SUPERMAN

Beginning with the “Yellow Kid” and the “Katzenjammer Kids” caricatures more and more evolved to comic strips with own content and own style. Along with the possibilities of technical reproduction comic strips entered the realms of cheap popular culture giving it the flavor of minor value. Parallel to that comics became a means of social communication. A Golden Age of Comics arose in the late 30ies and the superheroes were born, the first of them being Superman.

But why is Superman an American story?

Because American history is mirrored in the biography of Superman. They are both stories of immigration and immigrants, may they be Puritans, Quakers, German, Irish, Asian people or a Kryptonian. The special feature about Superman though is, that he is kind of a second generation immigrant, because he was still a child when his parents sent him in a rocket to earth where he was found by human parents. As an orphan his cultural roots were cut. He was raised as an American, with the idealistic values of the American way of life. With this Superman stands for freedom, and for justice. From his first appearance on in ‘38 he was the “champion of the oppressed”.

After the death of his foster father Clark goes to the city, which is quite a modern trait of the story reflecting the transition from rural to urban in American society. In order to have a connection to everyday life, Superman has acquired a secret identity that gives him the opportunity for using two roles. One is the role of the superhero fighting for the right cause, the other the role of the average white American guy whith potential for identification for every high school youth who is as clumsy with women as Clark is. But this is not to be understood as a white middle class discourse, because the figure of Clark Kent is an exaggerated role that suggests that mainstream roles and culture are an illusion which opens the concept to multicultural and immigrant identification. On the other hand, Clark Kents role as a journalist is an integral part of the superhero, too, who then can unravel corruption with a muckraker’s talent and fight injustice with the strong arm of the outlaw hero.

Superman is an American hero in essence. Although it could also be exported to other cultures where similar cultural and personal experiences were or are made. With this, Superman is a myth that is culturally mobile but definitely has its roots and utmost integration in American society.