Superman Renounces His American Citizenship 9
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Atlantic Wire reports that Superman — Kal-El, the Man of Steel, the Last Son of Krypton — renounces his American citizenship in the latest issue of Action Comics. The moment everyone's talking about comes in a story called 'The Incident,' where Superman wants to fly to Tehran and offer moral support to Iranians protesting an oppressive regime but he's told that Iran will take it as an act of war. Superman decides to get out in front of the problem. 'I intend to speak before the United Nations tomorrow and inform them that I am renouncing my U.S. citizenship,' he tells the president's national security adviser. 'I'm tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy.' While some conservative commentators opine that Superman just wants to get out of paying criminally high taxes to a certain merciless Democratic president, Scott Thills concludes that 'the genius of Superman is that he belongs to everyone, for the dual purposes of peace and protection. He's above ephemeral geopolitics and nationalist concerns, a universal agent unlike any other found in pop culture.'"
Not even from this planet (Score:1)
Hey, it's been nice he's called himself an American for so long, but considering he's not even from Earth, this was just a nicety, right?
Where's the Fortress of Solitude located anyway?
Obligatory (Score:2)
Everything's the same in the comic book universes? (Score:2)
Why is there even a problem in Iran in the Superman universe? Why is a world in which super-beings exist so like the real world? Shouldn't things be radically different if super heroes have been inhabiting the earth for decades (centuries?) now? Why should I be so interested in a fantasy world if it's just going to turn out like the real one anyway?
I'm not saying that there can't be unrest in Iran in a parallel universe. Or that Superman would have somehow solved that issue already. I'm just saying that in
Re: (Score:2)
Why is there even a problem in Iran in the Superman universe?
Because good fiction is used as a commentary on the real society. You can't really be a stickler for the laws of physics and read superhero books. At least until they introduce zero-point-field organelles.
Re: (Score:2)
Marvel tried this with the New Universe imprint, 1986-1989. It was unpopular and canceled pretty quickly. We might theorize that the further removed the fantasy world is from the real-world, the harder it is for readers to immerse themselves in it.
"One of the founding ideas of the New Universe was that the existence of paranormals would have real and lasting consequences... Despite all of this, sales were poor and the imprint was abruptly discontinued in late 1989 after a total of 174 comics had been publis