4 - Sunday, December 20, 1992 - North Shore News Superman killed by greed | arpacH HUNTER TURNER Bob STRICTLY PERSONAL SUPERMAN WAS, of course, a Canadian. He was white, middle-aged, spoke English and was apparently heterosexual (although in- credibly repressed). Joe Shuster, his creator, was a skinny kid from Toronto. The strip was first published in the Toronto Star. Superman was, in fact, a classic Canadian hero, like Wayne Gret- zky or Bill Shatner. He got bought up by Americans and moved off to the States. I get a weird little patriotic buzz out of contemplating the fact that Superman's country of birth was Canada. So he emigrated to the States, so what? Can you blame him? There was hardly any market for comic strips in Canada in 1938. Hard times. A guy went where the work was. Superman came to life under Joe Shuster’s pen in the midst of the Great Depression. Ironic that he should dic, age 54, in the midst of another depression. The news of Superman’s death had been pending for months, ever since word leaked out from DC Comics headquarters in New York that Superman was going to be “killed off." “Hal” f laughed, when my teenage son, Will, mentioned this. “‘Who dares to think they can just ‘kill of f Superman?** “The publishers,’’ Will observ- ed, My blood ran cold. My God, if anybody could kill Superman, it would be the publishers, for sure. “But why wouid they do that?” lL asked incredulously, all too aware of the tremor in my voice. “For moncy,”' the kid shrugged. “You know how many copies they figure on selling of the death issue? Millions, Dad. Millions!” I mumbled something about “nobody would dare,’* and changed the subject, not even wanting to think about it. It was like blasphemy. It was too close. It wasn’t fair. Factal & Manicure reg. $56 49 Aromatherapy reg. $55 *49 | 44 The truth is, Superman would have been a lot better off if he'd stayed in Toronto. 99 Characters like Archie and Dagwood and Mickey Mouse show every sign of being immor- tal, and what are they compared with Superman? Have they ever lifted a finger to save humanity? Poor old Superman had been out there for over half a century, saving people, puppies, planets, anything that could possibly be saved, If ever a comic book char- acter earned his keep, it was Superman. Superman was like the Elvis of comic heroes. And then, let’s admit it, there was the business of his being in the news biz, first as a print reporter, later as a television reporter. | mean, what >-d-blood- ed newsguy could fail to identify? Superman's secret identity as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter, always struck me as the perfect form of schizophrenia. The choice of journalism as a career ‘‘front’’ for the Man of Steel offers a deep psychological insight. Reporters are, indeed, generally pretty milquetoast characters, compared with the men and women of action we write about. Yet when we start writing, our imaginations easily jump tall buildings. We soar. We take on the bad guys. We're fearless and powerful beyond belief. Also, it goes without saying, we are on the side of truth and justice. There was something else about Superman. Unlike almost any other so-called comic book char- acter, he was based on an actual philosophical concept, namely Friedrich Nietzsche's idea that **Man is something to be surpass- ed.”’ I’m not saying that Joc Shuster was attempting to personify the Nietzschean ideal of an ‘‘Over- man,"” but he was certainly draw- ing ona public awareness that such a superior creature was possible, maybe even inevitable. The theory of humanity evolv- ing into superhumanity had been popularized in the 19th century by the crusty German phiiosopher as an antidote to what he saw as Christian weakness. Alas, his babblings provided in- tellectual fodder for the Nazi movement, and he has been discredited ever since, Joe Shuster’s Superman, on the ~ Christmas Gifts} of Beauty, Relaxation § Halrcut & Perm reg. $75 °5Q and many more specials. Phone or drop in [Phone or drop In for your GIFT CERTIFICATE today! | your GIFT CERTIFICATE [Phone or drop In for your GIFT CERTIFICATE today! | yf 331 , 3101 Woodbine Drive, North Vancouver BA ve other hand, was unrelentingly de- cent and absolutely apolitical. Which was a damn good thing because, otherwise, he could have taken over the world and done what he wanted. Who could have opposed him? Lord Acton’s comment about the corruption of power somehow did not apply to Superman. I suspect that in the end this is what did him in. He was the ultimate nice guy, wasn*t he? He didn’t sully dimself with demands for payment for services rendered. He didn't lower himself to negotiate raises. He didn’t stoop to pick up receipts. Think about it. Superman was born in Canada and worked as a reporter in the States. He was polite, well-mannered, decent, and, above all, fair. These are Canadian charac- teristics, n’est ce pas? | mean, they're certainly not what we would think of as American char- acteristics, eh? And what happens? They knock him off before he’s even ready for a pension, just because the publishers want to make a bundle, just because, in his 50s, his sales started slowing down a bit. In other words, Superman was killed by greed, American-style bare-knuckles corporate greed. Profit-seeking entertainment industry moguls got him. The bean-counters. That’s who killed Superman. The accounting department, the shareholders, management. The ones he couldn't strike back against. The truth is, Superman would have been a lot better of f if he'd stayed in Toronto. Another I yusrs and he’d have qualified for the Canada Pension Plan. 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