The media were surprised when James Gunn called Superman “immigrant” in a recent interview with Variety. But no one really denied that. What should I do? Crypton, the birthplace of Superman, is very far away. It’s not even real either.
nevertheless.
The reason some people have lost cool is because people tend to fool themselves that Superman is “on top” politics. Instead, he is either a “ray of welcoming” or a “balm for our souls in these trials.” Of course, that’s all true, but is he still inevitably political? Is he a pro-immigrant or an anti-fascist? Or is he a brave version of Mr. Rogers of the exact same colour? I think he is everything, but if you look back at his creation, we can see his true political identity.
As a protest.
From Action Comic #1 (1938)
Superman was engrossed in the early 1930s by two friends Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in Cleveland, Ohio. It is no coincidence that he was created the same year that Hitler came to power in Germany. When the children of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and Kiev heard firsthand about Siegel and Shaster’s anti-Semitic violence and fascist rule. Their parents literally ran from there. When they finally arrived in the US, they thought Cleveland was far enough away from Europe. That wasn’t the case.
Like many American cities, Cleveland had several organizations of German-Americans who were sympathetic or loyal to the Nazis. They had different names, ranging from German friends to German American doors to silver shirts. Nearby countryside Parma, German Zenterle, was a private farm boasting summer amenities such as swimming, soccer fields and rifle ranges. The kids ran around and played, their white skin burning red. The bandstand was painted on sw.
Summer activities in Zenterle, Germany, outside Cleveland, in 1937. From Michael Silkraj, Cleveland Nazis (2014).
There was resistance to these groups. On May 14, 1933, 12,000 people filled the public auditorium in Cleveland, protesting Hitler’s immigration policy and his persecution of Jews. They held signs of Jews, Catholics, and even communists as military veterans who booed Hitler (until they were kicked out to do the same in the national anthem). This resulted in an economic boycott of German products led by Cleveland. This is the first in the nation to be a means of aggressive protest.
May 15, 1933, from a plain dealer.
However, the Nazis did not stop. They marched in full uniforms at the July 4 parade, and Leon Wiesenfeld, a veteran Cleveland reporter who wrote sympathetic Cleveland Mayor Harold Burton for the Jewish world, “Heil, Heil, our Mayor!”, asked the mayor if he was worried about the message this might send. Mayor Burton said, “study.” Burton continued to become a US Senator before joining the US Supreme Court bench.
Cleveland Band Meeting, 1937. From Michael Silkraj, Cleveland Nazis (2014).
What did Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel think about all of this? During this time he attended high school and worked with the student newspaper Glenville Torch. On April 21, 1932, Siegel is referenced in a satirical column entitled “Impossible.” The list includes the impossible image of “Jerry Siegel and Adolf Hitler engaged in Pinochle’s wild game.”
At high school where he was no one on all accounts, it seems that readers already know that Jerry is mentioned in the paper (by someone other than himself) to make a joke: Jerry hated Hitler.
1932. Seven years before the beginning of World War II.
There are other echoes in the Nazi Playbook and our own presents. The Dominant Council ignores sound scientific data that supports maintaining political power, which causes the planet of Crypton’s Superman to explode. Young Superman Cal El was saved by his parents and secretly swayed to Earth. There he lives on a farm in Kansas as an immigrant with a false birth certificate. He became a journalist dedicated to the free press, where he frequently writes about the outlaw plot of Lex Luthor, a leading billionaire technician.
When Superman first appeared in the new anthology comic book Action Comic #1 in 1938, he appeared alongside other comics such as “Pep Morgan,” “The Adventures of Marcopolo,” and “Sticky Mitt Stimson.” Superman quickly stood out, destroying a brand new sedan on the cover, and a middle-aged man crushed his hat in horror. And why? The world’s first superhero came out of nowhere and had an agenda. He wasn’t fighting green aliens or giant gorillas. In his first issue, Superman stands up against corrupt lobbyists who are fighting domestic abuse, overturning beliefs of false death penalty, fighting gangs and chasing senators to make Senators more “entangled in Europe.”
Superman began as a response to actual current events. Pep Morgan boxed a man named Sailor Sorenson for his lightweight crown, and the sticky Mitt Stimson stole some produce. They don’t have a movie this summer. There’s still a reason why Superman talks to us, and that’s not necessarily because he’s so good. It may be because he is standing up for us.
With his alter ego, Superman flies to help people. The “S” on his chest does not represent hope. It is a placard that rises into the air for his own resistance movement, which is anti-fa and pro-parents. And because he is a comic book world, Superman often has to do some epic secondary damage when he is attacked by intergalactic fascists such as Darkseid and Mongul. But no one really gets hurt. After all, Superman is a protest, not a conqueror. He always pulls punches.
From Action Comic #1 (1938).
As the world’s first superhero, Superman was a revolution when Shuster’s first brushstrokes were still dry in Cleveland. Characters should be allowed to do children’s literature and their young creators not only as artists but as people with political opinions. No one heard them, so they turned their views into attention with the feat of cape and strength.
The problem is that it’s not authentic.
Superman served as a propaganda during World War II, but he left the fight for most part as his presence destroys the faithfulness of the story. Think about that a bit. Hitler didn’t need the spear of destiny to keep the superheroes away. I did the same with the truth. In this 1941 letter to the editors of the Washington Post, 14-year-old Earl Blondeheim explains why.
December 20, 1941, from the Washington Post.
Superman is a protest, not a fight itself, but a protest, not a fight itself. But the protests are just as powerful and sometimes even stronger. In those raw early cartoons, Superman is a red and blue riot. He moved as a force against fascism that was brewed in Europe, fighting in places with crafted names such as San Monte, Barovia, and Warworld. He is still fighting this battle nearly 90 years later. The action is fictional, but it is so amazing and on top, so it calls for an almost incredibly good job that it becomes a movement of its own kind and is limited only by the upper limit of our own imagination.
Bradricka is an award-winning author of seven books, including the creator of Super Boys: The Great Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shaster, Superman. Learn more at Brad-ricca.com.
Like this:
Like loading…
