For the first complete reading in Hatfield’s 495 class, we were asked to read The Superman Chronicles: a complete set of the first superhero comics ever made about Superman, which appeared in Action Comics #1-13. I wanted to finish The Superman Chronicles before I commented on them, in case my reading was proved false later on in the comics due to more information. This ended up not being the case. There are a few issues I had with these beginning comics about Superman, including the portrayal of Lois Lane, gender, and Superman himself.
I am by no means a scholar of Superman but I thought I had a decent amount of knowledge about him (and Lois) to at least carry on a non-specific conversation with people. Reading The Superman Chronicles, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that Lois Lane is depicted as shallow, manipulative, and mean. Perhaps it has to do with the ideology of the time against women in the workplace. They were not treated fairly, as can be seem in these comics but even in shows today about women working during that era, like Agent Carter. The most interesting case where this side of Lois can be seen is in Action Comics #6. Lois had just found out that Clark was going to get to meet Superman (hello self) and became very sweet towards Clark. She was manipulative, knowing Clark liked her and finally giving him the attention he wanted, and thought herself so clever because she could “wrap him around [her] little finger”. Though, this was all ruse because Clark knew what she was doing from the beginning.
As much as Lois believed in her so-called charms, she only ever fools Clark once, in Action Comics #5, when she tells Clark about a false story to get him off the trail of the flood. Granted, she did this to prove to her chauvinistic boss that women could get as a good as, if not a better, story than a man but she still lied to Clark to advance her own career.
That being said, Lois may be the stereotypical woman for wanting the “tall, dark, and handsome” Superman but she is hardly the representation for all women of that time. Clark even makes a comment about Lois’ manipulations being “just like a newspaper woman” (Action Comics #5). This proves that Lois, and even Clark, are the key to understanding the societal view of newspapers, and newspaper workers, during the 1930-1950 era. The reading of The Superman Chronicles becomes a commentary on the work place rather than a gendered one.
Despite this, I was still astounded by how much of a jerk Superman is. He gives a man a heart attack and it seems as though he just leaves the corpse by the train tracks (Action Comics #4), he bullies those that do not fit into his ideology of Metropolis, and he lets men get tortured to get his story for the newspaper (Action Comics #10). Superman evens says, “I hate to stand idly by but it’s for the best”. Some may try and argue that he does regret having to leave the man tied to a pole to be whipped but that argument loses its strength when you consider the fact that Clark ratted out his source, let the man get beating up and thrown back in the chain gang jail, all for the sake of getting a better (and stronger, so he says) story. How can people berate Lois Lane for trying to get her stories in deceitful ways when their hero does worse?
There is also the matter of Superman destroying all those cars in Action Comics #12. Superman acts as a vigilante, taking the law into his own hands. He breaks into a radio station (literally), destroys the cars at the impound lot, goes to used car lots and destroys the ones he deems unsafe, and does the same thing to private citizens, all the while saying how much fun he is having. Even the narrator, supposedly Siegel or Shuster, report on how “Gleefully, Superman runs amuck”. Superman does as he pleases, pushing his own ideology onto the city he is supposedly taking care of.
This was an interesting and somewhat disturbing read. Superman was always a do-gooder in my mind, trying to save everyone in spite of any harm that may come to himself. The Superman Chronicles portray him as a bully though. I can see similarities between Superman and Batman more clearly after this reading; I can also see connections between Superman and some villains, like Lex Luther and Doctor Doom, who tried to push their ways onto society “for the betterment of mankind”.
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Endnote: Reynolds talks about clichés in “Masked heroes”, stating how the cliché, as it is known today, started with these comics.
I am by no means a scholar of Superman but I thought I had a decent amount of knowledge about him (and Lois) to at least carry on a non-specific conversation with people. Reading The Superman Chronicles, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that Lois Lane is depicted as shallow, manipulative, and mean. Perhaps it has to do with the ideology of the time against women in the workplace. They were not treated fairly, as can be seem in these comics but even in shows today about women working during that era, like Agent Carter. The most interesting case where this side of Lois can be seen is in Action Comics #6. Lois had just found out that Clark was going to get to meet Superman (hello self) and became very sweet towards Clark. She was manipulative, knowing Clark liked her and finally giving him the attention he wanted, and thought herself so clever because she could “wrap him around [her] little finger”. Though, this was all ruse because Clark knew what she was doing from the beginning.
As much as Lois believed in her so-called charms, she only ever fools Clark once, in Action Comics #5, when she tells Clark about a false story to get him off the trail of the flood. Granted, she did this to prove to her chauvinistic boss that women could get as a good as, if not a better, story than a man but she still lied to Clark to advance her own career.
That being said, Lois may be the stereotypical woman for wanting the “tall, dark, and handsome” Superman but she is hardly the representation for all women of that time. Clark even makes a comment about Lois’ manipulations being “just like a newspaper woman” (Action Comics #5). This proves that Lois, and even Clark, are the key to understanding the societal view of newspapers, and newspaper workers, during the 1930-1950 era. The reading of The Superman Chronicles becomes a commentary on the work place rather than a gendered one.
Despite this, I was still astounded by how much of a jerk Superman is. He gives a man a heart attack and it seems as though he just leaves the corpse by the train tracks (Action Comics #4), he bullies those that do not fit into his ideology of Metropolis, and he lets men get tortured to get his story for the newspaper (Action Comics #10). Superman evens says, “I hate to stand idly by but it’s for the best”. Some may try and argue that he does regret having to leave the man tied to a pole to be whipped but that argument loses its strength when you consider the fact that Clark ratted out his source, let the man get beating up and thrown back in the chain gang jail, all for the sake of getting a better (and stronger, so he says) story. How can people berate Lois Lane for trying to get her stories in deceitful ways when their hero does worse?
There is also the matter of Superman destroying all those cars in Action Comics #12. Superman acts as a vigilante, taking the law into his own hands. He breaks into a radio station (literally), destroys the cars at the impound lot, goes to used car lots and destroys the ones he deems unsafe, and does the same thing to private citizens, all the while saying how much fun he is having. Even the narrator, supposedly Siegel or Shuster, report on how “Gleefully, Superman runs amuck”. Superman does as he pleases, pushing his own ideology onto the city he is supposedly taking care of.
This was an interesting and somewhat disturbing read. Superman was always a do-gooder in my mind, trying to save everyone in spite of any harm that may come to himself. The Superman Chronicles portray him as a bully though. I can see similarities between Superman and Batman more clearly after this reading; I can also see connections between Superman and some villains, like Lex Luther and Doctor Doom, who tried to push their ways onto society “for the betterment of mankind”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Endnote: Reynolds talks about clichés in “Masked heroes”, stating how the cliché, as it is known today, started with these comics.