Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 17 of 42  Still from Superman: The Movie (The Kobal Collection/ Warner Brothers/DC Comics). The first in a string of hit spectaculars. Here, Christopher Reeve, perfect in the role, battles with some dodgy back-projection. In the first full decade of American comics, the 1940s, the biggest genre consisted of superhero comics. These were essentially aimed at children, but derived from a pulp tradition, and thus often contained political and social overtones. One character set the template: 'Superman', born in No 1 of Action Comics (National Periodicals) in 1938. Created by two teenage fans of science fiction pulp novels, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman represented the ultimate power fantasy: the sole survivor of doomed planet Krypton, this super-powered alien in human form could fly faster than a speeding bullet, see through buildings with his X-ray vision, and lift huge objects with his bare hands. 'All of a sudden, it hits me -I conceive a character like Samson, Hercules and all the strong men I ever heard of rolled into one', Siegel later explained. Though it is clear that the writer must also have been aware of the analogies with Jesus: Superman was similarly a man sent from the heavens by his father to use his special powers for the good of humanity.'3 His mythic qualities, combined with his square-jawed features and natty blue and red costume, soon acquired iconic status. Before long Superman would have his own comic, and be the subject for extensive merchandising and film spinoffs. In the process, the politics of the comic changed. In his earliest outings, he had been a kind of super-social worker, in the comic's words, a 'Champion of the Oppressed', reflecting the liberal idealism of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Drunks, wife-batterers and gamblers received his attention, while in one famous tale a mine-owner who obliges miners to labour in dangerous conditions is compelled by Superman to experience those conditions himself. Then, when the Cold War came to America, the character evolved into a fantasy guardian of the world order: an all-powerful, and at times slightly portly-looking conservative, fighting for 'Truth, Justice and the American Way'. Later still, he would be revamped again for more cynical times.  Page from Superman (DC Comics). Art: John Byrne. This version, a more human character, was largely inspired by the movies. |