Questions I've always had about Superman

I've thought about your "deep" comment off and on for two days now, if you were being sarcastic, I can dig it...after all, I was talking mainly about a comic book character/sci fi tv and movies...I realise that my analogies are not on the level with what one would normally find in discussing existentialism or pragmatism or any of the other isms that deal with weighty issues....and I don't intentionally try to come across that way....honestly some of my philosophies on life revolve around Snoopy..so I've been down this road before. I'm a firm believer in the idea that...it's not so much what you read, but what you draw from it that counts...the end result.

And of course if you meant it....yes, I am a small town boy/construction worker, but that is only a part of my life and personality.

Thanks...either way.

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Those of us that do enjoy comics are often lumped into the geek/nerd category, which I suppose is true...I have often described myself as "your typical Star Wars/comic book geek"....because I am. I read a lot of comics as a child, more along the lines of Archie than Spiderman, and paperback versions of ...Dennis The Menace, BC, Wizard of Id, Family Circus, Peanuts...etc...as well as my obsession with MAD Magazine, Cracked, and Crazy. Not to give the impression that all I read was comics...I suppose around ten, I started to burn through the classics...Heidi, Black Stallion, 3 Musketeers, 20,000 Leagues, and of course anything written by Twain.

My normal evening might be spent {we didn't have cable back then} finishing off a stack of Archie and Jughead, or Ritchie Rich, then picking up a Steinbeck novel...and getting lost in the 1930's. Personally, I hold Johnny Hart, Don Martin and Charles Schultz in just as high regard, and on the same level as Dumas, Verne, and Dickens...no matter how foolish it sounds, I am not ashamed to say that the character of Linus Van Pelt is just as important to me as the character of D'artagnan. I didn't pick those two characters at random either.

Around twelve or so I basically ran out of books, and at the time we didn't have a lot of extra cash...{most of my early books came from my Grandmothers constant "yard saleing" so I kinda got what came along, and at a certain point every find was something I already had...I probably still have five copies of Treasure Island}...so my mom suggested that I read our set of 1969 World Book Encyclopedias...slightly out of date in 1982ish but the 70's sucked anyway. When I got about half way through "C"...C was divided into two books but I don't remember now how they were split....I ran into the Civil War...I must have read and re-read that entry a dozen times before moving on.

Later on, one of my mom's friends overheard me talking about the Civil War, and my lack of material about it, I had borrowed everything the school had, which was sufficient for any Jr High, but I wanted more, so she went out and bought my very first CW book, by todays standards, and in comparison with the rest of my collection, it's a tad fluffy, but regardless of that it is one of my most prized possessions.

The Civil War beget my interest in WWII, then back tracking to the American Revolution, then jumping ahead to the Vietnam War...and then the rest just got filled in here and there. That is where my main interest lies, but I also spent time reading about astronomy, physics and pretty much everything else...if you name a subject, I've probably poked my nose into it....but I claim to be no expert in anything. By the time I was in my late teens, my grandmother had gone from yard saleing to owning a thriving second hand business, and the flow of books increased each year exponentially. She would usually hold back any books that came in, until I got a chance to look thru them...I miss that store so bad.

Of course during my teenage years, even though I was still hoarding them, reading the books took a backseat to playing the guitar and all the things associated with being a guitar player...mainly attracting females....but I started dating my wife when I was 19, then married her two years later. With the guitar playing, and the pursuit of the opposite sex now frowned upon, I reverted back to reading again. It was about this time...early 90s, that Superman was in the news, they were making a big deal about him proposing to Lois...Superman Vol 2 #50...which peaked my interest once again...so I started collecting the current issues, and then went back to about 1985 and picked up the ones in between....I think I am still missing one or maybe two issues.

During my collecting years, I payed a visit to pretty much every store in a hundred mile radius...which isn't many because I live in the sticks...but there are half a dozen or so in the combined multi-state area. I never felt comfortable in any of them, most comic books stores are filled with...frail pasty looking people, who often speak in a shakespearean style....you know what I mean, like the comic book guy on the Simpsons....combine that with a southern accent, and it's really odd. None of them ever spoke to me cordially, and the one time I did make an attempt to converse with one of them while waiting in the check-out line...didn't go well. I asked him if he was a Marvel or DC fan...he scoffed at me...ppfffftttt...with great disgust and replied that he was a "gamer" with the same enthusiasm and gusto as a Marine saying he had crawled up Mt Suribachi inch by inch under a hail of bullets, if I had asked him if he were a male nurse during the war.

If you don't know what a "gamer" is, they play table top war games...similar to Dungeons and Dragons....the tables are often set up in the comic book stores, because the rulebooks/cards/figures involved in these games are quite expensive, so they cater to them. I started to ask the little twerp if he thought he had enough hit points to withstand going thru the block wall, but I was afraid one of his friends might have been a Mage...and like Superman, I too have a weakness against magic. After that I just made sure to do my business during school hours.

Anyway, I suppose what I am getting at is a lot of people look at comic readers/collectors as dorks or immature or whatever...even the truly geeky tend to have this outlook....yet Greek mythology...as well as many other cultures myths...are still taught today in our centers of higher learning....and there has always been a certain air of sophistication about anyone that possesses a decent amount of knowledge concerning the Greek/Roman myths...."know your Gods, impress your friends, be the life of the party"...but why, because it pertains to antiquity, or it's not common knowledge...eh...I do understand that these myths played a significant role in shaping the western world, the Gods were "real" to these cultures, not simply four color comic book characters....but looked at in the light of just being a tale or story....isn't Superman on par with Gilgamesh, Sampson, Heracles and Thor...I tend to think so.

Fascinating post, 2Packs!


Thank you.


I am interested in the sociology of popular stuff like comics and romance novels....the changes to the way characters are envisaged are fascinating as you look at the social changes they reflect.


However, I loved comics as a kid, while I have never read a romance novel!


I used to buy some Superman etc comics, but my parents forbade them after a bit, (which was odd, as I was great at English and was reading adult books by age ten...I think they thought I would be corrupted by American culture, or something), so I used to sneak off to various male friends' places and feast on their fare.


I was, I think, the only girl with this interest (later developing into an interest in SF literature, also now abandoned), but I was the only girl in the boys' group anyway, so it was not something I noticed.


I recall buying a couple of Superman comics in the late seventies, or early eighties, I think, from interest, and was shocked to find him less powerful, and also given to great ethical dialogues with himself when he used a superpower.



I have been interested to come (late) to looking at Krum's (????spelling, name???) work and life, and that subculture.



I don't know as Sups is on a par with the mythic archetypes, but I do think he and his ilk borrowed from them very consciously, and I suspect they fill some of the same needs.

A thread on that point would be very interesting.

Well, I'm glad you liked the post, that's probably the longest one I've written here...at least out in public anyway...chalk it up to the massive amounts of cold medicine I've ingested this weekend, but what better place to yak about myself than on a Superman thread.


Krum....not ringing any bells.

I wasn't being sarcastic, nor did I mean it....I know you are multi-faceted 2 packs

Ah....I see.....my "And of course if you meant it" was directed at your "but I can see past all that"....does that make more sense now.

Anyway...Thanks Chai.

I liked it very much.


For "Krum" amend to Robert "Crumb"....

Ring bells now?


Horribly sexist, but interesting, and a fascinating look into a mind.

I hate Crumb's work.

Superman more than just celebrated diversity...

You think he's crumby, then?

R. Crumb...don't feel embarrassed, I am horrible with names, I never forget a voice, but a name...pfft.

I can't say that I know much about his work, I looked at his site and then read about him on wiki...his style and characters, I recognized instantly...and the album covers, but other than that....um, in a few of my older MAD's they ran some specials...old reprints from the EC comics days, and I think they might have thrown a Crumb short in there somewhere....nah probably not.

I've seen his work somewhere...it will come to me.

Edit [Moderator]: Link removed


Edit [Moderator]: Link removed

He's an underground cartoonist-I hate smut.

Ok rabbit, it came to me....actually about 10min after I wrote that last post, but I figured it would wait until the worst of my current cold had passed...I am now clear minded enough to reply.

I stared at one of Crumb's pieces for a few minutes, and I kept getting an image of a shirt that my uncle wore back in the early 70s...a very distinct shirt, combined with some beads that he had made a door out of...and some unusual smells that I won't mention in public. So, I would assume from that...that I had snuck into his bedroom, and read thru some of his comics as a small boy...he was very "cool" and into that sort of thing.

Smut...heh. In most things I tend to be familiar with only the mainstream subjects, in music, comics...literature...films...etc. I've never been much of an avant-guardist, or into anything considered by most to be underground...or "indie"...it's just not me. If someone points something out, and recommends it...I will check it out, and often will like what has been brought to light....but I almost never go searching for that type of material on my own.

I do have part of Jack Katz's "First Kingdom" series...which is considered the first graphic novel/comic...but other than that, my collection{s} would be considered quite bland and normal....yep typical conservative.