On
April 18, 1938, Action Comics #1 went on sale, and we should all know a little
about the cover character by now.
I grew up
in the 1960s, the time of George Reeves syndication and Filmation TV cartoons
and Curt Swan’s heyday.
Superman
was my hero, and rode the top of all my friends’ estimation too. There were other heroes -- Daredevil, Batman,
Spider-Man, and all the other four-color guys (I always liked Herbie the Fat
Fury too) -- but Superman was the guy.
As a
fictional character whose adventures were written for him and thus
predetermined, he always made choices that ended well in the end. He had strength when the solution was a
super-punch; he had a super-brain when strategy was necessary.
I really
enjoyed stories where he outwitted Luthor or Brainiac and didn’t just beat them
up.
So,
Superman’s appeal to an American kid? He
did what was right. He knew what to
do. Girls liked him, but he was also
able to keep them at arm’s distance. He
had cool friends. And nobody ever picked
on him.
Now, Clark
Kent was another story -- he was often picked on by Lois or other
characters. But that didn’t really get
under our skin because we knew The Secret -- He wasn’t just that mild-mannered
reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
He was also the impenetrable, unstoppable Superman!
He did what
was right, and he treated everybody fairly.
He helped kids and didn’t look down on them. He had a smart dog who always obeyed.
As a
white-bread kid (Wonder not Rainbo at our house) who grew up believing in rules
and that right deeds were rewarded, Superman was for me!
Nowadays, I
look around at see a society that most of the time makes up its own rules, and
most of the time can’t agree that a given deed was a right one. My childhood memories of Superman, on the one
hand, make me yearn for a simpler idea of life where right and wrong were so
easily determined, and when the bad guy lost out (often by the unforeseen
results of his own misdoings). One the
other hand, I take resolve from the idea that most of the time I (or anybody) CAN
do something positive, in most circumstances.
As Elliott S! Maggin put it, “There is a right and a wrong
in the universe, and most of the time that distinction is not hard to make.” Unlike Superman’s fictional adventures, the
reality we face can be messy and hard to figure out.
But MOST OF
THE TIME it is NOT THAT HARD to make a decision that will help somebody.
- Let somebody onto the highway in front of me when they are running out of merge lane? not a problem
- Open the door for somebody (man or woman)? I will do that
- Unload the dishwasher? I live here, don’t I?
- Tell somebody they dropped some of their change? It’s when I hope they would do for me
And that’s
the key, most of the time. And here we
get into the reality that Superman is a shadow of…
Plenty of
my friends don’t believe in my lord Jesus, and many do. But most wouldn’t argue with that guidance
for living, the (second) most important rule:
Treat other people right. Help
them. Most of the time, that is not hard
to figure out!
As Glen
Weldon says on a new book about Superman:
"Superman changes as our culture changes. The only thing about him,
in fact, that has remained untouched, inviolate, since Action Comics #1 hit the
stands in April 1938, is his motivation. That motivation is at once the
simplest of them all and the hardest to unpack: He is a hero. Specifically:
1. He puts the needs
of others over those of himself.
2. He never gives
up."
Happy
“Birthday,” Superman, you’re my second favorite hero! Even if current reworkings or “re-imaginings”
change you from my childhood memories, those memories are still around. And those comics still exist, too! (Even if I
can’t afford some of them.)
In case you
wanted to know … the reason the title of this post is “Superman” at 75 and not
“Superman at 75” is simple -- because the icon may age, but not our hero!
