this news.

Ok, I'm understanding what the premise here is; Superman is more than a national symbol; he belongs to the world.

OK.

So, Americans can't be citizens of the world either? Or Brits? Or Italians? Or Indians? Or Brazilians? Last I checked, when the last set of emergencies happened recently in Haiti and Japan, the world's nations responded, and thousands of emergency responders, doctors, aid workers and more helped those countries out (and continue to do so even years later); nationality was not an issue there; helping others was. How is it so different in the DC Universe that Supes has to renounce his American citizenship to do the SAME thing as any of those that recently helped in these crisis? I bet DC didn't even think of that.

In my view:

Superman has fought for truth, justice and what I would account to the mid-20th century's remdition of 'The American Way' for, what, more than 1/2 a century in our time? Now, the 'American Way' isn't good enough, eh? Did they care to 'define' what that "American Way" was, in regards to what Superman fought for? Did they just think, "well, America is disliked by most of the world today; maybe we shouldn't say 'american way' with Supes anymore; it'll upset the world", hmm? Did they once think to define WHAT facets of the "American Way" are, and maybe establish the differences in perception vs meaning? Nope, obviously too much to think about.

So he walks across the nation in the last few months of comics, trying to get 'down with the people' and realize what America is and what he's there for, so, his answer is to RENOUNCE his American citizenship now?? Uh...did I miss something in his trek across America? It would seem to me this would BOLSTER his desire to keep doing what he is doing.

When I was young, I was lucky enough to travel with my parents from one end of the US to the other, seeing New England, California and all points in between, wherein I marveled at the beauty of the land, some of the most incredible places (Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Mississippi River, New York, et al) and people and the incredible breadth of what America was. If anything, it made me MORE proud to be an American after doing that trip. It did NOT make me want to renounce my citizenship, unlike Supes.

Even though my trip across the US doesn't related to Supes foot slog, I swear this is simply a terrible plot dynamic DC is empolying to bolster sales, rather than a logical step in Superman's existance.

Millions of people read Superman stories in their newspapers, comics, watched Saturday morning cartoons, Saturday theater matinees, movies etc, over the last 60 years, now only to be told that he no longer wants to be an American citizen or be part of America. To those that thought some things would never change, well...

*SLAP TO AMERICA'S FACE*

Take that, America! That'll teach us to use him as an icon for good; a symbol of freedom and justice that young boys and girls can or dared to emmulate to. That'll teach us to have 60+ years of showing Supes waving the American Flag every 8th issue or movie and representing iconic standards of American life.

In this age where the American media daily and consistantly destroys our real life heroes by tearing them down and cheaply denegrating them, DC destroys their one true icon of virtue, a true American symbol, right from their own house.

Way to go DC.

Hey, you got any Bald Eagles you'd like to shoot and maim while you're at it?

Globalists can decry all they want that Superman was already a citizen of the world, but let's take this to point; Superman was an American icon first. Even though he came from Krypton, over countless issues over the last 60+ years, DC had him consistantly waving the American flag with pride, respect and patriotism for America, and as the melting pot of the world, moreso than any other country in the world, America seemed the right place for an alien from another world to get a fair chance to live as normal a life as possible with the Kents and be as accepted as he was here in the US. Now, it seems America is beneath him, or simply that whatever he represented for the last 60+ years is worthless.

DC has now killed our view of what Sueprman was as an icon.

That sliver of wholesomeness that Superman was to me, as far as I'm concerned, has been destroyed just like the media has torn down many of my other real life heroes.

Way to go DC.

Put me down for NEVER buying another one of your comics.

Ever.

As it is, life will go on for all of us, with this being just another facet of our childhood memories and iconic heroes being crushed beneath the heel of insidious fameseekers and those looking to rock the boat to get better sales and make themselves look better before their (DC) bosses, and thus I am not going to spend anymore time than with this post being upset about it, but, a parting thought...

When you take something away from someone, something they hold dear to their heart, and smash it in from of them, what does DC expect?

Handshakes and smiles?

Go to Hell, DC.

That is all.

/endrant

Where's his best buddy Bruce Wayne to tell him how stupid this is?

Really, this sounds like their way to get ready for the new Superman movie, so they can forget all about Superman being America's Superhero.

Superman has always gone out to save the world, or just save people from other countries. So they should already know where Superman stands.

On the plus side, every dystopian future that depicted Superman as a tool of governmental oppression in the name of law and order has just been sidestepped.

Whew! Dodged a bullet there. Thanks, Superman!

Clark Kent is a US Citizen. I don't think that Superman has ever been an actual, factual citizen except in his own mind. Given that his history is well known at this point, even your average American would consider him to be an adopted son, so to speak. Certainly, they would feel that he had adopted America.

As it stands, though, I'm not sure that he has anything to renounce. It's more of a divorce. DC in real life, and Supes in the fiction, should neither of them be surprised if people react to the situation as if it's a divorce.

If Superman has any real balls behind this new conviction of his, then the only way for him to truly renounce his citizenship is to renounce the fiction of Clark Kent. From now on, there should only be Kal-El, Last Son of Krypton.

Personally, though, I think it's a stupid move. However, we don't know where this story is going, yet. We may find that Supes goes before the UN and the UN buzzes about it for awhile and then offers him the Cassieopea option, to become an official citzen of every country of the world, or at least of every country that values him.

I'm sure that his buddies in the JLA will have something to say about it before all is said and done.

It just seems uneccessary, and its a bit disappointing this is the best idea they had for issue 900.

I always thought of Superman as an American symbol, one that was so nicely summed up by the motto of standing for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Which leads me to another thought, that it's disappointing that characters can't be explicitly American without coming off as shameful or jingoistic to writers and editors. It's a challenge to write a pro-American character that espouses the concept of, say, American Exceptionalism (Read: the concept that the freedoms provided to a hard working people with unique resources can produce exceptional things, and nothing to do with superiority) without propping up a strawmen to tear down. Usually points of pride for Americans in fictional media are often accompanied by points of pride for other countries; it's a nice, rare treat in my fictional story intake to see points of American pride unmolested.

The storyline's a good excuse for Superman to renounce his citizenship in order to avoid it being used by Iran as propoganda of American trouble-making. I also expect him to pick up the mantle of US Citizen again when the ratings call for it. However, I do wish they held enough respect for the character and what he stood for not to go through with this routine.

But, if enough people who thought like I did were buying the comic books in the first place, it wouldn't be happening. Go figure.

I like to think of both Superman and Lex Luthor as symbols of America, and its constant struggle between greatness and greed.

>.>

Superman was/is an honorary citizen of the USA... We don't know about other countries, but it is probably true that he has citizenship in several countries while guaranteed he is not a citizen of a place like Quraci.

Beyond that the JL is more or less an independent city-state to a degree so...yeah >.>


As far as "American way" well I have to point out that I myself support the constitution and the initial ideals laid down when the US was forming... however, I don't support the government as it is now and don't think I would at any point in its history given that the "american way" has always been to Lie about your intentions of moral superiority while trying to greedily acquire power and being bigoted towards one or more groups of people that are not the wealthy "majority" and this is more or less how the world sees the US and what the american way is.

In essence Lex Luthor represents the "American Way" far better while Superman is more the representative of the ideals that the US pretends to support. And the battle between them is closer to the battle between Idealogical naivety and Pragmatic excess.

And... it seems rather interesting that the line is "Truth, Justice, and the American way" which implies that Truth and Justice are not part of the american way... otherwise the line is redundant ^.^

Another reason they might be getting rid of it is because we're moving forward and any socially conscious person realizes that it's probably a bad thing to have there...especially when we're dealing with the whole world.

AH Dc and there publicity stunts , guess it's marginably better than the shocking death of- fill in the blank. Or the shocking return of- fill in the blank.

So dumb.

For someone as iconic as Superman, it doesn't actually matter what DC does withn him - they don't really own him anymore, or have any real control over his presence in popular culture.
If DC went out of business tomorrow, it'd affect Superman the comicbook character, but it wouldn't actually have any noticable effect on Superman the American icon.