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Email Story to a Friend July 2, 2006 Truth, Justice American Way He's back: 'Superman Returns' and shows us a complicated hero who approaches the depth displayed in the version found in comic books Hollywood would have you believe Superman made his triumphant return to the cultural landscape last week with the release of "Superman Returns" in theaters. But the Man of Steel never really went anywhere. Step into any one of the 4,000 comic book shops scattered about the country, and you'll find Superman has been quite busy since most people last saw him. In the 19 years since the third and final sequel to Richard Donner's 1978 "Superman: The Movie," the Man of Steel has gotten married, lost his powers, regained his powers, spread fascism under Stalin during the Cold War, grown a beard, abandoned his faith in humanity, lost a fistfight to Batman and changed his costume numerous times. Oh, and sometime in the late '90s he was killed by Doomsday, a hulking gray alien with a mean case of psoriasis. "I used to hate Superman," says Andre Verner, an employee at More Fun, an Ashland comic book shop. "He had too many powers and seemed invincible, flat. But now with the new stories — and as I get older — he's become one of my favorites." Sixty-eight years ago two Jewish kids from Cleveland named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created America's most recognizable icon. And even though his origins were from beyond the stars, he came to embody America's promise to the immigrant who came here searching for a better life. Advertisement In a story this spring in Wired magazine, Hugo-award-winning novelist and comic scribe Neil Gaiman, along with Adam Rogers, argued that Superman had transcended paper and ink. "He has evolved into a folk hero, a fable," they wrote. "We retell his tales because we wish he were here, real, to keep us safe." It hasn't always been so. Superman's steadfast ideals of honor, truth and justice lost favor in the mid-'80s, when readers' tastes shifted to the dark and gritty. Brooding loners such as the Punisher and Wolverine dealt in a particularly lethal brand of justice that didn't gell with Superman's policy of no killing, ever. Interest in Superman plummeted. The sales of his monthly comics were so dismal, publisher D.C. Comics launched the "Death of Superman" to bring aboard new readers. However, most people who ventured into comic stores did so hoping to score a collector's item that would someday be worth big bucks. Most never bothered to read the book. The idea that comics could be valuable nearly toppled the industry in the late '90s as companies flooded the market to keep up with demand. Soon, after speculators realized comics weren't the gold mine they'd expected, they dumped them on eBay, leaving shops bulging with inventory and companies such as Marvel and D.C. on the verge of collapse. The industry is in better shape now, thanks to successful film characters such as Spider-Man and Batman. But most importantly, publishers seem committed to telling good stories. "Now it's fun to see the creative ways they make Superman more human," Verner said. "They don't just mess with Kryptonite anymore. Now, it's the evils of everyday life Superman cannot control." Comic-book creators recently have explored a possible dark side to the Superman myth. In 2003, Mark Millar wrote "Superman: Red Son," an alternate history that asks what would have happened had Superman's escape pod landed on a Soviet collective farm in the Ukraine. The book had comrade Kal-El embracing national Socialism and becoming the weapon Stalin needed to tip the balance of the Cold War in favor of Mother Russia. He used his super strength and speed to topple the United States — with its president, Lex Luthor, and first lady, Lois Lane — and bring about the communist revolution promised by Marx and Lenin. Millar turned the idea behind Superman on its head and in doing so attacked those very American ideals the superhero has come to personify. "(T)his alternate history I was creating was becoming more and more about what America was becoming. ... Here was a country that had become an empire," Millar said in a 2003 interview with Scotland's Sunday Times. "Like Superman's Soviet Union, it was making preemptive strikes on infinite targets until the whole world bowed before the orthodoxy of its single religion and nobody was powerful enough to stand in its way." 1986's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" was a Batman story set in the near future which featured a Superman whose soul was compromised by the Cold War. The world lay on the brink of nuclear destruction, forcing Superman to choose sides. He had been transformed into a Reagan administration pawn, a weapon used to destroy Soviet nuclear missiles in mid-air while the U.S. emptied its silos onto an unarmed Russia. The books ended with Superman weakened enough by a Kryptonite-infused bomb that Batman was able to beat him down with his bare hands. All the while, Batman lectured poor Supes on how far from grace he'd fallen. "I've become a political liability and you ... you are a joke," Batman said. Several other comics published since the late '90s also have complicated the character, calling into question his invincibility and knocking the Man of Steel down to our level. In "Kingdom Come," published in 1997, Superman succumbs to disillusionment after mankind embraces the a newer, deadlier brand of hero that does not possess his moral compass. He retires to a farm, embittered. The book is a commentary on the violent anti-heroes in vogue during the '80s and '90s. "Kingdom Come" explores a world without a Superman and finds it severely lacking. Which brings us to "Superman Returns." The film, buoyed by mostly positive reviews, raked in $21 million on its first day of release. But which Superman are people seeing? Is it the harmless, ultra-patriotic do-gooder of the '80s or the troubled, slightly more fragile vessel who bears the burden of our hopes and fears? This Superman is a bit of both, actually. Director Bryan Singer balances the iconic and the human, giving filmgoers the most complicated Man of Steel they have ever seen. But for comic readers, "Superman Returns" is just another interpretation of a character they've slowly grown to love over the years. "It's cool to see the kids come into the store wearing their little Superman shirts and asking for a comic," says Verner. "That's the value of the movies — to introduce a new generation of kids to Superman." Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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