Brendan McCarthy - writer and artist of the last issue of DC’s Solo recently and all-round art god - popped up on Millarworld yesterday to post an odd little excerpt from a letter about some American icons:
In the recent Superman film, they were unable to bring themselves to say “Truth, justice, and the American
Way…” Instead, it became the throwaway line, “Truth, Justice and… whatever.” The film-makers realised that people in cinemas all around the worId would just laugh at the notion that the “American Way” was something that anyone would aspire to anymore… And I saw that as symptomatic of the continuing debasement of the moral and idealistic heart of America by the souless psychopaths who now wield power here.That got me thinking that Superman’s time as a hero is probably finished, and that sadly, what he used to stand for may well have passed away. The Superman character has become ’soft’ both in sales (disappointing comic and movie returns) and in his grip on the imagination of the public… He’s no longer a ‘relevant’ character. I have come to the conclusion that when DC killed the character a decade ago as a sales gimmick, they really did, actually, kill him a sa psychic force. Superman was the “American Christ”, but he met his fate at the hands of some very venal minds.
But I still think that people will respond to a truly inspirational ‘hero’ figure - in fact, I think there is kind of a yearning for some uncorrupted character to rise up and resonate with the higher aspirational desires of humanity, especially here in America.
The writer Mark Millar may have put his finger on the national pulse with his re-invention of Captain America ( historically a very boring, one-dimensional, ‘patriot-living-flag’ hero ), which is creating a lot of energy in the new Marvel series, “Civil War”. Here, the character is being forced to constellate the suppressed, real values of America in a way that Superman used to do. I’m not privy to Mr. Millar’s plans for the series, but I think he may be on to something quite powerful… Something that may help catalyse a renewal of the American spirit. Comics are part of culture, and I think it may well be significant that this is capturing the imagination of the public at the moment.
The ‘meme’ only catches on when its time is right.
The stink of corruption around the Iraq war and the feeling of deep violation and cover-up about 9-11, may be producing a focusing of the desire to ‘cleanse the system’. Much like an addict hitting ‘rock bottom’ and having a moment of truth, the democratic self-correcting aspects of the American system may well be turning a corner…
But does Superman have anything to contribute to these times? He is a superbeing who could, at super-speed, delete every WMD, and round up all dysfunctional world leaders and place them inside a fortified island prison where they would be harmless. He could impose world peace in a day.
But I’m sure a green kryptonite bullet would be perfected very quickly…
Interesting times…
October 20th, 2006 at 8:57 am
The line in the movie was “Truth, Justice, all that stuff.” “Whatever” makes it seem like truth and justice don’t matter.
October 20th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Personal opinion….Superman is dead and should be. He doesn’t fit with what America is now. He’s boring and cliche’. The New Cap ROCKS!! He fights for freedom the way he sees it, not the way the government tells him it is. He’s a true Hero…Superman just another illegal alien working in our country using social programs they don’t help pay for.
October 20th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Grame, why do you hate America?
F’reals.
October 20th, 2006 at 10:18 am
I can’t help but disagree.
Millar’s Ultimate Cap is almost an indictment of the Bush Administration’s policies. Meanwhile, Civil War has turned 616 Cap into an insurgent.
Superman is the American Dream. Immigrating, assimilating and succeeding.
Don’t confuse an “ok” movie and couple of crappy creative teams on Action Comics with utter irrelevancy.
October 20th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Oy. I think people spent way too much time analyzing that line. It was a way to say it without coming off cheesy. The End.
And in recent years, I’ve developed a whole new appreciation of Superman. And for his portrayal of just being a plain good guy who just does what needs to be done, I will always have a special place in my heart for Routh’s Superman. He’s the only superhero ultimately untouched by cynicism, and even a cynical curmudgeon like myself appreciates that.
October 20th, 2006 at 11:59 am
I agree with Anun. Does everything have to be about Iraq? For God’s sake get off your soap box. We don’t want to hear it.
October 20th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
The Superman character has become ’soft’ both in sales (disappointing comic and movie returns)…
Isn’t Superman also the source for two recent hit TV series that were, at some point, one of the top audience draws on their network? Maybe the problem with Superman isn’t the “ontinuing debasement of the moral and idealistic heart of America” but that audiences want Superman stories that offer something new from the ones they’ve already seen?
October 20th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Comic fans don’t read comics for new stories. They read comics to read old stories with a new twist.
October 20th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Lyle makes a great point. If Superman were “dead” or “soft” in sales, his TV shows would’ve bombed in season one, the movie wouldn’t have grossed dollar one, etc…
October 20th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
The movie didn’t have enough action. That’s why it didn’t do better.
But, it did make more money than Batman Begins (worldwide) and trailed the last X-Men movie by less then 75 million (worldwide). It only trailed “Last Stand” by roughly 35 million dollars domestically.
Those DVDs of entire seasons of Adventures of Superman, Lois & Clark, and all those cartoons have done quite well for Warner.
As it’s already pointed out, the character has had a hit TV show and is currently starring in a potentially popular cartoon show.
The next Superman movie will have more action and will do blockbuster numbers because of it.
BTW, that character’s books are selling better and generally smoke Captain America, Iron-Man, Thor, and a whole lot of other Marvel characters that “matter more then he does.”
October 21st, 2006 at 3:15 pm
The line “truth, justice, all that stuff” was a play on the sort of thing that Superman media has been doing for the last thirty-plus years. In Superman: The Movie, to the “truth, justice, and the American Way,” Lois replies that he’ll be going after every politician in Washington. In the same film, Perry White juxtaposes one of his famous lines with his coffee order–”And don’t call me sugar!” In Smallville, when Lana asks Clark what he stands for, he says “truth, justice…stuff like that.” Later in Superman Returns, it’s “Look, in the sky.” “It’s a bird,” “It’s a plane,” “No, it’s–” “You wanted to see me, chief?”
See, Superman’s catchphrases have insinuated themselves into the public consciousness. Everyone knows them. If you say “Look! Up in the sky!” any American and most other people will be able to finish the comment. But ever since Underdog slipped “It’s a frog!” into that familiar line, writers of Superman (and his parodic progeny) have put little twists on that line, and other lines, for humor value.
It’s true, people can and do take those familiar phrases and put different spins on them in order to make a point. When Thomas Jefferson reworded John Locke’s famous statement of the essential rights–”life, liberty, and property”–substituting “the pursuit of happiness” for the last item, he was making a point, that freedom of personal choice was more important, more unalienable, than property.
But that’s not how it’s been for the last several decades of Superman’s history, and why would it start now? Instead, they’ve done it for humor value. There’s a term (probably a French term) for the humor derived from the tension of an unfinished line, and that’s precisely what Singer & co. did there, just as it’s precisely what the Smallville writers did in the series pilot.
If you’re going to read anything into it, read what Singer explicitly stated: that it was part of a conscious effort to make the movie appeal to more than just Americans.
But to condemn the film for something that’s been done since the ’60s is absurd. I don’t see anyone making the same complaint about the “up in the sky” line, or about Smallville’s frequent use of the same technique, even though it’s the same type of joke. People are reading insult and political commentary where there’s only an attempt at humor. Methinks some dost protest too much.
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:27 am
Brilliant response Tom Foss.
Though, I think this was just Mark Millar’s friend trying to explain how Superman just doesn’t matter anymore, but *hint* *hint* Mark Millar would get the character and he would make him relevant again.
That post he did on Mark Millar’s board is eerily similar to a column Millar did on Comic Book Resources.
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:39 am
Here’s the link to that column Mark Millar wrote about how Superman isn’t relevant any longer.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=thecolumn&article=1376
“So whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow? My theory is, like all pop icons, his time just came and went. Like Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan, his relevance expired. Because so few of us can remember a time when Superman DIDN’T appear in Hollywood movies and multiple titles every month, we’re fooled into thinking that things will always be the same. But they aren’t. Times change and, like Atari games and winkle-picker shoes, Superman only exists for a dwindling number of followers and the occasional kitsch revival.”
For a Pop icon that just expired, he sure gets his logo tattooed on a hell of lot of people. I don’t see too many Captain America logo’s on T-shirts, but a hell of a lot of people wear that “S” as jewelry, clothes, etc.