Post by Doc Quantum on Dec 6, 2013 19:00:51 GMT -6
OK, maybe "terrorist" isn't the right word. The right word would be "fascist," as in "might makes right." The golden age Superman was basically a left-leaning fascist who singlehandedly ended wars for fun and intentionally destroyed millions of dollars of private property just to prove a point. And if bad guys got killed in the process, well, it wasn't that big a deal.
I've been reading all the Superman stories in chronological order, something I've been doing for a while with the Silver Age Superman comics. But I decided to take a break from the Silver Age and go back to the beginning. And, man, Superman is one crazy mofo. Whenever he got mad about something, major destruction inevitably followed!
I've written short synopses of a few notable stories that I've already placed on the Five Earths Project's Earth-2 timeline.
Originally, Superman's relationship with the law was virtually nonexistent. The police originally didn't believe there was a Superman, and they were content to turn a blind eye on Superman's activities as long as he confined it to small-time stuff. But then this happened:
Superman first becomes wanted by the law after he completely destroys Metropolis' slums in order to force the government to step in and build new, huge apartment projects to replace the old run-down buildings. Police Chief Burke vows to capture Superman, even though he agrees with Superman's actions off the record. [Superman, Action Comics #8 (January, 1939)]
Yes, Superman destroyed an entire neighborhood populated by the poorest people in the city. It's not like he gave them any choice in the matter, either. He just got a bunch of neighborhood kids to go around to every house and building and tell people to gather their most precious belongings and get the hell out. Then Superman razed the whole place down to the ground, theorizing that the government would step in and construct a bunch of building projects (yes, Superman was responsible for "the projects" in Metropolis -- and we all know how crime-ridden "the projects" are in every city that has them). Meanwhile, thousands of people had nowhere to live and had only gotten out by the skin of their teeth with only what they could carry in their hands, basically.
Superman basically made a decision that would affect thousands of people in very negative ways for months, without consulting with the people themselves. That's basically what a terrorist does.
Superman uses the new identity of Homer Ramsey to buy up (with his own life savings) all the worthless stock of the Black Gold oil well sold to naive investors by crooked brokers Meek & Bronson, then travels to the oil well out west and drills for oil overnight. After the well strikes oil, the price of the shares skyrocket, and Superman earns $1,000,000 from selling the shares back to Meek & Bronson, before finally destroying the oil well and setting it on fire to teach them a lesson. [Superman, Action Comics #11 (April, 1939)]
OK, so the first part of this is kind of cool. Clark Kent uses his own money to buy out a bunch of worthless stock at more than what the hapless investors paid for them -- and all those investors were ordinary people, like senior citizens and single mothers and such. That's very cool, Superman. But what happens afterward is just dickish behavior. OK, so after he makes the oil well profitable, he sells the shares back to the crooked brokers and makes a cool million in the process, which is actually fairly smart, since he later uses that one million dollars to help pay for the mortage of Kidtown. But then he destroyed the oil well and set it on fire in order to teach them a lesson -- this oil well is now completely useless and will keep burning until the oil runs out. There's got to have been a better way to go about making your point, Superman, than using a tactic that Saddam Hussein would famously use during the Persian Gulf War.
This next one just shows how insane Superman was back then:
After fellow reporter Charlie Martin is killed in a hit-and-run outside the Daily Star building, Superman declares war on reckless drivers by issuing a warning on the radio, destroying every traffic violators' car in an impound lot, destroys every car in a notorious used-car lot, scares a drunken driver, destroys the manufacturing plant of the Bates Motor Company, and brings the mayor himself to the morgue to view the mangled bodies of auto accident victims, causing the mayor to tighten up all restrictions for both vehicles and drivers in order to make the roads safer. [Superman, Action Comics #12 (May, 1939)]
Yes, that's right. Superman destroys every car in an impound lot, many of which, for all we know, could have been impounded for parking in a no-parking zone too long, or for some other harmless parking violation. This is back during the GREAT DEPRESSION, when a car was a luxury item. So imagine you wake up one morning after scraping together a little money from your low-paying job, then head to the impound lot to finally pay off that parking ticket and pick up the family car, only to realize that it has been destroyed by one man on a insanely misdirected crusade. You'd be devastated!
Not to mention that Superman singlehandedly drove several used-car dealers and one car manufacturer completely out of business based on statistics that Clark Kent looked up stating that these cars were more likely to be involved in auto accidents than others. I can understand his motivation, but I damn well hope that he verified those statistics! Holy crap!
And you've got to wonder how close Clark Kent was with Charlie Martin, the dude who was killed. They must have been best buds in order for Superman to declare war on half the citizens of the city of Metropolis!
These are just three examples so far. I will be back with more, including a recounting of all the people that the golden age Superman killed.
I've been reading all the Superman stories in chronological order, something I've been doing for a while with the Silver Age Superman comics. But I decided to take a break from the Silver Age and go back to the beginning. And, man, Superman is one crazy mofo. Whenever he got mad about something, major destruction inevitably followed!
I've written short synopses of a few notable stories that I've already placed on the Five Earths Project's Earth-2 timeline.
Originally, Superman's relationship with the law was virtually nonexistent. The police originally didn't believe there was a Superman, and they were content to turn a blind eye on Superman's activities as long as he confined it to small-time stuff. But then this happened:
Superman first becomes wanted by the law after he completely destroys Metropolis' slums in order to force the government to step in and build new, huge apartment projects to replace the old run-down buildings. Police Chief Burke vows to capture Superman, even though he agrees with Superman's actions off the record. [Superman, Action Comics #8 (January, 1939)]
Yes, Superman destroyed an entire neighborhood populated by the poorest people in the city. It's not like he gave them any choice in the matter, either. He just got a bunch of neighborhood kids to go around to every house and building and tell people to gather their most precious belongings and get the hell out. Then Superman razed the whole place down to the ground, theorizing that the government would step in and construct a bunch of building projects (yes, Superman was responsible for "the projects" in Metropolis -- and we all know how crime-ridden "the projects" are in every city that has them). Meanwhile, thousands of people had nowhere to live and had only gotten out by the skin of their teeth with only what they could carry in their hands, basically.
Superman basically made a decision that would affect thousands of people in very negative ways for months, without consulting with the people themselves. That's basically what a terrorist does.
Superman uses the new identity of Homer Ramsey to buy up (with his own life savings) all the worthless stock of the Black Gold oil well sold to naive investors by crooked brokers Meek & Bronson, then travels to the oil well out west and drills for oil overnight. After the well strikes oil, the price of the shares skyrocket, and Superman earns $1,000,000 from selling the shares back to Meek & Bronson, before finally destroying the oil well and setting it on fire to teach them a lesson. [Superman, Action Comics #11 (April, 1939)]
OK, so the first part of this is kind of cool. Clark Kent uses his own money to buy out a bunch of worthless stock at more than what the hapless investors paid for them -- and all those investors were ordinary people, like senior citizens and single mothers and such. That's very cool, Superman. But what happens afterward is just dickish behavior. OK, so after he makes the oil well profitable, he sells the shares back to the crooked brokers and makes a cool million in the process, which is actually fairly smart, since he later uses that one million dollars to help pay for the mortage of Kidtown. But then he destroyed the oil well and set it on fire in order to teach them a lesson -- this oil well is now completely useless and will keep burning until the oil runs out. There's got to have been a better way to go about making your point, Superman, than using a tactic that Saddam Hussein would famously use during the Persian Gulf War.
This next one just shows how insane Superman was back then:
After fellow reporter Charlie Martin is killed in a hit-and-run outside the Daily Star building, Superman declares war on reckless drivers by issuing a warning on the radio, destroying every traffic violators' car in an impound lot, destroys every car in a notorious used-car lot, scares a drunken driver, destroys the manufacturing plant of the Bates Motor Company, and brings the mayor himself to the morgue to view the mangled bodies of auto accident victims, causing the mayor to tighten up all restrictions for both vehicles and drivers in order to make the roads safer. [Superman, Action Comics #12 (May, 1939)]
Yes, that's right. Superman destroys every car in an impound lot, many of which, for all we know, could have been impounded for parking in a no-parking zone too long, or for some other harmless parking violation. This is back during the GREAT DEPRESSION, when a car was a luxury item. So imagine you wake up one morning after scraping together a little money from your low-paying job, then head to the impound lot to finally pay off that parking ticket and pick up the family car, only to realize that it has been destroyed by one man on a insanely misdirected crusade. You'd be devastated!
Not to mention that Superman singlehandedly drove several used-car dealers and one car manufacturer completely out of business based on statistics that Clark Kent looked up stating that these cars were more likely to be involved in auto accidents than others. I can understand his motivation, but I damn well hope that he verified those statistics! Holy crap!
And you've got to wonder how close Clark Kent was with Charlie Martin, the dude who was killed. They must have been best buds in order for Superman to declare war on half the citizens of the city of Metropolis!
These are just three examples so far. I will be back with more, including a recounting of all the people that the golden age Superman killed.
