I feel like a school boy again, anxiously waiting for the bell to ring so I can run to the comic book store to pick up the latest issue written and drawn by fan favorite artist John Byrne. The ’86 series was presented by Byrne in a six issue format inked by Dick Giordano.
The series told the story of Superman’s modern origin, which had been rebooted in the 1986 series Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Man of Steel comic series changed Superman in a big way with its effects still felt today. Hint the new movie. I’m hoping the new movie by the same name is equally successful so we can see a Marvel-like cinematic universe for DC Comics/Warner Bros.
DC comics just rebooted Superman in the New 52. They had two years now to tell the story of Superman. It seems to me that the new creators are struggling to tell a Superman story that is as powerful or as game changing as Byrne’s Man of Steel comic. I’m looking to their writing to ignite any kind of interest in this new Superman reboot or say anything interesting about Kal-El while not repeating the same old stories that make Superman a bore. Maybe it would have been nice to see Clark with siblings and how they would react toward him, or vice versa. It seems so convenient that he was a single child and the Kent’s couldn’t have any kids, and as Clark got to become Superman the Kent’s are dead. Really?! That’s the best they can do? Well, still waiting for the childlike anxiety as I eagerly awaited that next issue of Superman: The Man of Steel. As a child and even as an adult, Superman represents hope and the better part of humanity, and I still have yet to find that kind of human emotion in the New 52’s reboot of Superman. That’s why we read a novel or go to the movies. We want to escape our reality. That would have been cool if those emotions were found in the New 52’s version of Krypton’s last son, because now – right now – we need that more than ever. Look at the state of our country. We are a nation in crisis, and we need something to aspire too. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We need to start and take that single step.
There’s a seismic shift that happened during our generation that has put us in a downward spiral. This event has allowed for an abnormal freedom driving the political system to the verge of breakdown. It’s setting citizens adrift to find new paths forward. We are a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams. Our elites care only for their own agenda, our institutions are no longer working. No one can remember when they stopped working but we can see the signs that they have. The gap between the rich and the poor is so big that we don’t care that we are destroying the middle class. Our leaders abandoned their posts — we need hope.
Let’s look back to a ship wreck in 1993 that ran aground off Queens, N.Y. The ship had nearly 300 people on it who were being smuggled into the U.S. from China. The ship’s passengers listed China’s forced sterilization programs and governmental persecution from political expression as reasons to climb aboard this beat-up ship called “The Golden Venture” to reach the land of promise and freedom called America. Some paid the smugglers up to $30,000 to board the ship. Others would have organized crime syndicates front the money and the passengers would have to work off the debt somehow. When they arrived some people jumped from the ship trying to swim ashore. Ten people drowned while others were treated for exhaustion and exposure. The whole trip took most about a year to reach America. Even though they were detained by the authorities some said they would do it all over again. They knew that here in this beautiful land they could be human and allowed to live their lives. What makes this story so powerful are the citizens of a small town that recognized their fellow man’s pain and suffering and helped for months and years to come. Those that were lawyers provided legal help. Those that were doctors provided their services. The whole town and its citizens showed us the best of ourselves. They gave us hope and put us on a path for a brighter future. When did we lose that? When did we become a nation of haves and have-nots? We need to recapture who we are. We need to reignite what’s best about us.
Like that eager child running to the shop for his Superman comic, an adult now runs to a film called MAN OF STEEL. Let’s hope that a simple movie can imitate life and aspire us to reach for the stars.
Your Beloved Raphie