Here’s some news for ya:
“Action Comics #900 Is A Fox News Story Waiting To Happen As Superman Rejects God And America”
Good little article there at bleeding cool. Sorry for the spoiler, but as Rich notes, I’m sure this will be all over the place very soon, even if it’s taken back next issue – which it might not be. I’m seeing something in this and how DC’s line as a whole is headed.
We’ve got Batman International (Inc – mirroring the globalization of commerce) going, and Justice League is trending towards a new JLI (mirroring our ever increasingly tightly knit global community), and this pretty much cinches it.
There are already teams of intergalactic guardians (Green Lantern), foreign ambassadors (Wonder Woman) and entities that are representative of the whole earth by their very nature (Swamp Thing.) There’s no reason DC shouldn’t have more stories based outside the USA.
If DC can pull it off, it’s actually ridiculously smart. Ideally, they’re setting their brand up for the global market in story. More comics in other countries (Knight + Squire, a new DCU Hellblazer related title) and maybe even more comics by international creators. Perhaps more comics that are non-english first.
Superheroes became popular during an era of extreme nationalism. We think of WWII’s fascist baddies that way, but at the time the war solution included putting ourselves in a similar fervor. That kind of “Us or Them” mentality just doesn’t solve problems anymore. And perhaps it never did. Even the mighty USA doesn’t invade somewhere without an ally or two.
In any case, interested to see where this one goes. What are your thoughts?
HAHAHAHAHA
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Hmm. I just picked up my copy of AC #900 last night, and haven’t read it yet. I managed to stay spoiler free until reading this. :) But actually, I just hadn’t gone on my other favorite comic sites yet, so…
I don’t speak another language, but I’m sure that some comics that are translated to, say, French or Spanish lose something in the translation. So, yes, I agree that publishing more/some comics in a different language first would be a step in the right direction. I like the whole Bruce Wayne/Batman Inc. thing, so that is great. I like the characters in Knight & Squire too. And actually, if you read some of the older Batman stories that Grant Morrison used for RIP, there was another time when Bruce used a so-called Batman Inc. (I have the info at home.)
All in all, I never was a fan of Superman being all for the American Way. I’ve spent too much time living outside the U.S. to go with that sentiment full tilt. I like the more global approach. We’ll see how I feel when I sit down to read the 90+ page issue!
-B.
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yeah, the American Way is kind of pandering to the home team, if you get my drift. It’s not a terrible sentiment and it stands for good things, but it marginalizes his appeal.
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IE, yes, as a business DC probably DOES want socialists reading their comics. I mean, why not?
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Should be interesting to see how this plays out. The one thing I fear is that we will have American authors trying to write about other cultures and places they know nothing about.
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well, they usually call that “fiction” and it’s helped along by a thing called “research”
;)
but I know what you mean. I like to think, though, that a hack is a hack and a good writer can handle learning and writing about something new. IE, historical fiction for example.
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Haha Understandable, but sometimes I feel like “research” in some peoples minds equals wikipedia search. I am all about fiction, I fear more vast generalizations, stereotyping, accidental racism. Wow that sounds super PC.
But you are right, a hack is a hack and a good writer can hopefully handle it.
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I’m not sure who’s writing this story, but I applaud them. The world has changed, and Superman needs to change with it.
That said, anyone know if Paul Cornell is remaining on Action? I missed the whole Black Ring story so when would be a good jumping-back in point to Superman? AFter Reign of Doomsday ends?
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possibly this or the next issue. I think this one ties up the Black Ring arc, though honestly I try to learn relatively few details until the books come out in trade.
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Thanks for posting this Ian. I’m really interested to see how the media spins it. I do agree that the whole “..and the American Way” thing seems very dated. I found it to be even more superficial and silly after reading Red Son and from that angle it was just plain silly how Supes did everything for the motherland even if it meant oppressing others.
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Globalization of comics? I like it. Then again, I enjoy broadening people’s horizons.
Blue Beetle did a Spanish language story, but I don’t know how well-received that was. I think it’s awesome; the comic book industry needs all the fans it can get.
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re Duncanpr: As the user base to this website attests to, there are a LOT of international comics fans already.
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That BleedingCool headline up there is eerily prophetic: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/04/29/hijacked-superman-turned-loving-anti-american/.
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honestly, I think he kind of encouraged it. If he broke the “news” (possible) and phrased it that way, he was pretty much challenging them.
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Sorry I’m so late to the game, but I just found this site.
I think Superman was supposed to be very world oriented all along, but over the last 20 years or so, you didn’t see references of him doing even short missions around the world. It would be good to see him get back to that. I would think he needs very little sleep, so he could be doing things by day on the other side of the planet fairly often.
I seem to remember a villain that had one green and one blue eye, though the memory eludes me at the moment.
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Great article. I’m dealing with some of these issues as well..
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