Freepers in outrage over Superman comic

[Hugabear]

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

<snip>
After recently undertaking a journey to walk -- not fly -- across the United States in the "Grounded" storyline and reconnect with the country and everyday Americans, Superman appears to be taking another step that could have major implications for his national identity: in Action Comics #900...

...Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship. Despite very literally being an alien immigrant, Superman has long been seen as a patriotic symbol of "truth, justice, and the American way," from his embrace of traditional American ideals to the iconic red and blue of his costume. What it means to stand for the "American way" is an increasingly complicated thing, however, both in the real world and in superhero comics, whose storylines have increasingly seemed to mirror current events and deal with moral and political complexities rather than simple black and white morality.

The key scene takes place in "The Incident," a short story in Action Comics #900 written by David S. Goyer with art by Miguel Sepulveda. In it, Superman consults with the President's national security advisor, who is incensed that Superman appeared in Tehran to non-violently support the protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime, no doubt an analogue for the recent real-life protests in the Middle East. However, since Superman is viewed as an American icon in the DC Universe as well as our own, the Iranian government has construed his actions as the will of the American President, and indeed, an act of war.

Superman replies that it was foolish to think that his actions would not reflect politically on the American government, and that he therefore plans to renounce his American citizenship at the United Nations the next day -- and to continue working as a superhero from a more global than national perspective. From a "realistic" standpoint it makes sense; it would indeed be impossible for a nigh-omnipotent being ideologically aligned with America to intercede against injustice beyond American borders without creating enormous political fallout for the U.S. government.
<snip>


Check out the freeper reaction in the comments section. Poor widdle freepers. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Drale]

1. If freepers actually read comics they would be even more outraged

because comic books are the last fully liberal media. Marvel is owned by Disney and they still tear into the right wing on a regular basis.

"Tommy
Superman is a fictional person. Why all the hubbub? I've read comics seance I was able to read. I never lost sight of the fact that it was fiction. So people grow up." :rofl:

[slay]

10. Yep

just look at Grant Morrison's run on the Batman titles for the last few years for proof. super liberal.

[Drale]

14. Ok I meant Marvel sorry

I don't read DC mainly because comics are to expensive and I can only afford Marvel.

[slay]

18. Yeah they are expensive

and many times the writers alternate between DC and Marvel - I know Grant Morrison had a run on X-Men awhile back. scans of comics can always be found for free on the internet if you know where to look - i support paying for comics - but when you're super poor - it's a nice way to catch up. :evilgrin: also many local libraries carry the collected editions of DC and Marvel comics. ours has a good amount of others too like Darkhorse and Image.

[mrcheerful]

2. Like always the poor widdle freeps don't understand that Truth, Justice and the American way

were all FDR visions that were later hi jacked by run away Ronnie and perverted into what freeps believe, Truth only as a last resort or you get caught with your hands in your campaign managers panties, Justice for those who can buy it and the American way of corporate greed and welfare, everyone else can go starve if they aren't willing to work for slave wages.

[hifiguy]

16. Indeed

Siegel and Shuster, who created Superman, were a couple of working class immigrant-stock Jewish kids from Cleveland IIRC. Superman was in part an embodiment of the positivism of the New Deal who fought corruption and crime.

[Angry Dragon]

3. To a lot of them the 'Flintstones' was a documentary

[NoGOPZone]

17. yes, one which proved that dinosaurs and man did coexist. nt

[pacalo]

4. Since the "American way" no longer supports truth or justice, & since it now

stands for invading countries that have oil; commiting treason against its own CIA agents; supporting corporations over its most vulnerable citizens; supporting torture -- even of its own citizens; ignoring partisan politics conducted by its Supreme Court justices; allowing wealthy lobbyists to write our laws that are harmful to its constituency (although the corporate-friendly majority of the SCOTUS ruled that corporations are now "citizens"), & on & on & on...

what else could Superman do to maintain his integrity? ;)

[tuvor]

5. Besides, he was created by a Canadian.

Well, the drawn part, anyway.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. confirming the fact that they are indeed, scraping the bottom of the outrage barrel. n/t

[FSogol]

7. Guess Superman got sick of all the Freepers asking for his birth certificate/

:shrug:

[Hugabear]

9. +1 - classic!

Now that would be a great story line - Superman running for president, and all the teabagger birthers going after him.

[Shiver]

19. Actually, they'd have reason to in his case.

Superman is not a natural born citizen. :P

[slay]

11. rofl

:rofl:

[Tabasco_Dave]

8. They can still read Jack Chick comics. n/t

[Hugabear]

12. Hard to believe, but they're still churning those things out

And they haven't changed a bit...

One of their latest tracts, chock-full of good ole homophobia...

[DCKit]

13. Teh FReep just don't get the difference between "Patriotism" and "Nationalism".

Their willful ignorance is dangerous to the U.S. in so many ways.

[quinnox]

15. I always thought Superman was lame

Silliness when you have a super hero is basically all powerful.

Marvel comics have much more interesting super heroes.

[Prophet 451]

20. Seen them already

During the Silver Age (roughly from the revival of the Flash in 1956 to Gwen Stacy's death in 1973), it was the story that the Kents found him and took him to an orphanage. Bot on their way home, they had second thoughts so they turned around, went back and adopted him. Since he was adopted by American residents, he's considered a citizen.

It was retconned (rewriting history, comics do it all the time) during the Bronze Age (roughly from the death of Gwen Stacy to Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1985) that Clark had been loaded into a "birthing matrix" (artificial womb) as a foetus back on Krypton and continued gestating during the trip to earth. So he was "born" in a Kansas field so he's a citizen. Then the Kents found him and took him into the local hospital, claiming that he'd been born at home during a recent blizzard (rural Kansas, remember) and got him registered that way so he'd have a birth certificate too.

Superman's history got retconned again during Infinite Crisis a few years back and the current story is that Clark was born on Krypton but he's also a US citizen. It's unclear whether they're going with the orphanage story or the blizzard story to explain that. Also, he was awarded citizenship by Kennedy and Reagan's amnesty for illegal aliens would presumably have covered him too.

Besides, it's not clear if the story is in-continuity and even if it is, Clark is still retaining his citizenship (which could make for some interesting stories). Since Kal-El is a walking (or flying) weapon of mass destruction, it would be a bit naive if him claiming US citizenship didn't cause an international incident whenever he intervened outside the US.

And yes, I am a great big geek :)