With great power there must also come great responsibility.
Amazing Fantasy #156 (A Spiderman comic story)
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.
Theodore Roosevelt
In case you haven’t heard, Superman has a new motto. He’s no longer promoting the American Way and it’s making waves. Instead of Truth, Justice, and the American Way, he stands for Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.
A friend and I recently discussed this a bit. They were not a fan of the change and thought it was being driven by market forces. Selling comic books is a business, after all. You need to target your product to your purchasing audience.
I have a comic book collection but am not currently purchasing new books. I may not be the target of this change, but my reaction is relief mixed with frustration it took this long to get here.
When we say “The American Way,” what do we mean? Usually, it refers to a white-centric, idealized version of a country that markets itself as a shining example of everything good about humanity and a democratic system of government. Superman is from Kansas, after all, and he’s the son of two white Kansas farmers. The Kents were good people who took in an orphan and raised him to fight for those less privileged. Their death was a transformational blow to young Clark, motivating him to make the world better, until of course, his history was rewritten. A reinvented Clark Kent has living parents. What hasn’t changed is Clark trying to live the values of honesty, kindness, and hard work he learned in Smallville.
This narrative conveniently ignores the fact that the Kents illegally adopted an illegal immigrant. He may look white, but he has no paperwork. He didn’t just cross our borders without authorization, he flew in a spaceship from a different planet. Did I mention that his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster were both sons of Jewish immigrants? Jonathan and Martha Kent lied to get him a birth certificate and surely lied again to get young Clark into school without his necessary vaccines. After all, if he can’t be harmed by bullets, needles can’t break his skin, either.
Superman comics took on anti-Semitic people with both fists. He fought the Nazis. Captain America from Marvel comics did, too. When you look at the comic book genre as a whole, you see story after story that includes progressive ideas. Readers are taught to question authority, accept differences in others, explore the unusual, and protect those who cannot protect themselves. Those messages are packaged with fun plots using comic book heroes, but the messages are plainly there for anyone to see and think about.
When I think about the American Way, I also think about how many people have been ignored, bulldozed, and outright killed to propagate that narrative. We are living on stolen land that was worked by stolen people. The legacies of colonialism, slavery, and racism are all around us. They are baked into our institutions in ways I am actively still learning about. The more I learn, the more dismayed I become.
How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith was on my summer reading list. As an avid reader, I can tear through a book in no time. I had to read this book one careful chapter at a time and sit with the new information for a day or so before opening the pages once more. The stories in this book are all about the American Way and they are not stories we should be proud of.
We can do better. We must do better. Sometimes, we can make big changes that make a huge difference. Other times, we can make small changes that collectively add up to big changes. I am thrilled that Superman has a new motto. It’s a small change, but an important one. I want my heroes to continue to challenge me to be the best version of myself I can be. I want to live in a country that recognizes the inherent value of all human beings, no matter where they come from, who or if they worship, or what they look like. I want a better tomorrow for my country. I’m glad to hear that Superman does, too.
